Albums – Real 80s CCM

David & The Giants – Long Time Coming – 1992

This is the 1992 offering from the Huff family. There wasn’t any news with the band since their last album so let’s just discuss the album at hand. The opening track is a good Rock tune but not entirely representative of the album which takes a yacht rock turn pretty quick. That said “Dream On” has a hint of Bon Jovi and is without a question the best track on the album. I mean it’s not even close. I am a big fan of David & The Giants but this particular album didn’t really do much for me with the exception of “Dream On” which I think might be one of their best tracks ever.

Tracklist
1 – Love Won’t Leave You Alone – 4:26
2 – Live And Learn – 3:55
3 – Long Time Coming – 4:35
4 – Listen To Your Heart – 4:00
5 – Dream On – 5:29
6 – I’m Still Rockin’ – 6:04
7 – Do You Love Your Neighbor – 4:53
8 – No Matter How Long – 4:30
9 – No Shortcuts – 4:39
10 – Stumbling Block To A Stepping Stone – 5:04
11 – In My Father’s House – 4:01

Credits
Backing Vocals – Clayborn Huff, David W. Huff, Rayborn Huff
Bass Guitar – Clayborn Huff
Drums, Percussion – Lance Huff
Engineer – David W. Huff, Jeff Mingle, Rayborn Huff, Scott Carter
Guest, Backing Vocals – Beverly Freeman, Felicia Turner, Jalea Wade, James Bolton, Lloyd Bustard, Mellody Freeman, Phillip Clark, Sheletha Street, Tammy Perine, Tanglyn Bolton
Guest, Programmed By – Tommy Sims
Guitar, Lead Vocals – David W. Huff
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Performer – David & The Giants
Photography By – Harold Head
Producer – David W. Huff
Programmed By, Keyboards – Rayborn Huff
Remix – David W. Huff

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Giant Records
Copyright © – Giant Records
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution
Published By – Huff, Huff And Huff Publishing
Recorded At – Huff Recording Studios
Mastered At – Mastermix

Phil Keaggy – Getting Closer – 1985

This is Phil’s offering for 1985. It was not that well received by his biggest fans but I love it. Criticisms of the album were that it didn’t feature his guitar playing but instead was more of a pop album. This of course is the exact reason I love it. I’m more of a pop rock kind of guy and less of a guitar virtuoso kind of guy. It was a little heavy on the electronic drums but that doesn’t bother me. As usual for Keaggy many of the tracks had one too many verses making them unnecessarily long but this is part of who Keaggy is so I shouldn’t fault it. “Sounds” does a good job of highlighting his guitar skills so that track is there for the crowd that loves him for his guitar skills. The album includes the original version of “I Will Be There” which I think is a better version than the one that would show up on Crimson And Blue in 1993. The CD release for this album in 1998 included 2 bonus track that we have included in our upload.

Tracklist
1 – Where Has Our Love Gone – 3:14
2 – Passport – 4:13
3 – I Will Be There – 5:00
4 – Getting Closer – 4:09
5 – Movie – 4:59
6 – Sounds – 6:05
7 – Like An Island – 3:50
8 – Look Deep Inside – 5:08
9 – Riverton – 3:54
10 – Reaching Out – 4:31
11 – Get Up And Go – 2:46
12 – Sunrise – 3:20

Credits
Art Direction, Design [Photo Concept] – Stan Evenson
Backing Vocals – John Mehler
Bass – John Patitucci
Drums – Dave Spurr
Engineer – Bob Lockhart, Chris Taylor, Joe Bellamy, Mike Ross, Peter Haden, Terry Lang, Walter Grant
Executive-Producer, Engineer – Bob Cotton
Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Drum Programming, Producer, Written By – Phil Keaggy
Keyboards – Richard Souther
Keyboards, Drum Programming [Linn], Producer, Engineer – Smitty Price
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Photography By – Lisa Powers
Programmed By [Fairlight Synth] – Rhett Lawrence
Written-By – Bernadette Keaggy, Dave Spurr, John Mehler, Richard Souther

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Nissi Records
Copyright © – Nissi Records
Distributed By – Lexicon Distribution
Published By – Marguerite Music, Emmaus Road Music
Recorded At – Weddington Studios, Whitefield Studios, Peace In The Valley Recording
Mastered At – Future Disc
Pressed By – Electrosound Group Midwest, Inc.

