Ray Mansfield – Page 74

Halo – Heaven Calling – 1991

This was the second and final studio album from Halo though there would be a release in 2020. The album was again produced by the Elefante brothers but they did turn it back a notch on the Rock & Roll meter and slightly towards the Pop meter. As with almost all Elefante projects the production is excellent and this is one of the best albums of 1991. Personnel changes had Barry Graul replacing Keith Mims on guitar which sounds like an even trade to me. There was another album being recorded after this one but it waited until 2020 with some effort by Girder Records to get it released. Lead singer Scott Springer did go on to release an album in 1993 though I will admit I haven’t listened to it yet. Anyway if you missed this one in the 90’s give it a listen now, it really was and is a great album.

Tracklist
1 – Jacob’s Dream – 4:36
2 – It’s Your Decision – 4:20
3 – Saved By Grace – 4:19
4 – Heaven Calling – 4:40
5 – Thy Will Be Done – 4:03
6 – Secret To Love – 4:38
7 – Climb The Mountain – 3:59
8 – Eye Of The Storm – 4:48
9 – Man From Galilee – 4:03
10 – My Buddy – 4:16

Credits
Backing Vocals, Engineer, Mixed By – Doug Beiden
Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals – Scott Springer
Drums, Keyboards, Vocals – Mike Graham
Engineer [Assistant] – J.R. McNeely
Guitar [Additional] – Glen Pearce
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Graul
Lap Steel Guitar – Ron Eglett
Mandolin – Larry Meyers
Mastered By – Chris Bellman
Producer, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Engineer, Mixed By – John Elefante
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Dino Elefante
Voice [“My Buddy” Prayer] – Wesley Springer (tracks: 10)

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word Music, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word Music, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word Music, Inc.
Distributed By – Word Music, Inc.
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Published By – Dayspring Music
Published By – Uncle Pitts Publishing
Published By – Nimbus Music

Truth – Makin’ It Matter – 1987

Truth released an album almost every year and this is that yearly release for 1987. It continues with their normal trend of Easy listening adult oriented pop albums. This album did garner them one of their very few (relative to their number of albums) CCM singles. “You’ll Still Be Lord Of All” made it to #25. I am actually quite surprised they didn’t have more singles on the CCM charts as they optimize the style those charts were looking for. This album had the band at 22 people in size so about average for them. Yes that was the size of the band. I can only assume the shared revenue from each album was inconsequential to the members.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPcTOx34g9XSijnG9CLNm_eoW3vsonOsH

Tracklist
1 – Makin’ It Matter – 3:26
2 – Walls Come Down – 3:09
3 – You’ll Still Be Lord Of All – 4:52
4 – Higher Ground – 3:43
5 – It Is Well With My Soul – 4:02
6 – I’ve Just Begun To Fight – 3:50
7 – Like Father, Like Son – 3:57
8 – All Rise – 4:13
9 – There Is A Hope – 4:58

Credits
Arranged By [Strings And Brass Arrangements Written And Played On The Synclavier System By] – Reed Arvin
Arranged By [Vocal Arrangements] – Steven V. Taylor
Bass – Gary Lunn
Directed By – Roger Breland
Drums – Mark Hammond
Engineer – Brent King, Doug Sarrett, Nicky Michaels
Guitar – Jon Goin
Horns – Brian Smith, Ken Reich, Michael Walker, Robbie Mattix, Ross Walters
Keyboards – David Huntsinger
Mixed By – Brent King, Steven V. Taylor
Performer [Member] – Alicia Williamson, Andy Chrisman, Berneé Tuttle, Brian Smith, David Cleveland, Ed Seidenkranz, Gina Walker, Ken Reich, Kevin Anthony, Kevin Newton, Lisa Pieper, Mark Harris, Marty Magehee, Michael Walker, Paul Glasgow, Phil Peters, Robbie Mattix, Ross Walters, Shari Beeman, Tim Ranson, Travis Laws, Wes Tuttle
Producer – Steven V. Taylor
Producer [Vocal Production Assistance] – Gordon Twist
Programmed By [Synth Programming] – John Slick
Saxophone [Solo] – Ross Walters

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Benson Records
Copyright (c) – Benson Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Recorded At – The Sound Shop
Recorded At – Tree International Studio
Recorded At – Downstage Studio
Mastered At – MasterMix

