Ray Mansfield – Page 75

Greg X Volz – No Room in the Middle – 1989

This was Greg’s 3rd solo album and his first on what I suspect is his own label “River Records”. I am actually quite impressed how well he did with a new label release. You can’t argue with an album with 4 top 20 CCM chart hits with “Waitin’ On Someday” doing the best making it to #5. Now we know that CCM chart hits do not translate into sales so I would love to hear some sales numbers for this album as it did struggle with distribution. Anyway let’s get to the album itself. Greg’s excellent vocals dominate as usual. CCM chart numbers mean nothing to me so I think the best track is “Gethsemane”. Unfortunately because it is 7:40 long it will not end up in my regular rotation as quite frankly I get bored with it at about the 5 minute mark. I feel I need to address the “Feelings” track as I can’t decide if it was intentionally quirky or just a bad musical decision. But that’s the end of my criticisms because this is a great album and is a must listen to.

Tracklist
1 – Walk Toward The Light – 4:51
2 – No Room In The Middle – 3:48
3 – Love Moves In A Different Circle – 4:13
4 – The Carpenter – 4:05
5 – I’m Yours – 5:58
6 – Servants And Witnesses – 5:05
7 – Feelings – 5:18
8 – Frontline – 4:19
9 – Gethsemane – 7:38
10 – Waitin’ On Someday – 5:46

Credits
Arranged By – George Atwell, Michael Atwell
Bass – Gary Lunn, Matt Pierson
Co-producer – Greg X. Volz
Design – Camille Engel
Drums – Marvin Steinberg
Guitar – Kirk Henderson, Paul Brannon, Tom Hemby
Keyboards [Additional] – Jonathan David Brown
Keyboards, Arranged By – Carl Marsh
Mastered By – Ken Love
Mixed By, Producer, Recorded By – Jonathan David Brown
Photography By – Russ Harrington
Saxophone – Mark Douthit
Synthesizer – Joe Hogue
Vocals – Greg X. Volz

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – GMI Records
Recorded At – Johnny dB’s Basement
Mixed At – Johnny dB’s Basement
Mastered At – Mastermix
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – River Records
Copyright © – River Records

Paul Smith – Live and Learn – 1986

Paul Smith is probably best known for his time as an Imperial. He replaced Russ Taff in 1981 when Russ left to pursue a solo career. Paul would follow that same path in 1986 with this album. There has been much discussion as to why lead singers fled the Imperials. My best guess (and it’s only a guess) is that it was money. A solo album contract is always better than a group contract. That said as many album as the Imperials were selling I kind of doubt Paul made as much as a solo artist. That said I can guarantee Russ Taff made more money as a solo artist than he did with the Imperials. But really that’s all speculation. Anyway Paul released this album in 1986 on Dayspring Records and it did very well. It had 4 singles on the CCM charts with Never Be Another doing the best climbing to #2. The others didn’t do quite as well but 4 singles on a first solo album is pretty darn good. But keep in mind his musical pedigree guaranteed the album would get noticed. The album is a solid AOR pop album and while a little on the easy listening side for me I still quite enjoyed it.

Tracklist
1 – Everlasting Joy – 4:03
2 – Live And Learn – 4:32
3 – Never Be Another – 3:51
4 – Keep The Light On – 4:05
5 – So Good To Know – 4:11
6 – Let Love Happen To You – 4:43
7 – A Holy Nation – 3:39
8 – Praisemaker – 3:49
9 – Beautiful The Dreamer – 4:00

Credits
Art Direction – Buddy Jackson
Backing Vocals – David Martin, Denny Henson, Greg Guidry, Keith Thomas, Lisa Bevill, Patti Morris, Paul Smith
Bass – Jimmie Lee Sloas
Drum Programming – Keith Thomas, Mark Hammond
Drums – Mark Hammond
Executive Producer – Neal Joseph
Guitar – Jon Goin
Keyboards – Keith Thomas
Percussion – Terry McMillan
Photography – Ron Keith, Scott Bonner
Producer – Keith Thomas
Saxophone – Jim Horn
Synthesizer [Additional Programming] – Brett Perry

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word Records Limited

White Heart – Freedom – 1989

Freedom is the sixth studio album by White Heart and their last with Sparrow Records though Sparrow would continue distribution under an arrangement between the Sparrow Records and Star Song labels. This was also the last album for Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Chris McHugh. I guess you could say this album marked a end of a chapter for the band. I read a few reviews of this album and some reviewers thought this was one of their best if not their best album. I don’t really fall in that camp of reviewers. It’s a pretty good album and there’s a track or two that will make it into my rotation but their best? Not really. The album is a nice mix of CCM singles with 3 making it to the charts and “The River Will Flow” doing the best at #13 There’s also a couple power tracks that are more my style. So my final rating is pretty darn good and has enough different style to satisfy most listeners.

