Author: Ray Mansfield

One of the founding cowboys of Real 80s CCM. Been listening to this stuff since 1978.

Peter Beveridge – Loving Again – 1980

There’s not a lot of information on where Peter Beveridge came from (not physically as I know he’s from Australia). This was his introductory album and I was very pleasantly surprised at how good it is. The opening track is one that I would never have imagined would have been released in 1980 CCM. It appears it was only released in Australia and Canada and I am not surprised no U.S. label wanted to touch it. The lead track “To Hell and Back” probably sealed it’s U.S. opportunities. That said it is a fantastic rock tune with a great message. Unfortunately the album settles down after this track and has an easy listening Jazz and funk sound. For a first CCM album Peter deserves credit. This is a great album that most of us probably missed in the 80’s so thank goodness we can listen to it now.

Tracklist
1 – To Hell And Back – 3:48
2 – Trusting – 4:11
3 – Loving Again – 3:53
4 – Crown Of Thorns – 3:58
5 – A Prayer Trilogy – 4:11
6 – Heaven Or Hell – 4:34
7 – See A Tear – 3:43
8 – For Me To Know – 4:28
9 – Help The Man – 2:34
10 – How Can You Love Me? – 3:10

Credits
Arranged By – Gilbert Beveridge, Peter Beveridge
Artwork By, Layout – Graham Chaseling
Backing Vocals – John McConnel, Mike Haughton, Naomi Warne
Lyrics By – Debra Walker, Peter Beveridge
Lyrics By, Music By – Gilbert Beveridge
Mixed By, Recorded By – Ross McGregor
Music By – Peter Beveridge
Percussion – Bruce McCormac
Photography By – Roger Hanlon
Synthesizer, Producer, Piano [Acoustic Piano], Electric Guitar, Concept By [Cover], Backing Vocals – Peter Beveridge

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Nightlight Music Pty Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Rhema Music
Recorded At – Axent Studios
Mixed At – Axent Studios
Produced For – Nightlight Music

Megamouth 2 – The Great Skateboard Adventure – 1988

This is the second of 2 children’s albums done by Terry Taylor and Greg Flesch. This one is centered on a skateboarding theme with a story line of competing in said sport. Apparently this idea didn’t get much traction but I commend them for trying. This project didn’t age very well but it may have been cool in the 80’s if I was 10 years old.

Tracklist
1 – Megamouth Theme – 3:12
2 – You’re One In A Million – 4:24
3 – We’re Bad, That’s Good, and We’re Ugly (Viper’s Theme) – 5:22
4 – Quantized (Be a Good Sport) – 4:03
5 – Practice Makes Gnarly (Spinner’s Song) – 5:47
6 – Viper’s Theme Part 2 (Megamouth’s Answer) – 7:03
7 – Ready, Steady, Go – 8:00
8 – Tubin’ It – 1:21
9 – Getting Vertical (By Trustin’ The Lord) – 22:35

Credits
Art Direction, Layout – Ed McTaggart
Cover – John Dickenson
Engineer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Doug Doyle
Illustration – June Valentine
Mastered By – John Matousek
Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Instruments, Written-By, Concept By – Greg Flesch
Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Written-By, Concept By, Voice Actor – Terry Taylor
Vocals – Amy Watson, Lisa Grimaud*, Nancy Hanson, Nancy Marquez
Voice Actor, Vocals – Dan Rupple, Dennis Bowen, Diane Meador-Pemelton, Scott Rummell

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA.
Mixed At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA.

Ransom – Ransom – 1991

Ransom was started in the mid-eighties as First Aid by bassist Michael Ciado and vocalist Lisa Faxon. The band changed names and produced a 3 song demo in 1988 as Ransom. Shortly after that Intense Records signed them and this is the result. Ransom was one of the few Christian metal bands with a female singer so they stood out on that front. The album has a strong commercial metal sound and is actually quite heavy with ballads which was odd in this genre at the time. I believe that generally ballads were put on albums because that’s what you’re supposed to do. Ransom however actually seemed to like ballads and put more effort into them. As for the album it’s very well produced and all the instrumentation is really good. Songwriting is a little weak at times but this is a first album so that’s not uncommon. Personally I rank it a little better than most reviews of the time but I have always preferred my metal with a commercial slant. The album was re-mastered and re-issued on Intense Millennium Records in 2011 and they included the 3 tracks from their demo as a bonus. I have read that the drummer listed as Randy Kantor was actually Joseph Galletta from Shout but I can’t actually confirm this and there’s some confusion on the issue on different web sites.