Daniel Amos – The Revelation – 1986

It’s actually a little tough to classify this album. What we have here is a complete remix of side 2 of DA’s 2nd album, Shotgun Angel with one additional track, “Soon”. In between and mixed into the tracks are readings of the Book of Revelation by Calvary Chapel (Costa Mesa) Pastor Chuck Smith. I guess you could say this is a bit of a conceptual album. Because of this I actually chose to upload the album as Side 1 and Side 2 as I felt breaking up the individual tracks actually interfered with the flow of the narration and as such the album. I think it’s best enjoyed as a whole rather than it’s parts. The remixes are actually very good but as a whole the idea didn’t work for me. I enjoyed listening to it once but found I didn’t want a round 2. That said it definitely deserves at least a one time listen through.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPcTOx34g9XTtot7Ztii3Tn2gn7WCwFSW

Tracklist

Side1
Finale: Bereshith Overture – 6:03
Lady Goodbye – 3:59
The Whistler – 5:23
He’s Gonna Do A Number On You – 2:29
Better – 6:49

Side 2
Sail Me Away – 6:28
Posse In The Sky – 6:23
Soon – 11:03

Credits
Accordion – Frank Marocco
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Artwork – Jon Fraze
Backing Vocals – Ed McTaggart, Jerry Chamberlain, Mark Cook, Marty Dieckmeyer, Terry Taylor
Bass Guitar – Marty Dieckmeyer
Compilation Producer – Terry Scott Taylor
Conductor – Jim Stipech
Drums – Ed McTaggart
Guitar – Jerry Chamberlain, Terry Taylor
Keyboards – Mark Cook
Keyboards [Album Segways] – Terry Taylor
Layout – Ed McTaggart
Lead Vocals – Jerry Chamberlain (tracks: A2), Mark Cook (tracks: A4), Terry Taylor
Mastered By – John Matousek
Narrator – Pastor Chuck Smith
Orchestrated By – Jim Stipech
Pedal Steel Guitar – Dom Franco
Percussion – Ed McTaggart
Percussion [Additional] – Alex MacDougall
Producer – Daniel Amos, Jonathan David Brown
Remix – Doug Doyle, Terry Taylor

One Bad Pig – I Scream Sunday – 1991

This is the fourth studio album for the Pigs. At this point I think the style was starting to wear a bit thin on some fans judging from what I have read. I was never a big fan of their style so I can’t really judge. That said this album has a highlight of a cover of a Johnny Cash song with Johnny Cash on vocals. Pretty cool actually. I am not really a fan of their style but I was able to enjoy “For A Good Man” which is a real song. Well my definition of a real song, your mileage may vary. But the bottom line on this album is that if your a fan of their quirky thrash style this album should satisfy your listening yearnings.

Tracklist
1 – Take A Look At Yourself – 4:22
2 – You’re A Pagan – 2:18
3 – I Scream Sunday – 3:14
4 – Man In Black – 3:00
5 – Not Love Money – 4:18
6 – Cut Your Hair – 5:11
7 – For A Good Man – 4:05
8 – Ice Cream Sundae – 2:03
9 – Bird Nest – 3:06
10 – Up The Nose – 0:55
11 – Spirit Of Murder – 4:58
12 – Sober Up – 2:42
13 – Pad Thai – 0:20
14 – Never Forget The Cross – 4:22
15 – Wholly My Lord – 3:50

Credits
A&R – Mark Maxwell
Bass, Vocals – Daniel Tucek
Drums, Vocals – Philip Owens
Engineer [Second Engineer] – Pasquale DelViaggio, Roy Gamble, Shawn McLean
Engineer, Mixed By, Mastered By – Lee Groitzsch
Guitar, Vocals – Paul Q-Pek
Lead Vocals [Lead Screamer Vocals] – Carey “Kosher” Womack
Mastered By – Denny Purcell
Producer, Mixed By – Billy Smiley

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters

Per-Erik Hallin – Better Late Than Never – 1982

This is another album I found by rooting through the Refuge catalog. It is Per-Erik’s first album and as near as I can tell it was his only album released outside of Europe. There’s not really that much information about him out there so unfortunately I’m going to just be able to echo his Wikipedia page. In the 70’s he apparently played with Elvis but again I struggled to find any more information about this. He was a strong studio musician in the 70’s with tons of appearances. The album is naturally keyboard and piano heavy but has a bit of a funk feel in places. It is well worth listening to at least once.

