Category: Albums

Various – No Sense of History – 1992

This is a 2 disc CD release that features Alternative Records artists on Disc 1 and Stunt Records on Disc 2.

It is the sister release to “Shirley, Goodness, And Misery”, a sampler from the same labels. Unfortunately it doesn’t even approach the quality of “Shirley, Goodness, And Misery.”

Now I admit there are some great tracks on this album but I personally found a lot of them to be boring. The tracks that were not released on other albums are cutting room floor material.

Quite frankly some songs belong on the cutting room floor. Anyway check out the excellent 77’s tracks and when you have time the others. They’re not as bad as I make out, I’m just being a bit melodramatic.

Track Listing:
1 – Two-Pound Planet – No Room – 3:52
2 – Two-Pound Planet – One Time/Bop Apocalypse – 3:55
3 – 7 & 7 is (77s) – Miserable – 4:07
4 – 7 & 7 is (77s) – Treasure In You – 4:53
5 – Steve Scott – Not A Pretty Picture – 4:07
6 – Steve Scott – Call Of The Wild – 4:16
7 – John Nau – Burn It Low – 3:32
8 – Two-Pound Planet – Sinister Sun [Demo] – 3:51
9 – Steve Scott – Memory Babe (Live) – 3:19
10 – Silver Express – Steel Guitar Rag – 1:28
11 – Daniel Amos (Crime Horse) – Like Lazarus – 3:26
12 – Daniel Amos (Crime Horse) – Stones Of Venice – 3:56
13 – Smokin’ Globes – Roll The Stone Away – 3:33
14 – Mojo Monkeys – Eye Of The Sun – 4:02
15 – Boy-O-Boy – She Makes Love With Her Eyes – 4:40
16 – Boy-O-Boy – That’s What You Get – 3:09
17 – Rob Watson – Wall Around My Heart – 3:39
18 – Rob Watson – The Graylands – 8:15

Credits:
Compilation Producer [For Alternative Records] – Randy Layton
Design, Layout – Patton Brothers Design
Executive-Producer – Randy Layton, Tom Gulotta
Mastered By – Doug Doyle

Tracks 1 & 2 from 2 Pound Planet* – Songs From The Hydrogen Jukebox
Tracks 3 & 4 from 7 & 7 Is* – More Miserable Than You’ll Ever Be
Tracks 5 & 6 from Steve Scott – Lost Horizon
Track 8 is a brand new song, in demo form
Track 9A (1st 3:19 of track 9) is a live version from 1985
Track 9B (last 4:07 of track 9) is a hidden and uncredited song, a sort of a Riverhouse outtake per Randy Layton of Alternative Records
Track 10 is “intermission music”
Tracks 11 & 12 are demos recorded in 1988
Track 15 recorded in 1986 at Whitefield Studio Annex
Track 16 recorded in 1984 at Poeima Studio
Tracks 17 & 18 produced and engineered at Goldmine in Ventura

Barren Cross ‎– Hotter Than Hell! Live – 1990

This is a live album that I believe was from the tour to support Atomic Arena. It was recorded at the International Ballroom, Pico Rivera CA. There are 6 songs from “Rock for the King”, 6 from “Atomic Arena”, and there are also 2 “concert tunes”. I’m going to go out on a limb here and give my thoughts on why this album exists. It was released after theit third album “State Of Control” but was obviously the support tour for “Atomic Arena”. The recording is poor as if it wasn’t actually recorded for release. It is my theory that the label “Medusa Records”, a division of “Enigma Records” simply put it out as a cash grab. The recording just doesn’t have that professionally recorded feel. That said live albums are more for the bands real fans and as such this album will fill that void.

 

Tracklist
1 – Imaginary Music
2 – Dying Day
3 – Killers Of The Unborn
4 – Close To The Edge
5 – Going Nowhere
6 – Dead Lock
7 – Opus To The Third Heaven
8 – King Of Kings
9 – In The Eye Of The Fire
10 – Rock For The King
11 – Light The Flame
12 – Terrorist Child
13 – King Jesus & Blues Jam
14 – Give Your Life

Credits
Bass – Jim LaVerde
Design – Lisa Sutton (2)
Drums – Steve Whitaker
Guitar – Mike Lee (2), Ray Parris
Guitar [Guest] – Vince Mendoza
Keyboards [Guest] – Christine Whitaker
Management – International Management Group
Mixed By – Robert Feist
Mixed By [Assistant] – Don Tittle
Photography By – Gary Apodaca
Recorded By – Jim Faraci
Vocals – Mike Lee (2)
Vocals [Guest] – Alaysius Collado

Robert Case Band – Recklessly Abandoned – 1984

This is the only album I have heard from The Robet Case Band.

That said Robert Case’s bio states “he traveled throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia with the Robert Case Band singing and preaching the gospel of grace.