Bloodgood – To Germany, With Love! – 1993

This is the original release of “To Germany, With Love!”. This CD was limited to 990 copies and were hand numbered. It was re-released in 2000 and that run was limited to 2000 copies. This concert was recorded in Freudenstadt, Erlangen, Stuttgart on March 23rd, 26th, and 28th, 1993. This tour would mark the end of the band as they split after this tour. The group however did reform in 2006 and perform several times a year since in the U.S. and Europe. Not a lot to say about the album. It contains all the hits you think it would and it’s a pretty good mix for a concert album. I’m not a big Bloodgood fan but I enjoyed this one and definitely would have enjoyed being at this concert.

Tracklist
1 – Kingdom Come – 4:43
2 – Heaven On Earth – 3:56
3 – Let My People Go – 5:51
4 – Out Of Love – 4:10
5 – All Stand Together – 5:04
6 – Hey You! – 4:29
7 – Anguish And Pain – 5:52
8 – Escape From The Fire – 6:56
9 – I Want To Live In Your Heart – 4:07
10 – Self Destruction & Drum Solo – 6:38
11 – Crucify – 4:06
12 – Intro & Messiah – 9:57
13 – Seven – 5:43

Credits
Bass, Backing Vocals – Michael Bloodgood
Drums – Paul Roraback
Guitar – Paul Jackson
Keyboards – David McKay
Lead Vocals – Les Carlsen

Lauren Stalnecker – Hymn To Him – 1989

Lauren is a member of the legendary Stalnecker family. They were a gospel family band that was very big during the late 60′ into the late 70’s. this appears to be Lauren’s only solo release on a label but he had several releases within the family. He also had a release as Chip Stalnecker which I assume was a nickname. this album is not in the tradition of him family’s albums and in fact is a very pop album. Of course this is where the problem comes in for this album. I would never have purchased an album with “Hymn” in the title, especially from a Stalnecker family member. But that would be unfair because this is a great little pop album that many younger people would have enjoyed. This is just a quick lesson that album names have consequences. All that said this is a fun 80’s pop album that leans a little more Easy Listening but it’s pretty darn good.

Tracklist
1 – Hymn To Him – 4:07
2 – City Of Gold – 4:33
3 – Prayerfully – 3:49
4 – Love Will Conquer All – 4:15
5 – The Great I Am – 4:41
6 – Yes To The Life – 4:34
7 – Every Grain Of Sand – 4:10
8 – Heaven – 3:41
9 – You Made The Difference In Me – 5:01
10 – Stand Up – 3:34

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Backing Vocals – Allison Beach
Co-producer, Engineer, Keyboards, Lacquer Cut By – Tim Heintz
Drums – David Huff
Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Jahnsen
Guitar – Marty Walsh
Keyboards – Lauren Stalnecker
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Producer, Engineer, Backing Vocals – Bill Baumgart

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A, Jedi Masters

Amy Grant – The Collection – 1986

We normally do not upload compilation albums because we upload the source albums instead. However sometimes a compilation album contains new track and in that case we do upload them. This is one of those albums. However for this release we’ve only uploaded the LP even though the CD had 7 more tracks because we are only interested in the two new tracks “Stay For Awhile” and “Love Can Do.” Just a quick comment on the 2 new tracks, they are both pretty good pop tracks and if you’re an Amy fan they are a must hear.

Tracklist
1 – Stay For A While – 5:34
2 – Find A Way – 3:25
3 – Everywhere I Go – 4:09
4 – Angels – 4:12
5 – El Shaddai – 4:05
6 – Love Can Do – 4:21
7 – Sing Your Praise To The Lord – 3:12
8 – Father’s Eyes – 4:03
9 – Thy Word – 3:19
10 – Emmanuel – 3:08