Tracklist
1 – Bye Bye Babylon – 4:06
2 – Sing Your Freedom – 4:59
3 – Let the Kingdom Come – 5:04
4 – Over Me – 5:19
5 – Eighth Wonder – 4:25
6 – Power Tools – 4:20
7 – Invitation – 4:53
8 – The River Will Flow – 6:55
9 – Set the Bridge on Fire – 4:31
10 – Let It Go – 4:15
11 – I’ll Meet You There – 4:22

Credits
Art Direction – Barbara Catanzaro-Hearn, Larry Vigon
Backing Vocals – White Heart
Band [White Heart Is] – Billy Smiley, Chris McHugh, Gordon Kennedy, Mark Gersmehl, Rikk Florian, Tommy Sims
Design – Larry Vigon Studio
Engineer [Additional Engineer] – Byron House
Engineer [Assistant Engineers] – Carry Summers, Kevin Twit, Mark Nevers, Paula Montondo, Shawn McLean, Steve Bishir, Todd Moore
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Lead Vocals – Rikk Florian (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 to 11)
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Producer [Produced By] – Brown Bannister
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright © – The Sparrow Corporation
Recorded At – The Bennett House
Recorded At – The Castle Recording Studios
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Manufactured By – EMI Jax
Published By – Songs Of PolyGram International, Inc.
Published By – Yellow Jacket Music, Inc.
Published By – Word Music
Published By – Birdwing Music
Published By – Kid And The Squid Music

Ben Okafor – Nkiru – 1989

Occasionally I just take a day and root through a record company library to see what I find. This is one I found while rooting through the Refuge library. I’d never heard of the artist though actually he’s relatively well known for the period. Ben claims to have grown up as a child soldier in Nigeria. These stories don’t usually end well but his does as he was able to immigrate to the U.K. He was actually a well known artist in the anti apartheid movement and shared the stage with several prominent artists at that time. He has continued on with his somewhat unique style today. As for that style I would best describe it as pop oriented folk reggae. The industry refers to it as Afrikanese reggae but I don’t care for that description so I’ll go with mine.

Tracklist
1 – Wake Up – 4:38
2 – Got Me Running – 4:56
3 – Oke Na Ngwele – 2:55
4 – Man Of Sorrow – 4:28
5 – I Need Love – 5:17
6 – Raise Your Conscience – 5:10
7 – Filippino – 3:33
8 – World Gone Crazy – 3:57
9 – No Matter What It Is – 4:27
10 – Look Out – 2:34

Ordained Fate – Ordained Fate – 1992

Ordained Fate is odd in that 3 or the 4 members are female. The three girls started out the band in the mid 80’s under the name Cryptic Axe in Zion, IL. They started out as a secular metal band and even recorded a demo. The band became Christians in the late 80’s and went into the studio in 1989 to record a demo as Ordained Fate. The demo did fairly well and they recorded a second one in 1990. They were subsequently signed to a one album contract with Wonderland which was a sub label of Word. The album was well received but not widely available unfortunately. Wonderland/Word didn’t bring the band back in for a second album. They did however do a self produced effort in 1995 but of course with no distribution it was not widely available. This album is refreshing as it’s nice to hear some fairly hard metal from a female band. While not my style I was really surprised at the high quality of this release and I’m a little surprised it didn’t do better. I am guessing that it may not have been well promoted as Word really shouldn’t have been meddling in the Metal market as they knew nothing about it.