Tracklist
1 – Lasting Love – 4:26
2 – Rumors – 4:22
3 – Memories Of You – 3:18
4 – Fool That I Am – 4:26
5 – Break Into Darkness – 3:01
6 – Tonight – 4:17
7 – Etched In Stone – 3:42
8 – Fallen Angel – 5:07
9 – Your Broken Heart – 3:56
10 – I’ll Never Leave You – 4:31
11 – When I Die – 2:44

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Ed Mctaggart
Backing Vocals [Additional] – J.J. Honeycutt, Michael Jolly, Steve Manning
Backing Vocals [Additional], Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Doug Beiden
Backing Vocals [Additional], Keyboards [Additional] – Jim Morris
Bass, Backing Vocals – Michael Ciado
Drums – Randy Kantor
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tony Ortiz
Keyboards – Brent Jeffers (tracks: 6)
Mastered By – John Matousek
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Producer, Engineer, Keyboards [Additional Musician] – Jim Morris
Technician [Technical Director] – Tracy Henry
Vocals, Backing Vocals – Lisa Faxon

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Intense Records (10)
Copyright (c) – Intense Records (10)
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A
Mixed At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Mixed At – Mixing Lab B
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Mastered At – Soundworks West

Harvest – Voices – 1984

This 1984 release from harvest was their last on the Milk & Honey label before switching to Greentree Records. This album is pretty well much like their others as their worship style music didn’t really change much from album to album. This album had 4 charting singles with The Battle Is The Lord’s climbing the highest at #9. Really the album did not do as well as they usually did in the period. I of course listened to the album and I didn’t find it any better or worse than their other albums of the time. Of course this isn’t really my forte style of music but I thought it was pretty good as worship albums go.

Tracklist
1 – The Battle Is The Lord’s – 2:50
2 – Burn Me With Your Love – 3:30
3 – The Court Of The Gentiles – 6:10
4 – On The Water – 3:20
5 – Creator’s Song – 3:35
6 – Get Me To The River – 3:03
7 – One Thing I Ask – 3:20
8 – The Name Of Jesus – 2:45
9 – Know That I Am God – 4:55
10 – Voices – 4:30

Credits
Bass Guitar – Brian Tankersley, John Scudder
Conductor – Wayne Watson
Drums – Mark Hammond
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Jon Goin
French Horn – Bruce Kenny
Percussion – Russell Dunlap
Performer – Jerry Williams
Performer, Piano – Ed Kerr
Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer – John Schreiner
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Kirk Whalum
Synthesizer – Paul Mills
Trumpet – Fletch Wiley

Kerry Livgren / AD – Prime Mover – 1988

After the demise of AD Kerry Livgren and Warren Ham came back together to record and release this album using the AD name. It is said that this album was put together to fulfill contractual obligations and raise some funds. I’m not really sure if I believe this but it is said that Kerry said this but I can not find the actual quote. Kerry supplied all of the instruments with the exception of harp and sax supplied by Ham and this gives the album a rather unique sound and I really like it. I’m not disrespecting the rest of the band I’m just saying I really like this sound. The track “Portrait II” is actually a re-write of Portrait (He Knew), from the 1977 Kansas album Point of Know Return. Kerry rewrote it to be about Christ rather than Albert Einstein. Strangely the entire album was re-recorded and re-released in 1998 as Prime Mover II with 5 additional tracks. One last point of trivia of this album is that the UK vinyl version stated the title as “Prime Cuts” on the vinyl label. Rather odd error but errors on vinyl labels are actually quite common.

Tracklist
1 – Don’t Pass Me By – 4:24
2 – Fathers And Sons – 3:56
3 – Portrait II – 5:35
4 – Children Of The Shadows – 4:49
5 – Wandering Spirit – 4:04
6 – I’ll Follow You – 3:55
7 – New Kind Of Love – 3:37
8 – One More Song – 4:09
9 – T.G.B. – 5:58

Credits
Design – Nick Newton
Illustration [Photo Illustration] – Mark Fokol
Instrumentation By [All Instruments By] – Kerry Livgren
Lead Vocals – Warren Ham
Mastered By – Glen Meadows
Producer [Produced By] – Steve Walsh
Recorded By, Mixed By – Kerry Livgren
Vocals – Kerry Livgren, Steve Walsh, Dean Heitkamp, Michael Gleason

Companies, etc.
Produced For – GrandyZine Productions Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Copyright (c) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Recorded At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Mixed At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Mastered At – Masterfonics

Gideon’s Army – Grace – 1990

The third and last album from Gideon’s Army picks up where Warriors Of Love left off but it has a feel of maturity to it. At this point I think the band had settled into the style that they liked as there was some style fluttering in their first 2 releases. Unfortunately this was the last album from their band and I feel they were just hitting their stride. Darin Warren stepped in to replace Dave Angles on guitar and his sound fit in well with the band. I missed this band entirely in the 80’s and really wish I could have seen them live, I just get the feel that they were good live. Original copies of this release are apparently few and far between which suggests to me that it just didn’t sell well. Luckily it was re-released in 2015 by Retroactive Records so it’s easy to get a copy now.