During that time they produced praise/worship albums in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian.” I am unable to find any of these foreign language albums but I’m sure they are of the same style and quality of this album.

This album was released on the MRC label but it is not their usual type of talent. To be clear this is a worship style album.

The quality of songwriting and production is excellent and I’m actually quite surprised it wasn’t more popular than it was. Robert Case has gone on to be the Head Pastor at the Eastside Calvary Temple in Bellevue WA.

Track Listing:
01 – Bless the Lord – 2:45
02 – I Wanna Be Like Jesus – 3:51
03 – I Love You Lord – 3:52
04 – Psalm 62 – 2:05
05 – Falling – 2:02
06 – Come To Me – 3:46
07 – It Won’t Be Long – 4:13
08 – What is Man – 3:40
09 – Fool For Christ – 3:21
10 – When You’re Hot – 4:10
11 – Make a Noise – 3:20

Deliverance – Tightrope – 1979

This was the final album from the Janz family known as Deliverance. Born in Canada of Mennonite descent they actually formed in Germany.

Though this album came out in 1979 it is not Jesus Music. In fact it is a blend of Disco and fusion and actually sounds a lot like the Bee Gee’s to me. Unfortunately this was the last album as there was some sort of a dispute with the record company. Anyway if you only have time for one cut I suggest the title track “Tightrope”.

Tracklist
1 – Foolish Hearts – 5:16
2 – Tightrope – 3:06
3 – Farewell (Bye, Bye, Bye ) – 4:16
4 – Prince Of The Galaxies – 3:01
5 – Leaving L.A. – 2:52
6 – Back Seat Rider – 3:24
7 – Can You Survive – 7:29
8 – Face The Lady – 3:52
9 – Re-Creation – 3:51

Credits
Arranged By – Deliverance
Arranged By [Horns] – Paul Janz
Bass – Guy (Froggy) Roellinger
Cover, Artwork – Dieter Ziegenfeuter
Design [Graphic] – Marietta Frommberger-Zimmermann
Drums – David McSparran
Engineer [Assistant] – Curtis Drake
Engineer [Mixing] – Jochen Scheffter
Engineer [Recording] – Jochen Scheffter, Mal Luker, Zeke Lund
Guitar – Jacques Emanuel Belzung
Keyboards – Paul Janz
Lyrics By – Ken Janz
Music By – Paul Janz
Percussion – Elmer Louis
Producer – Deliverance, Horst Müller
Saxophone, Harmonica – Bobby Stern
Trumpet – Lee Harper, Scott Newton
Vocals – Danny Janz, Ken Janz, Paul Janz

Altar Boys – When You’re A Rebel – 1985

When You’re A Rebel was the second album from the Altar Boys. The first album had sold well considering the style of the music, and the second sold better establishing the Altar Boys as a mainstream Christian band regardless of the punk flavourings of their music. The album was also released in Germany but unfortunately I was unable to find any sales numbers. I’d be interested to know how well it did there.

Track Listing:
1 – Difference In Me – 4:06
2 – More Of You – 2:58
3 – Calling Out To Believers! – 3:23
4 – When I’m With God – 2:33
5 – I’m Into God (Reprise) – 1:44
6 – When You’re A Rebel – 3:58
7 – Jesus Is Number One – 2:46
8 – If You Let Him In – 2:25
9 – When I See You – 3:08
10 – He Knows You Better – 2:58
11 – Does God’s Heart Cry? – 4:35

Credits:
Bass, Piano, Backing Vocals – Rick Alba
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Jeff Crandall
Engineer – Derald Daugherty
Guitar [Additional] – Steve Pannier
Guitar, Vocals – Mike Stand
Mixed By – Leroy Cahuenga
Producer – B.B. Stone

Petra – Beat The System – 1984

Petra’s Beat The System was released in 1984 into a musical age that was dealing with the first generation of electronic sounds, video games, and mainstream home computers.

Petra continues to build on their sing-along arena rock style with even more synthesizer and electronic drum sounds. Their updated version of “God Gave Rock’n’Roll To You” brings that forward but without the acoustical drama of the original. Its inclusion on this album helped maintain the song as a CCM anthem for yet another generation.

This is the last of Greg X. Volz’s albums with the band before Jon Schlitt took over as lead vocalist. Greg joined Petra for their third album, Washes Whiter Than in 1979, then billed as the “New Improved Petra.”

Beat The System had several tracks that stayed with the band as classics, including “Clean” and “Adonai.”

