Ray Mansfield – Page 97

Amy Grant – My Father’s Eyes – 1979

Amy’s second album showed her maturing as a singer. She wrote or co-wrote eight of the tracks making this album a learning opportunity for her. Of course the production and high quality studio musicians gives it a strong polished fresh album sound. I believe at this point everyone, but possibly Amy, could see where she was headed. A&M records couldn’t jump on the bandwagon quick enough with dollar signs in their eyes. The album was pretty straight forward and really the only thing that garnered any extra attention was a cover of Jesse Winchester’s song “Lay Down”. It was a secular song but someone changed the line “Let your daddy kiss it” to “Let your Daddy lift it” and POOF you have a worship song. Pretty lame in my opinion. The album was a huge success garnering the #1 spot on the Billboard Inspirational Albums chart as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary. Of course it blew up the CCM charts but at this point she could have sung the alphabet and charted. That said it is a good album and I won’t take that away from her.

Tracklist
1 – Father’s Eyes – 4:03
2 – Faith Walkin’ People – 3:26
3 – Always The Winner – 2:28
4 – Never Give You Up – 3:20
5 – Bridegroom – 2:48
6 – Lay Down (The Burden Of Your Heart) – 2:44
7 – You Were There – 2:29
8 – O Sacred Head – 2:04
9 – All That I Need Is You – 3:30
10 – Fairytale – 3:11
11 – Giggle – 2:49
12 – There Will Never Be Another – 3:37
13 – Keep It On Going – 1:04

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Jon Goin (tracks: 1, 4, 12), Larry Byrom (tracks: 6, 10), Ron Elder (tracks: 3)
Banjo – Larry Byrom (tracks: 11)
Bass – Bob Sinkovic (tracks: 5), Bob Wray (tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11), Jack Williams (tracks: 4, 10), Steve Schaffer (tracks: 1)
Drums – Roger Clark
Electric Guitar – Jon Goin (tracks: 1, 5, 7, 9, 10), Larry Byrom (tracks: 2 to 4,)
Flute – Denis Solee (tracks: 1, 5, 11)
Keyboards – Bobby Ogdin (tracks: 1 to 3, 7, 9), Marty McCall (tracks: 5), Randy Goodrum (tracks: 4)
Organ – Shane Keister (tracks: 2, 6, 10)
Percussion – Farrell Morris (tracks: 2, 7, 9)
Producer – Chris Christian
Xylophone – Farrell Morris (tracks: 11)

Pete Carlson – Hideaway – 1977

This is Pete’s second album and his first with small label Chrism. There’s not really much to say about this album. It is the standard easy listening/AOR album of the time but I’m not denigrating Pete at all. He does what he does well but with most albums of this style it’s hard to make them stand out. One stand out though is the song Up And Down. It was well ahead of it’s time and I would have loved to hear someone cover it in the 80’s. Imagine a DA version, would have loved that.

Tracklist
1 – Loving The Lonely Nights
2 – Praise Song
3 – Heavenly Places
4 – I’m So Glad That You Waited
5 – Did You Ever Want To Fly
6 – Up And Down
7 – It Took Only Once
8 – The Call
9 – Someday Soon
10 – I’m Gonna Live Forever

Mad at the World – Flowers In The Rain – 1988

Mike Pendleton joins the Rose brothers for the second album from Mad at the World. This album picks up where their first one left off. On this album their sound did evolve however and on some tracks we can here a tint of The Cult and/or The Cure. The Depeche Mode sound is still the mainstay of the album and you can’t help but hear it. The album reached number 38 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Christian Chart.

Tracklist
1 – Fearfully And Wonderfully – 3:50
2 – Flowers In The Rain – 4:15
3 – Why – 4:36
4 – Puppet Strings – 4:17
5 – No Mistakes – 3:18
6 – Wait – 3:29
7 – I Don’t Wanna Go There – 3:17
8 – Faith Is A Perfect Road – 3:36
9 – In My Dream – 3:51
10 – Lovelight In The Midnight – 5:08
11 – This Lie – 3:30
12 – Dancing On Your Grave – 5:58

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Ed McTaggart
Band [Mad At The World Is], Keyboards – Mike Pendleton
Band [Mad At The World Is], Vocals, Drum Programming – Randy Rose
Band [Mad At The World Is], Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar [Guitars], Drum Programming – Roger Rose
Design Concept [Cover Concept By] – Brian Kay, Ed McTaggart
Graphics [Logo Colorization By] – Brent Gordon
Illustration [Rose By] – Roger*
Photography By, Illustration [Cover Illustration By] – Bob Rowe
Producer [Produced By] – Roger Rose
Screen Printing [Litho-Prep By] – Orbis
Songwriter [All Songs Written By], Arranged By – Roger Rose