Tracklist
1 – Knowing You – 3:45
2 – Lonely Lover – 4:20
3 – Christina – 4:45
4 – Grace – 5:21
5 – Make Up Your Mind – 3:10
6 – Open Arms – 4:23
7 – Tough Love – 3:24
8 – With The One I Love – 4:21
9 – Turn Up The Heat – 4:11
10 – Sending You – 4:08

Credits
Mark Greves – Lead Vocals & Bass
Darin Warren – Lead Guitar
Doug Naruo – Keyboards
Jerry Anderson – Drums & Lead Vocals
Brenda Perdue – vocals
Melody Lynn – vocals
Ron Davis – vocals
Dave Angeles – guitars on 7, 8, 10
Don Walker – drums on 7, 8, 10

Sandi Patti – Songs From The Heart – 1984

Sandra generally put out an album a year and this was her album for 1984. It was one of her most successful with 4 charting singles including 2 making the top 10. “Sing To The Lord” made it to #1 and “We Will See Him As He Is” made it to #4. She was also nominated for the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Vocal Performance, Female but lost out to Amy Grant who pretty well owned the category for the decade though Sandra did win it in 1987. She did however win the 1985 Dove award for Inspirational Album. As for the album it is your standard worship album with nothing that really stands out in my opinion. I’m not saying it isn’t a good album I just find so many of these female worship albums to be too alike.

Tracklist
1 – Give Him The Glory – 2:37
2 – Sing To The Lord – 2:58
3 – We Will See Him As He Is – 3:42
4 – Cradle Song – 2:59
5 – Wonderful Lord – 2:34
6 – Via Dolorosa – 4:34
7 – Shine Down – 3:29
8 – Pour On The Power – 3:11
9 – Glorious Morning – 3:29
10 – Purest Praise – 2:01
11 – The Stage Is Bare (I Need Thee Every Hour) – 5:52

Credits
Arranged By [Backing Vocals] – Alan Moore, Sandi Patti
Arranged By [Brass] – Jerry Hey
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Greg Nelson, Sandi Patti, Shane Keister
Arranged By [Strings] – Alan Moore
Arranged By, Orchestrated By, Conductor – David T. Clydesdale
Backing Vocals – Bonnie Keen, Cozette Byrd, Craig Patty, Dave Durham, Gary Music, Jackie Cusick, John Mohr, Lori Brooks, Luanne Mohr, Marty McCall, Melodie Tunney, Mike Patty, Rick Gibson, Sandi Patti, Sandie Hall Brooks, Steve Green
Bass – Craig Nelson, David Hungate, Larry Paxton
Brass – William Reichenbach, Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Kim Hutchcroft, Lawrence Williams
Cello – David Christensen, David Vanderkooi, Inez Boyle, Mark Tanner, Martha McCrory, Roy Christensen
Concertmaster – Carl Gorodetzky
Conductor – Greg Nelson
Design – Bill Brunt
Double Bass [Bass] – Craig Nelson, Edgar Meyer, Nathan Kahn
Drums – James Stroud
Engineer – Joe Neil
Executive-Producer – John Helvering
Guitar – John Darnall, Jon Goin
Harp – Mary Alice Hoepfinger
Percussion – Bill Wiggins, Farrell Morris
Photography – Michael G. Borum
Piano – Mitch Humphries
Producer – Greg Nelson, Sandi Patti Helvering
Strings – The Nashville String Machine
Synthesizer – Shane Keister
Viola – Connie Collopy, Gary Vanosdale, John Borg, Kathy Plummer, Kris Wilkinson, Virginia Christensen
Violin – Charlie Everett, Chris Teal, Connie Heard, Dennis Molchan, George Binkley, Janet Hazen, Larry Harvin, Laura Molyneaux, Lee Larrison, Pamela Sixfin, Phyllis Mazza, Rebecca Lynch, Rosemary Harris, Stephanie Woolf, Ted Madsen, Bill Fitzpatrick
Vocals – Sandi Patti

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Impact Records
Copyright (c) – Impact Records

Randy Matthews – All I Am Is What You See – 1972

This is Randy’s second album and it marked an important change in CCM music that many may not know about. He was under contract to Word records but they were very hesitant to release this album as the felt it went a little too far into the world of Rock. As such it was decided by Word would open a subsidiary label called Myrrh to handle the “Jesus Music” market. This changed the whole industry as it condoned releasing Rock music even if you had to do it a little sneakily. Of course Myrrh went on to be a dominant face in the Christian music industry. Anyway on to the album. It is definitely a more Rock oriented album than his premiere but seems relatively tame compared to what would come in the industry. His acoustic guitar work is excellent and I particularly like the track “Important Things” which while a little gimmicky it has a great message even in current times. If you missed this one back in the day listen to it now as it really was a game changer in the industry.