Track Listing:
1 – Beat The System – 4:22
2 – Computer Brains – 4:01
3 – Clean – 3:01
4 – It Is Finished – 3:52
5 – Voice In The Wind – 4:30
6 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You – 3:54
7 – Witch Hunt – 4:34
8 – Hollow Eyes – 4:03
9 – Speak To The Sky – 4:16
10 – Adonai – 4:42

Credits:
Bass Guitar, Synthesizer [Synthesizer Bass], Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Mark Kelly
Drums, Percussion – Louie Weaver
Keyboards, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – John Lawry
Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Bob Hartman
Lead Vocals – Greg X. Volz
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Jonathan David Brown

Phil & John – Lonely Dancer – 1987

This was the 3rd album from Phil & John and it had almost the same style as their previous release.

It’s a sound that was serving them well so why change. It is quite comparable to the popular secular male duo’s of the time. I would describe them as Hall & Oates light. Not an insult though as they do the style very well.

Track Listing:
1 – Goodbye Yesterday – 3:33
2 – Beat The Situation – 3:28
3 – Hurts To Learn – 4:35
4 – Over The Moon – 4:56
5 – Wasted Years – 3:15
6 – Celebrate – 4:08
7 – Lonely Dancer – 5:10
8 – All At Sea – 4:10
9 – Maybe This Is Love – 4:36

Credits:
Lyrics By – John Hartley
Music By, Lyrics By – Phil Baggaley
Performer – Chris Eaton, David Fitzgerald, John Hartley, Julie Moon, Karlos Edwards, Les Moir, Luke Tunney, Mal Pope, Mathias Kaufmann, Mike Newbon, Neil Costello, Pete Thoms, Phil Baggaley, Phil Johnson
Producer – Chris Eaton, Les Moir
Recorded By, Mixed By – Neil Costello

Various – Surely, Goodness and Misery – 1992

This 1992 sampler is full of great 80’s stuff.

First of all there are 4 Scratch Band songs. Scratch Band is an early version of the 77’s. One of these songs features Steve Scott and another Sharon McCall. It’s nice to hear where it started for the 77’s.

There are 3 cuts from Gloryhouse who were an early incarnation of Robert Vaughn and The Shadows. More really good tunes the best being The Promise in my opinion.

There is one more tune from Body and Soul (Rob Watson) bringing the total to 3 I have found to date.

There is also an alternate extended remix of Someone New from the 77’s which might be the best version I’ve heard.

Finally there are 6 songs from Daniel Amos mostly recorded between 1978 and 1980.

Here are the notes with more detail from the album description;

1, 2 & 7 – The Scratch Band (2) was the first incarnation of The 77s. Track 1 was issued originally as the b-side to the vinyl 45 of Jesus released in 1990 (as part of the 7&7is box set). This live recording dates to 1981. Tracks 2 and 7 are Steve Scott songs recorded live in 1980. Much of their sets in those days consisted of Scott’s songs. These two were also recorded for Steve’s unreleased “Moving Pictures” album in 1980.

3 – This is a very rare alternate extended remix of Someone New from 1984’s All Fall Down. Differs from the 12″ single extended version (Someone New).

4 to 6 – Gloryhouse is an earlier incarnation of Robert Vaughn and The Shadows (5). Track 4 is the first version of the song that appeared on Love And War (and performed on American Bandstand). Track 5 dates to 1985 and Track 6 is from around the same time. This live version (from 1986) is from a problematic video mix (Anthony Daluz’s guitar disappears at times).

8 to 12 & 15 – 1978 through 1980 were Daniel Amos’s lost years. During the delay of Horrendous Disc, they recorded almost twenty new songs as demos to shop to mainstream labels. Some of them were recorded with very high quality on 24-tracks and others were ping-ponged on 4-track. These songs are a sampling from that period. Track 8 was a concert favorite and appears on many bootleg tapes from ’79-’80. Tracks 9 and 10 were recorded in 1981 and feature a young Ojo Taylor on keyboard! Track 11 is a Mark Cook (2) song which was recorded for “Horrendous Disc” but was later replaced by “Hound of Heaven.” Track 12 was a 4-track demo for ¡Alarma! (The Alarma Chronicles Vol.1) which was later recorded by Wild Blue Yonder (2) and even later wound up on the The Miracle Faith Telethon with Terry’s vocals. Track 15, one of Terry’s favorites from the period showcases the pop sensibilities that defined Daniel Amos during that period.

13 – Sharon McCall was the original lead vocalist for the Scratch Band. This is a demo she recorded with the band right before she left the group in 1979. Michael Roe plays guitar and Jimmy Abegg plays bass. Sharon married Jerry Chamberlain in 1980, so she provides an interesting link between the Sacramento/Exit gang and the Orange County/Daniel Amos crowd.

14 – Rob Watson’s own group in the mid 80’s was called Body And Soul and recorded an album’s worth of material which unfortunately never surfaced, except for a rare 45 from 1984 (Something’s Going On Here / The Graylands).