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Frontline Records
Copyright (c) – Frontline Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Recorded At – MATW Studios
Mixed At – MATW Studios
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus
Published By – Broken Songs

Darrell Mansfield Band – Revelation [Expanded Edition] 1985 / 2012

This 1985 release from Darrell is probably one of if not his best album. This album definitely had a hard rock feel that made it stand out from his previous albums. While it is difficult to name singles on any christian album this album had plenty. Darrell brought in some outside talent for this album. Guitarist Paul Gilbert joins the band for two tracks, “After The Storm” and “Jesus Will Reign”. Harmonica player Rod Piazza joins in on “Don’t Let Them Stand In Your Way”. I always found it interesting that one of the greatest harmonica players in the world would invite another harmonica player to work on his album. The album was re-released in 1987 on CD but does not appear to have been remastered as I found a noise that is both on the vinyl and CD release. As it is on a silent section it would have been removed in a remaster. The album was yet again re-released in 2012 but this time as an Expanded Edition. It includes 7 bonus live tracks recorded at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa California in 1988. These tracks appear all be from Darrell’s 1988 “Live” release which is an album I’ve never even seen for sale.

Tracklist
1 – Thunder ‘N Lightning – 4:46
2 – After The Storm – 4:42
3 – Runnin’ – 2:57
4 – Give It Up – 3:41
5 – Bible Study – 4:21
6 – Jesus Will Reign – 4:29
7 – Tokyo – 3:46
8 – Don’t Let Them Stand In Your Way – 3:46
9 – Waiting – 6:02
Expanded Edition Bonus Tracks
10 – Lay Down This World – 3:31
11 – No More Blues – 4:08
12 – Runnin’ – 2:45
13 – Thunder ‘N Lightning – 5:22
14 – Heaven Southwestern – 9:14
15 – Jesus Will Reign – 4:31
16 – Bible Study – 8:41

Credits
Backing Vocals [Additional] – Kenny Samuels*
Bass – Darrel Cooke*
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jeff Nicholson (4)
Drums, Backing Vocals – Greg Eckler
Drums, Percussion – Terl Bryant
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Bob Anglin, Eric Turner (2)
Harmonica – Rod Piazza (tracks: B3)
Lead Guitar – Paul Gilbert (tracks: A2, B1)
Lead Vocals, Harmonica – Darrell Mansfield
Mastered By [Runout Etching] – JM*
Painting – Rick Griffin (2)
Producer – Darrell Mansfield, Doug Doyle, Eric Turner (2)
Producer, Engineer – Wally Grant

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

Axia – Charge It Up & Blast It Out! – 1985

Axia was a great Swedish metal band and this EP was their entry into the market. The EP was released in very limited numbers but the band re-released it in 2009 on CD. If you liked their 1988 self titled release you’ll like this EP. It has a bit of a rawer sound but it suits the band well.

Tracklist
1 – Increasing Action – 2:29
2 – Forced Into Darkness – 4:38
3 – Never Ending Love – 3:33
4 – The Savage Ramblers – 3:07

Credits
Peo Pettersson – Vocals
Morgan Blomquist – Guitars
Niclas Ericson – Bass
Michael Alexandersen – Drums

Matrix – Monkey See, Monkey Do – 1984

Before there was Bride there was Matrix. Matrix put a lot of effort into getting their music out regardless of a record deal. They actually produced 4 Demo’s before getting a record deal and this is #2 of those 4. This demo had a couple tracks that would later be released as Bride. I listened to both the demo and album versions of “Heroes”, and “All Hallow’s Eve” and I think I prefer the raw sound of the demo versions to be honest. All in all this is a very good sounding Demo and must have been a great prize to have at the time. Of course now it’s almost impossible to come by but luckily Bride re-released all their demo’s on CD in 2001.

1 – Heroes – 3:29
2 – Fright – 3:26
3 – Remember Me – 4:22
4 – Now You See Me (Now You Don’t) – 3:08
5 – All Hallow’s Eve – 2:37
6 – Slippin’ into the Light – 2:58
7 – We Are Going to Make It – 3:37
8 – Look at Me Now – 4:11
9 – He’s the Flyer – 3:42
10 – What Must I Do – 3:56

Adrian Snell – Listen to the Peace – 1978

This is Adrian’s 3rd album and it continues the style he became famous for. It is easy listening with a hint of Jazz. Adrian was becoming fairly well known by this album but hadn’t yet adjusted to a style that was easier for the public to identify with. Unfortunately, when artists put out so many albums with such a similar style it is hard to point out anything that is unique about the album. This is one of those times.