Tracklist
1 – Let It Out – 3:37
2 – Gospel Train – 5:33
3 – You Put Another Song In My Heart – 4:15
4 – Do You Know What You’re Missing – 4:01
5 – What A World It Would Be – 3:23
6 – Better Late Than Never – 3:34
7 – Don’t You Put It Off Until Tomorrow – 4:16
8 – The Golden Rule Jingle – 4:09
9 – Nothing To Fear – 4:38
10 – The Summer Is Not Over – 4:25

Credits
Design – Camilla B
Engineer – Gordon Shryock, Peter Olsson
Engineer [Mixing] – Per-Erik Hallin, Peter Olsson
Engineer [Overdubs] – Anders Oredson, Andy Kidd, Boje Lundberg, Christer Lindström, Peter Olsson, Wally Grant
Photography By – Labe Allwin
Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – Per-Erik Hallin
Programmed By [Prophet 5 Synthesizer] – Per-Erik Hallin

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Weddington Studios
Recorded At – Park Studio
Overdubbed At – Studio Bastun
Overdubbed At – Weddington Studios
Overdubbed At – Supreme Studio
Overdubbed At – Park Studio
Overdubbed At – KMH Studios
Mixed At – Studio Bastun
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Royal Music Productions
Copyright (c) – Magnus Erikson Production
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Refuge Records
Copyright (c) – Refuge Records

The Call – Scene Beyond Dreams – 1984

This was the third album from The Call and my personal favourite. It has a pretty distinct change in style from “Modern Romans” and at the time this was a style I was a huge fan of. This style is not really my favourite anymore but this album is still in my top 100. I was a bit surprised while researching this album that the title track single didn’t make the charts. I was further surprised that the album only made it to #204 in the U.S. I was a DJ in Canada and this album was huge, I remember playing it like crazy. I know it must have singled pretty strong in Canada but I couldn’t find the charts to confirm. Commonly referred to as their “metaphysical” album this is one you should listen to again.

Tracklist
1 – Scene Beyond Dreams – 3:47
2 – The Burden – 3:34
3 – Tremble – 4:01
4 – Delivered – 4:03
5 – Heavy Hand – 3:23
6 – Promise And Threat – 4:30
7 – One Life Leads To Another – 4:38
8 – Apocalypse – 1:46
9 – Notified – 2:58

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Ria Lewerke
Bass, Vocals – Joe Read
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Scott Musick
Engineer – Dave Jerden
Engineer [assistent] – Carolyn Collins
Guitar, Bass, Synthesizer, Lead Vocals – Michael Been
Guitar, Vocals – Tom Ferrier
Keyboards – Jim Goodwin
Photography – Moshe Brakha
Producer – Michael Been, The Call
Written-By – Michael Been, Peter Lewis

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Marketed By – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Recorded At – Eldorado Recording Studios
Pressed By – Hauppauge Record Manufacturing Ltd.

Kellye Huff – In A Special Way – 1989

I think the entire Huff family came together to help Kellye get her first album out. The album was released on the Huff families record label “Giant Records” and Kellye had just debuted the year earlier on the David and the Giants album “Strangers To The Night”. It only had one charting single with “In A Special Way” just making it onto the charts at #40. What we have here is a slightly poppier version of David and the Giants with Kellye doing lead vocals. I am actually pretty impressed with her vocal skills, she obviously inherited the family music gift. That said the vocals are a little thin in places but it is her first album and there was much to be learnt yet. I’m looking forward to hearing her second album and hopefully hearing that development.

Tracklist
1 – Anticipation – 3:07
2 – Who In The World – 3:32
3 – All My Days – 3:46
4 – Tailor Me – 3:34
5 – In A Special Way – 3:38
6 – Sing His Song – 3:19
7 – I Cherish Thee – 3:37
8 – Glory Hallelujah – 3:23
9 – All I Need – 3:56
10 – Little Lamb – 4:49

Credits
Kellye Huff – Lead and Background Vocals
Lloyd Bustard – Songwriter
Rick Cooper – Songwriter
Karen Harding – Background Vocals
Clayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Bass
David W. Huff – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Songwriter, Guitars, Mandolin, Background Vocals
Lance Huff – Drums, Percussion
Rayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Programming, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Anthony Neal – Saxophone
Terry Ostovich – Mixed
Tim Pedigo – Background Vocals
Larry Rust – Keyboards
Donnie Sanders – Saxophone
Tommy Sims – Songwriter, Keyboards
Hank Williams – Mastered

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Giant Records
Copyright (c) – Giant Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Distributed By – Mitchell Family Books, Inc.
Pressed By – Nimbus

David & The Giants – Strangers To The Night – 1988

Unfortunately by this point David and The Giants were producing albums too regularly. This album while good feels like they just went into the studio to get another album out. The album is a good listen but there just aren’t any real stand out tracks. Probably the best track is “Perfect Love” which features harmonies from David’s daughter Kellye Huff. Of course CCM charts missed this entirely and picked “Show Them the Light” and “Strangers to the Night” as the charting singles. But while I think “Perfect Love” is a great track it’s not gonna make it onto my regular rotation. To sum up, it’s a good album but unfortunately not a great album.