Tracklist
1 – Revolutionary Cause – 3:02
2 – All I Am Is What You See (Self Portrait) – 2:20
3 – Johnny – 3:30
4 – Power Through You, People – 3:02
5 – Time To Pray – 3:29
6 – Sunny Day – 2:59
7 – Leader Liberator – 2:25
8 – Flesh Of My Flesh – 3:10
9 – Important Things – 2:05
10 – Country Faith – 2:10

Credits
Arranged By, Conductor – Bergen White
Engineer – Les Ladd
Music By, Lyrics By – Randy Matthews
Photography By [Cover] – Bill Grine
Producer – Billy Ray Hearn

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word Records Limited
Pressed By – Columbia Records of Canada, Ltd.

Seraiah – Carnival World – 1990

This is the first of two albums from Seraiah. They were formed in Indiana in 1985 by drummer Kyle Dietz and guitarist Quinton Gibson. They did release a demo in 1989 which as of this writing I haven’t heard yet but I have been told it’s quite good. There were some lineup changes before they finally got a mainstream record deal with Pure Metal for this album. The “single” was Rise Up and I understand it received fairly good airplay on Christian radio stations that dared play metal. Other than that I can’t find much info on the band but the album is pretty good and has a bit of a commercial metal feel and sound.

Tracklist
1 – Carnival World – 4:48
2 – Devastating Daydream – 5:23
3 – Hear Their Cry – 5:46
4 – The Nature Of Things – 4:29
5 – No More Tears To Cry – 5:02
6 – Rise Up – 3:56
7 – You Know – 3:47
8 – Helpless Without You – 4:45
9 – Let Him Take Control – 5:02
10 – Fallen Heart – 6:13

Credits
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Michael McClung
Drums – Kyle Dietz
Guitar, Mandolin, Backing Vocals – Quinton Gibson
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Bradley Beckey
Mastered By – Jim Lloyd
Mixed By – Steve Griffith
Producer [Produced By] – Jim Erdman (tracks: 1 to 8, 10), Steve Griffith (tracks: 9)
Recorded By – Alan Chase
Written-By, Arranged By – Seraiah

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pure Metal
Copyright (c) – Pure Metal
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution
Record Company – Star Song Communications
Recorded At – Grand Slam Studios
Mastered At – Masterfonics
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pure Metal
Copyright (c) – Pure Metal

Larnelle Harris – I’ve Just Seen Jesus – 1985

Larnelle has been doing solo albums since 1975 and is still releasing them as of 2018. This is perhaps one of his most liked album. Considering how many albums he has I can’t confirm that of course. It was successful. It had two charting CCM singles, “How Excellent Is Thy Name” made it to #7 and his duet with Sandi Patty, “I’ve Just Seen Jesus” made it to #13. He also won the Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, Male based on this album. However quite frankly he shouldn’t have. Russ Taff was also nominated in the category based on his album “Medals” and I think most would agree that Medals was a far better album, in fact not even close. But the Grammy’s are a funny beast, lot’s of record industry politics involved. As for the album it is the epidemy of a worship album and I have no doubt some of these tracks are begin sung in churches these days.

Tracklist
1 – How Excellent Is Thy Name – 2:04
2 – Amen – 3:07
3 – Road In The Wilderness – 3:25
4 – For Unto Us – 1:48
5 – His Grace Is Greater – 4:55
6 – I’ve Just Seen Jesus – 5:42
7 – God’s Kingdom Is What I’ve Got – 2:19
8 – Desert Of My Days – 4:15
9 – Let Freedom Ring – 5:45

Credits
Arranged By, Orchestrated By, Conductor – David T. Clydesdale
Backing Vocals – Beverly Darnall, Bonnie Keen, Dave Durham, Gary Pigg, John Darnall, Jon Mohr, Judy Clydesdale, Karla Worley, Kristi Cleary, Marty McCall, Melodie Tunney*, Rick Gibson, Sherry Paige
Bass – Craig Nelson, Gary Lunn
Drums – Mark Hammond
Guitar – Jon Goin
Harp – Mary Alice Hoepfinger
Percussion – Farrell Morris
Piano – David Huntsinger
Strings – The Nashville String Machine
Synthesizer – Mark Gersmehl, Shane Keister