Tracklist
1 – Let’s Make A Deal – 4:33
2 – Gethsemane – 6:13
3 – Holy Wars – 4:45
4 – Wonderful Love – 4:15
5 – Gold Cross – 4:33
6 – Tame The Tongue – 5:23
7 – The Election – 3:53
8 – One Of The Insane – 5:19
9 – No Death – 4:26

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Marge Curtner
Design [Sleeve Design], Photography By – Lark
Drums, Vocals – Terry Cvengros
Engineer [2nd Engineer], Keyboards – Christopher Mosher
Executive-Producer – Caesar Kalinowski, Peter Gavin Morkel
Lead Guitar, Vocals – Anette Cvengros
Lead Vocals, Guitar – Pam Scott
Producer, Engineer – Caesar Kalinowski

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word Communications Ltd.
Distributed By – Word Ltd.
Manufactured By – Word Ltd.
Manufactured By – JVC
Copyright © – Big Rage! Productions
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Big Rage! Productions
Recorded At – The Sonic Temple

John Fischer – Johnny’s Cafe – 1978

This was John’s last album with Light though Light did release a Greatest hits album in the mid 80’s. Light threw a lot of money at this album including hiring an entire horn section. Though recorded in 1978 it wasn’t released until Mar of 1979. I suspect this was partly due to ongoing production as at times it’s over produced. To be clear let me say right away that I enjoyed this album but I have some criticism. First of all the horn section adds nothing to the album and really should have been left off and money saved. My other complaint is the varying styles. At time it’s disco, at time 70’s Jesus Music, and at times classic rock. Not a good flow. That said all the tracks are well done and I like each of them individually but I just don’t feel they should be stuffed onto the same album. I do love the title track and it will be going in my regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Johnny’s Cafe – 4:10
2 – One Lane Road – 4:02
3 – Nothin’ In This World – 3:32
4 – Circle Of Blessing – 3:50
5 – Talking Faces – 4:15
6 – Pawn In The Game – 3:36
7 – Right On Time – 3:05
8 – Hard Line – 3:55
9 – Blessed – 3:12
10 – Midnight On Main Street – 3:30

Credits
John Fischer – Songwriter, Vocals
Dan Collins – Producer, Background Vocals
Dan Ferguson – Guitars
Steve Forman – Percussion
Leon Gaer – Bass
Clark Gassman – Arrangements, Keyboards
David Kemper – Drums
Paul Leim – Drums
Tim May – Guitars
Don Menza – Saxophone
Jack Joseph Puig – Engineer
Tom Rotella – Guitars
Rick Vito – Guitars

Dead Artist Syndrome – Prints of Darkness – 1990

Dead Artist Syndrome is actually simply Brian Healy and a host of friends that over the year, records and concerts rotated in and out in support of their friend who is easily Christian Music most unheralded alternative artists. Too often pigeon holed as exclusively a “goth” artists, DAS was an alternative that presented a darker, gloomier and deeper perspective to the world than most in CCM. The label most obviously comes from Healy’s baritone and at time monotone vocals associated with goth rock. It is not a whole lot different from many Mike Knott (who makes in appearance here) created projects. On “Prints” Healy is joined by Undercover’s Ojo Taylor and Gym Nicholson and it shows. There is an atmospheric sound to the record that is reminiscent of Undercover as well the Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Sisters of Mercy. Healy willfully uses satire, sarcasm and symbolism throughout and, as a result, often misunderstood. Healy is an ordained minister and infuses much of his lyrics with doctrinal ideologies. I was working for Frontline Records when the second album was released and met Brian on a few occasions as result. I always found him to be incredibly nice, very, very funny and quite intelligent and interesting. These virtues would appear within the content of all of DAS’s music and is most evident on this debut. The opening track, “Christmas” is a sly indictment on the commercialization of the “Winter Break” and the rejection of the truth of the season. “Red” appears to be inspired by the story of Hosea and the harlotry of God’s people over the generations. I love the album’s finale, “Reach,” which is a very simply expression of worship in a somber and powerful way. It reminds the listener of the need to reach out to God in glory and honor.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Christmas – 3:35
2 – Amy – 3:41
3 – Dancing Without Touching – 3:25
4 – Vision – 3:35
5 – Hope – 4:35
6 – Dance With Me – 4:04
7 – Think Of Me – 3:16
8 – Red – 3:40
9 – Reach – 3:30

Credits
Backing Vocals – Annica Svensson, Brian Miller, Camille Miller
Bass, Guitar [Acoustic] – Mike Knott
Bass, Keyboards – Michael Saurerbrey
Executive Producer – Thom Roy
Guitar – Gym Nicholson
Guitar [Rhythm & Acoustic] – Chris Harvey
Keyboards – Jeff Sheets, Ojo Taylor
Mixed By – Brian Healy, Ojo Taylor, Thom Roy
Producer – Brian Healy
Recorded By – Brad Jeffers, Dave Hackbarth, Ojo Taylor, Scott Macklin
Synthesizer [Synclavier] – Whitney Quinn
Vocals – Brian Healy