Tracklist
1 – Reach Me – 3:57
2 – Peace Be With You – 2:26
3 – Through The City Noise – 3:30
4 – Judas – 4:30
5 – Travelling – 3:38
6 – That’s Me In The Corner – 2:25
7 – Turn Your Vengeance – 6:40
8 – Losing – 5:10
9 – Children Of The Dream (Psalm 126) – 3:42
10 – Listen To The Peace – 4:45

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Adrian Snell
Arranged By [Strings, Brass & Harp] – Bill Thorp
Bass – Gerry Page
Drums – Keith Entwistle
Engineer – Andy Kidd, Helmut Kaufmann
Graphics – Phil Thomson
Illustration – Eugene Press
Keyboards – Adrian Snell
Photography By [Cover Portrait] – Audrey Cox
Photography By [Inside Cover] – Phil Thomson
Producer – John Pantry

Crumbächer-Duke ‎- Worlds Away – 1990

When Crumbächer dissolved members Stephen Crumbächer and Christopher Duke went on to record this album and called in David Huff from White Heart to help them out on drums. The album has more guitar than their releases as Crumbächer but Stephen’s signature keyboards are still there though with more piano than usual. As I listened to it I couldn’t help feeling like it was Crumbächer all grown up. The songs are much better both lyrically and musically. That said the album just didn’t hold my interest like the previous Crumbächer albums did but it’s a good album and deserves a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Worlds Away – 4:18
2 – Heavy Rhythm – 4:15
3 – Summer Children – 3:25
4 – The Last Time – 5:07
5 – Desert Lightning – 4:09
6 – Latter Rains – 6:35
7 – Hooks – 4:04
8 – No Kind Of Magic – 4:11
9 – Perfect Crime – 3:00
10 – Tears Of Joy – 4:32
11 – Rock In The Heart Place – 4:20
12 – Over & Over, On & On – 3:50

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Christopher Duke
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Design – Joe Potter
Drums – David Huff
Electric Guitar – Christopher Duke
Engineer – Eric Kibbe
Keyboards – Stephen Crumbächer
Piano – Stephen Crumbächer
Producer – Christopher Duke, Stephen Crumbächer
Vocals – Stephen Crumbächer

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B

Modern Mission – Modern Mission – 1985

Modern Mission was a little known mid 80’s New Wave band. The album is very strong lyrically with some very “challenging” lyrics. Brian Quincy Newcomb of CCM wrote that the band “may only do one thing, but they do it quite well.” The members of the band are somewhat cryptic as only one member was identified by his real name. The album credits state that John Mehler was involved in the project.

Tracklist
1 – The Race
2 – Time Is Running Out
3 – Stick To Your Guns
4 – Through The Fire
5 – Hide My Heart
6 – Never Let Me Go
7 – Magazine
8 – Time To Fight
9 – When Heaven’s Crying
10 – Believe In You

Credits
Arranged By – John Mehler, Modern Mission
Producer – Gord Driver*
Recorded By, Mixed By – Gord Driver*

Credits
Arranged By – John Mehler, Modern Mission
Producer – Gord Driver
Recorded By, Mixed By – Gord Driver
Vocals – Iggy
Guitar – Dave Newman
Bass – Sugarbear
Drums – Zac

Barratt Band – Playin’ in the City – 1981

This was the first of 2 albums from the Barratt Band. The band featured Tim Hatwell from After The Fire and Norman Barratt from Gravy Train. It was rounded out by Russell Caldwell and Dave Morris. This album was probably one of the best British CCM albums from the early 80’s. It has a strong Pop Rock feel and really should have made it onto secular radio especially with Norman Barratt’s vocals being so strong. The band along with Alwyn Wall warmed up for Larry Norman’s 1981 live Friends on Tour album.

Tracklist
1 – The Only One
2 – Not The Way
3 – Your Love
4 – Playing In The City
5 – Coming Of The Man
6 – Bad Mean World
7 – My Spirit’s Free
8 – Voice In The Night
9 – Never Seen Your Face

Credits
Bass Guitar – Tim Hatwell
Drums – Russell Caldwell
Keyboards – Dave Morris
Keyboards [Additional] – Walter Bollard
Written-By – Tim Hatwell (tracks: 7)
Written-By, Guitar, Vocals – Norman Barratt