Tracklist
1 – Celebrate His Power – 3:50
2 – Show Them the Light – 3:54
3 – Lively Stones – 4:22
4 – I’m Not Ashamed – 3:23
5 – Perfect Love – 4:28
6 – Restless – 5:30
7 – Strangers to the Night – 3:49
8 – No Compromise – 4:34
9 – I Believe in You – 3:48
10 – I Was the Nails – 3:40

Credits
Backing Vocals – Dave Mullen, James Bolton, Karen Harding, Kellye Huff, Rick Florian
Concept By, Design, Art Direction – P. R. Allen
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Keith Thibodeaux
Engineer, Arranged By, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Rayborn Huff
Engineer, Bass, Backing Vocals – Clayborn Huff
Engineer, Engineer [Assistant Remix Engineer] – Terry Ostovich
Mastered By – Denny Purcell
Percussion – Lance Huff
Producer, Arranged By, Backing Vocals – Tommy Sims
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By [Remixed By], Guitar, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – David Huff
Saxophone – Donnie “Sax” Sanders

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Giant Records (13)
Copyright (c) – Giant Records (13)
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Recorded At – Huff Recording Studios
Mixed At – Huff Recording Studios
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters

Contender – Fighting To Win – 1990

Right off the bat there is some confusion out there on this band. This is the New York Contender NOT the Illinois Contender. The Illinois version had 2 demos and this version does not have a demo out there I am aware of. Other than that I was unable to find out much about this one album band. The lead singer Eddie Villanueva apparently had some info on the band on MySpace but it’s long since been scrubbed. The album is a straight out Rock album. Some have classified it at Metal but in my opinion it’s Hard Rock. It’s a pretty good album but I feel it should have had a little more production. It was produced by the band and I am surprised that when Refuge picked it up they didn’t bring someone in to work on the album but it really looks like it went straight from studio to pressing. Too bad because I think had this had some better production it would have been a whole lot better known.

Tracklist
1 – I Won’t Give Up – 3:10
2 – You – 3:36
3 – Convenient Christianity – 4:04
4 – You’re There For Me – 4:10
5 – Fighting To Win – 4:03
6 – So I’m Singing – 3:53
7 – Cryin’ Over You – 3:31
8 – I Know You’re There – 4:27
9 – Pullin’ The Wool – 3:10
10 – I Believe In You – 4:19

Credits
Bass – Rich McCarthy
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Paul Grimsland
Guitar, Drums, Bass – Bob Vinsick
Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Bass, Backing Vocals – Steve Atwood
Lead Vocals – Eddie Villanueva

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Refuge Records
Copyright © – Refuge Records
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution, Inc.
Distributed By – Mainroads Music Group

Keith Thomas – Kaleidoscope – 1986

You might be listening to this thinking you don’t know Keith Thomas but I can guarantee you’ve heard him or his songs. Keith was/is a prolific studio musician and song writer. He has worked for hundreds (yes I do mean hundreds). I’d offer some names here but there really are just too many but in the Christian market they include Amy Grant, Sandi Patty, and Carman plus many many more. This was his second and last album. Like so many high end studio musicians and writers they find great success right up until they try to release their own album. That said in this case Keith really should have had greater success. This album is fantastic and the quality is there through all 8 tracks. The album did have a CCM single with “It’s Only Natural” making it to #4 which is pretty darn good. The album is very synth heavy and at time has a cool funk feel. This is another one that if you missed it in the 80’s you need to give this one a listen now.

Tracklist
1 – Te Deum – 4:18
2 – It’s Only Natural – 3:54
3 – Pinwheel – 5:07
4 – Imagine – 4:31
5 – Home Away From Home – 3:58
6 – Arms Of Love – 4:04
7 – Suspicious Heart – 3:54
8 – Kaleidoscope – 5:55

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Bill Brunt
Backing Vocals – Donna McElroy, BeBe Winans, Greg Guidry, Lisa Bevill
Bass – Mike Brignardello, Jimmie Lee Sloas
Drum Programming – Mark Hammond
Featuring – BeBe Winans, Donna McElroy, Greg Guidry
Guitar – Jon Goin, Tom Hemby, James Hollihan
Illustration – Jim Osborn
Keyboards [Programming] – Brett Perry
Lyrics By – Paul Smith, BeBe Winans, Brett Perry, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Greg Guidry, Keith Thomas
Music By – Keith Thomas
Photography By – Dean Dixon
Producer – Keith Thomas
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Saxophone – Mark Douthit
Synthesizer – Keith Thomas
Written-by – Keith Thomas

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Mixed At – Gold Mine Studio
Designed At – Private Eye Studio