Credits (for the two new tracks)
Backing Vocals – Amy Grant, Chris Harris, Gary Chapman, Greg Volz, Mark Heimermann, Richard Page
Bass – Nathan East
Co-producer, Engineer – John Potoker
Drums – Paul Leim
Guitar – Dann Huff
Keyboards – David Gamson, Michael W. Smith, Robbie Buchanan, Shane Keister
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
Producer – Brown Bannister
Programmed By [Synclavier Programming] – Steve Schaeffer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd., GMB/Révélation Media, Nye Toner / Teovision, Finngospel, Sephora Diffusion, Emmaus Ministries, GMI Records, Filadelfia Forlag, La Sorgente Music, Master Music, Grace Music, Master-Vision-S.A., Leon Music, Kir Music, Pila Music
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging
Made By – Shorewood Packaging

Eric Champion – Vertical Reality – 1994

I’ll be honest that for some reason I knew nothing about Eric in the 80’s. However after listening to his work I can honestly say I think he was the synth king of CCM era for his period and this was his greatest achievement in that genre. While his album up until now had a synth pop feel this one took a turn towards sci-fi synth. This may actually be one of the best sci-fi synth albums I have ever heard. It came completely out of left field because as I said Eric was a pop artist. While I’m not saying he wasn’t a great artist his stuff was mainly just simple pop. Not this album. This album is more like a piece of art and I’m comfortable categorizing this as a conceptual album though it may not have a traditional conceptual structure. It should also be said that it is strongly influenced by Tommy Sims (White Heart). He helped Eric with everything from production to instruments, in fact he played most of the instruments on the album. The album sold very well especially considering the genre with over 100,000 sold. If I had one small criticism for the album is that it was 1994 and this style fit better into the mid 80′. That said who cares, this is a great album.

Tracklist
1 – Transmit – 1:55
2 – N2 The Next Dimension – 5:09
3 – Verticality – 3:29
4 – Walk On Water – 4:16
5 – More About You – 4:28
6 – My Life Is In Your Hands – 4:34
7 – Dancing In The Fire – 4:40
8 – Endless – 4:59
9 – Journey – 4:49
10 – Touch – 6:21
11 – Believe It To See It – 5:18

Credits
Accordion – John Painter
Art Direction – Diane Barnes
Backing Vocals – Angelo & Veronica Petrucci, Chris Eaton, Cindy Morgan, Danny Duncan, Eric Champion, Fleming Painter, Tommy Sims
Classical Guitar – George Cocchini
Design – Dylan Tran, Gabrielle Raumberger
Drums – Chris McHugh
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Greg Parker, Martin Woodlee, Pete Martinez, Wayne Mehl
Executive-Producer – Mark Maxwell
Flugelhorn – Mike Haynes, – John Painter
Guitar [Sci-Fi Guitar] – George Cocchini
Management [Artist Management] – Champion & Smallbone
Mastered By – Ken Love
Organ [Hammond B-3] – Phil Madeira
Photography By – Ruth Leitman
Producer, Concept By [Vertical Reality Concept And Story By], Recorded By, Arranged By, Programmed By [Keyboard Programming], Drum Programming, Keyboards, Backing Vocals [All Others] – Eric Champion
Producer, Executive-Producer, Recorded By, Arranged By, Arranged By [Horn And String Arrangements], Programmed By [Keyboard Programming], Drum Programming, Keyboards, Bass, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals [All Others] – Tommy Sims
Recorded By, Mixed By – Rick Will
Recorded By, Producer [Production Assistant], Programmed By [Keyboard Programming Assistant] – Danny Duncan
Saxophone [Sax] – Mark Douthit
Trombone – Chris McDonald

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word Records & Music
Copyright © – Word Records & Music
Produced For – 1 World Productions, Theopolis Productions
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus
Recorded At – Lo-Key, The Dugout, Theopolis, Sixteenth Avenue Sound
Mixed At – Sixteenth Avenue Sound
Mastered At – Mastermix

White Heart – Power House – 1990

This album was new era in the history of White Heart. They had left Sparrow records and this was their first album on Star Song. Chris McHugh, Gordon Kennedy, and Tommy Sims had left the band to become studio musicians and Brian Wooten, Anthony Sallee , and Mark Nemer were brought in as replacements. I’m sure there some great gossipy reason for the big change but here we just like to say “That’s Rock & Roll”. The result of this was their most successful album with “Desert Rose”, “Independence Day”, and “Powerhouse” all apparently making it to number one on the rock charts. I had not listened to this album before this week and wow I was stunned with how great it is. It has lots of gimmicky intros which I usually hate but I love it on this album. Producer Bill Drescher nailed the intros. He failed however on the outro’s which are way too long and radio friendly for a commercial album. Small thing that drives me nuts. One final thing I will say is that “Independence Day” should have been used in the Movie of the same name which had horrible music. What a banger of a tune.