Track Listing:
1 – Scratch Band – Unsatisfied – 5:54
2 – Scratch Band With Steve Scott – Wild Boys – 6:02
3 – 77’s – Someone New (Alternate Extended Remix) – 5:54
4 – Gloryhouse – Justice – 5:42
5 – Gloryhouse – The Promise – 5:14
6 – Gloryhouse – The Beauty Of Innocence – 5:08
7 – Scratch Band – Thief Song – 6:04
8 – Daniel Amos – So Certain – 3:56
9 – Daniel Amos – Little Things – 4:29
10 – Daniel Amos – Off My Mind – 4:14
11 – Daniel Amos – Fairy Tale – 4:05
12 – Daniel Amos – Only One – 3:48
13 – Sharon McCall With Scratch Band – When The Victims Control – 6:37
14 – Body And Soul – Locked Away – 3:59
15 – Daniel Amos – Laissez-Faire – 3:39

Credits:
Compilation Producer [For Alternative Records] – Randy Layton
Design, Layout – Patton Brothers Design
Executive-Producer – Randy Layton, Tom Gulotta
Mastered By – Doug Doyle

Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart – More – 1983

This is an album I missed back in 1983 and I’m a little surprised at that considering the talent assembled. There are backing vocals from 2nd Chapter Of Acts, Annie Herring, Matthew Ward, and Sevenfold among others. Phil Keaggy is on guitar and Kerry Livgren on keyboards. This is pretty much a super group with all that talent. The album itself is mainly easy listening which is probably why I missed it. The production quality is excellent and the assembled band is tight.

Tracklist
1 – Givers And Takers – 4:18
2 – The Power – 3:19
3 – It’s Almost Over – 3:00
4 – Coming Back Again – 3:38
5 – Free Man – 3:16
6 – My Heart Belongs To Him – 3:58
7 – More (Of Jesus) – 3:52
8 – Children Of The King – 3:00
9 – Praise Hymn – 3:52
10 – The Gift – 2:16

Credits
Backing Vocals – 2nd Chapter Of Acts, Angela Street, Annie Herring, Carol Ford, Charlotte Reed, Eveleaner Smith, Jack Holder, Jaquelyn Street, Jimmy Jamieson, Matthew Ward, Nellie Greison, Sevenfold, Valarie Street, Vanessa Ford
Bass, Vocals – Kenny Bentley
Congas, Bongos – Ed Zimmerman
Design [Cover] – Mike McCarty
Drums, Percussion – Ben Hewitt, John Hampton
Engineer – Gary Ham, Joe Hardy, Wally Duguid, Will Eggleston
Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Joe Hardy
Keyboards, Synthesizer, Vocals – Stan Coates
Lacquer Cut By – L Nix
Lead Guitar – Phil Keaggy
Lead Guitar, Synthesizer, Vocals – Dean Harrington
Lead Guitar, Vocals – Tim Huffman
Legal – Joel A. Katz
Management [Road], Engineer [Sound] – Greg Westman
Management [Road], Lighting – George Close
Mastered By – Larry Nix
Mixed By – Joe Hardy
Photography By – Greg Knobloch
Producer – Dean Harrington, Joe Hardy, Mylon LeFevre
Synthesizer [Emulator] – Kerry Livgren
Vocals, Guitar – Mylon LeFevre

Daniel Amos – (self-titled) – 1976

The first album from Daniel Amos might surprise you if you’re an 80’s fan of the band as they actually started as a Country band in the 70’s. While Jesus music was still in full swing at the time of this release this album it doesn’t really have that it feel. It actually sounds and feels like a Country album of the time period. Interesting note is that the band actually auditioned for this album as “Jubal’s Last Band”. The name was very close to Darrell Mansfield’s band “Jubal”. Both bands agreed to a name change with Darrell’s band becoming Gentle Faith and Jubal’s Last Band becoming the Daniel Amos we all know now.

Track Listing:
1 – Jesus Is Jehovah To Me – 3:18
2 – The Bible – 4:20
3 – Abidin’ – 3:24
4 – William – 2:52
5 – Prelude: Servant’s Prayer – 0:47
6 – Don’t Light Your Own Fire – 4:28
7 – Losers & Winners – 3:52
8 – Walking On The Water – 4:38
9 – Ridin’ Along – 2:10
10 – Dusty Road – 3:25
11 – Love In A Yielded Heart – 2:34
12 – Skeptics’ Song – 2:22

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar [6 & 12 String], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Terry Taylor
Acoustic Guitar [6 String], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Steve Baxter
Bass Guitar – Marty Dieckmeyer
Design, Illustration – Dale G. Waters
Engineer, Mixed By – Jonathan David Brown
Lead Guitar [Electric], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Jerry Chamberlain
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Producer, Mixed By – Al Perkins
Remix [Engineer] – Billy Taylor