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Dead Artist Syndrome
Copyright © – Dead Artist Syndrome
Produced For – The Points
Recorded At – Whitefield Studios
Recorded At – Neverland
Mixed At – Neverland
Published By – Blatant Christian Music
Published By – B-1 Music
Made By – Disctronics Group, United States – 112970

Philadelphia – Tell The Truth – 1984

This was the first album from Philadelphia who were out of Shreveport, Louisiana. Apparently the band had been together for quite some time at this point (1984) and actually started in the late 70’s as a secular band. When I was researching this album I was surprised at the reviews. It seems like some people loved the album and some just liked it and a few definitely did not like it. I usually don’t see such a variety of opinions on an album. Well I fall in the like it to love it category. I know I would have loved this album in 1984 but I doubt it ever made it anywhere near Canada so I would never have heard it. Yes I agree with others that the production is thin but I can forgive that because I think the writing is excellent. There is an 8:43 song which I feel is a little over the top but it’s an OK listen. My favourite track is actually the one most people seem to hate. “No Time For Honey” definitely will make my regular rotation playlist, probably once a week.

Tracklist
1 – Tell The Truth – 4:53
2 – Livin’ In Love – 5:26
3 – No Time For Honey – 3:26
4 – No Compromise – 4:01
5 – Razor’s Edge – 5:01
6 – The Life Inside – 3:07
7 – New Jerusalem – 8:43

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Brian Clark
Drums – Brian Martini
Executive Producer – Bill Bafford
Guitar – Phil Scholling, Ronn Flowers
Layout, Design – Scott Waters

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Patmos Records
Manufactured By – Patmos Records
Distributed By – Patmos Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Patmos Records
Copyright © – Moona Music Company

Mike Warnke – Alive! – 1976

This was Mike’s first album. Strangely I missed this one in the 80’s and just now listened to it. It was quite funny as I always think Mike is.

It should be noted that Warnke was revealed as a liar and fraudster in 1991 by Cornerstone magazine. This recording is offered as a historic record of what was being listened to in the Christian community in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Tracklist
1 – Preacher Lessons And Cookie Cutters – 3:49
2 – Tennessee Home And Blankety-Blank – 3:00
3 – Catholics And Hell – 1:13
4 – Bible Stories And Jonah – 2:59
5 – Do’s And Don’ts – 2:37
6 – The Occult – 1:39
7 – The Jesus Freaks – 6:33
8 – Scuzball – 3:27
9 – Catholics And Heaven – 2:20
10 – Suicide And The Gospel Trio – 1:57
11 – The Navy’s Number One Grade A Fruitcake – Wow! – 6:18
12 – Three To A Cubicle – 7:01
13 – The Gideon Bible And The Mop Closet – 2:29
14 – Like Yourself – 2:23

Credits
Engineer – Fred Cameron, John Mir
Liner Notes – Honeytree
Other [Introduction] – John Lloyd
Photography By [Photographer] – 20-20 Photographics, Inc., Ron Pinter
Producer – Paul Craig

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Superior Sound Studios
Mastered At – EMI

Xalt – Dark War – 1988

Here’s another great Metal band out of Michigan. This was Xalt’s first album which I guess is technically a demo but is probably best described as self released. It was only released on cassette which is a pity because the quality was, well, questionable. The album was finally re-released in 2017 by Retroactive Records with 6 bonus tracks. I have heard however that the quality is still questionable. Doesn’t matter what format you want to distribute music on, it’s only going to sound at best as it’s source. Anyway we do have a pretty good Metal album here that leans commercial but not overly. If you only have time for one track try out “God In A Box”.

Tracklist
1 – The Cross – 3:13
2 – God In A Box – 2:49
3 – Where Victory Storms – 2:59
4 – Angry Fire – 3:59
5 – Ready For The Fight – 2:29
6 – A Warrior’s Honour – 2:43
7 – Looking Down A Loaded Gun – 4:13
8 – Palace Daydream – 2:06
9 – Soldiers In The Mist – 3:02
10 – Dark War – 5:11

Credits
Bass Guitar – Steve Davis
Drums – Todd Gleason
Engineer – John Frazier
Guitar – James Erdman
Lead Vocals – Scott Doerfler
Mixed By – Hank Horton, John Frazier, Xalt
Producer – Hank Horton

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Harvest Studios