Tracklist
1 – Independence Day – 5:37
2 – Powerhouse – 4:30
3 – Desert Rose – 4:41
4 – Lovers And Dreamers – 4:35
5 – Nailed Down – 5:09
6 – Messiah – 5:19
7 – A Love Calling – 6:24
8 – Answer The Call – 4:44
9 – Storyline – 4:20
10 – Lay It Down – 4:57

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals – Billy Smiley
Art Direction – Toni Thigpen
Backing Vocals – Chris Rodriguez, Gordon Kennedy, Marty McCall
Bass Guitar – Anthony Sallee
Co-producer [Additional Production] – Billy Smiley, Mark Gersmehl
Computer [Fairlight], Percussion – Carl Marsh
Coordinator [Project] – Malcolm Greenwood
Drums, Percussion – Mark Nemer
Engineer [Assistant] – Barry Dixon, Lee Groitzsch, Richard Engstrom, Roy Gamble, Shawn McLean
Executive-Producer – Darrell A. Harris
Keyboards, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Mark Gersmehl
Layout, Design – Tufts Design Studio
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Brian Wooten
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Riq Florian
Management – Malcolm Greenwood
Photography By [Back Cover] – Mark Tucker
Photography By [Cover] – Bob Forti
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Bill Drescher

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Star Song
Copyright © – Star Song
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Recorded At – The Bennett House, Midtown Tone & Volume, Quad Studios
Mixed At – Studio 55, Los Angeles

The All Saved Freak Band – Brainwashed – 1975

This is the second album from All Saved Freak Band. The recording of this album came after a very strange period in the history of the band. Lead guitarist Glenn Schwartz had actually been with both James Gang and Pacific Gas & Electric. He left the secular music scene to join an Ohio religious group called Church of the Risen Christ and ASFB was the musical arm of the church. Today most people recognize the church as a cult and there’s actually a book about it called Fortney Road: Life, Death, and Deception in a Christian Cult. In 1975 before this album, Glenn’s family had him abducted by famed cult deprogrammer Ted Patrick. I’m a little confused at how you abduct a 35 year old man without going to jail but obviously the whole thing didn’t work and this album’s cheeky name was a result of this whole event. This album is their most Rock oriented albums and is likely one of if not the best rock album of the era. That said not many people had this album as it really wasn’t well known and had very little distribution. It had some distribution because it is out there but nothing like Larry Norman was getting at the time. This album has become legendary with the resurgence of seventies music and I would say slightly tongue in cheek that it has a cult following.

Tracklist
1 – Peace, Love, And Rock And Roll – 3:37
2 – Ode To Glenn Schwartz – 4:04
3 – Seek Him – 3:02
4 – Don’t Look Back – 7:05
5 – Lonely – 2:50
6 – Frog Alley – 4:55
7 – Messed Up – 2:27
8 – See The Flesh Fly – 3:34
9 – Smilin’ Dog – 3:27
10 – Our Answer – 2:05

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Mike Berkey
Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Cello – Kim Massmann
Arranged By, Keyboards, Artwork, Photography – Larry Hill
Artwork By, Photography By – Gary Allen, Joe Markko
Backing Vocals – All Saved Freak Band
Bass – Glenn Schwartz, Morgan King, Norris McClure
Bass, Drums, Percussion – Tim Hill
Drums, Percussion – Tom Eritano
Engineer – Ken Hamann
Keyboards – Carole King
Keyboards, Violin, Cello, Arranged By [String] – Pam Massmann
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica – Glenn Schwartz
Music By – All Saved Freak Band
Producer, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Arranged By [String] – Rob Galbraith
Rhythm Guitar – Ed Durkos

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Cleveland Recording Company – CRC-2197
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – All Saved Freak Band
Copyright © – All Saved Freak Band
Mastered At – Nashville Record Productions – NR5974

Dieter Falk – Dieter Falk – 1989

This is the third album from Dieter and I have now listened to all three. Originally I listened to “Today” and just loved it so I hunted out more of his albums. Unfortunately I have not liked the other two I have listened to. This one is a complete instrumental album and I always struggle with that style. All of the tracks on this album leave me sitting there waiting for the vocals to start because they all sound like, well, songs. Personally I prefer the instrumental writing style of bands like Tangerine Dream because their songs aren’t in a traditional song format and thus I rarely anticipate lyrics on their tracks. But let’s get to the positives of this album. Dieter is a very good keyboardist and I do really like his musical stlyings. So this is still a great album but it screamed for a vocalist to complete it.

Tracklist
1 – Alles Was Ihr Tut (Everything You Do) – 3:41
2 – Danket (Thankful) – 4:14
3 – Charme – 4:07
4 – Dir (Gonna Sing For You) – 4:08
5 – Deep River – 3:32
6 – In Dir Ist Freude (Joyful) – 3:52
7 – Aufeinander Zugehn (Coming Together) – 3:14
8 – Sing And Shout – 3:46
9 – It’s Me – 3:42
10 – Precious Interlude – 2:54

Credits
Arranged By – Dieter Falk
Art Direction – Wepler + Burfeind, Hamburg
Bass – Joe Chemay
Bass [Solo] – Wolfgang Schmid
Co-producer – Angelika Falk, John Guess
Drums [Tom Overdub] – Martin Stoeck
Drums, Percussion – Paul Leim
Engineer [Additional] – Adrian Von Ripka, Al Phillips, Manfred Lohse, Thomas Brück
Engineer [Assistant] – Chris Rich, King Julien III, Mark Coddington, Marty Williams
Engineer, Mixed By – John Guess
Guitar – Jon Goin, Steve Lukather
Kalimba – Nippi Noya
Keyboards, Piano – Dieter Falk
Liner Notes – Andreas Malessa, Clemens Bittlinger, Dieter Falk, Heinz Bossi
Percussion, Harmonica – Terry McMillan
Photography By – Wieser, Ringeisen*
Producer – Dieter Falk
Programmed By [Additional] – Andreas Seibold
Saxophone – Mark Douthit, Michael Paulo
Trombone – Bill Reichenbach, Joe Gallardo
Trumpet – Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Michael Stewart

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Pila Music GmbH
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pila Music GmbH
Pressed By – CDT Berlin
Recorded At – Sound Stage Studios, Hollywood Sound Recorders, Tonstudio Leonberg, Tonstudio Bauer, Sound Studio N

Fighter – Bang The Drum – 1992

This is the second and final album from Fighter. The lineup stayed the same and the talent grew quite a bit. This was a group of guys and girl that worked really well together and quite frankly they are one of the hidden wonders of the industry. This album is a fantastic arena rock album and the production is dead on. The opening 3 tracks suck you right in so that you’ll listen to the rest of the album. My one slim criticism is that I would have liked some more vocals from Amy Wolter, maybe just one more track. Anyway this is a great arena rock albums and probably the best in the genre for the period.

Tracklist
1 – Time Out – 3:20
2 – Alone With You – 4:14
3 – Bang The Drum – 3:29
4 – When Will We Learn – 4:30
5 – Faithfully – 3:52
6 – Avalanche – 4:40
7 – Try – 4:29
8 – So Much To Learn – 3:54
9 – Without You – 4:44
10 – Your Hand – 3:31
11 – Where Can Love Be Found – 4:59

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Sean Murphy
Backing Vocals – Amy Wolter, Sean Murphy
Bass – Billy Heller, Jim Wolter
Drum Programming – Mark Pence
Drums – Sean Murphy
Engineer – Caesar Kalinowski
Executive-Producer – Caesar Kalinowski, P. Gavin Morkel
Guitar – Billy Heller
Keyboards – Mark Pence
Lead Vocals – Amy Wolter, Sean Murphy
Producer – Caesar Kalinowski, Fighter