Category: Albums

Geri Baird – Cool Age – 1980

Geri Baird has been described as the Pat Benatar of Christian music.

This album doesn’t really have any hard rock tunes but I think it could have held it’s own in the secular music scene that was the 80’s. My research into this album indicates that it was only released in Canada which is a pity as I think it was ripe for the U.S. market.

The fan favourite was “Backside Of The Desert” but my personal favourite was “Taking My Baby For A Ride”. Oh and she was very attractive which is probably the reason we bought this album 🙂

Track Listing:
1 – Super Heroes
2 – Backside Of The Desert
3 – Cool Age
4 – Somebody Loves Me
5 – Family
6 – Taking Baby For A Ride
7 – Living On Broken Hearts
8 – Visions
9 – Just A Heart
10 – I Know

The Lifters – What Love’s All About – 1985

The Lifters return after their successful EP release.

This regular length album is more of the same Rockabilly sound. There was one track carry over from the EP “Eternity Bop” which is very slightly altered. If you had to pick a “single” that would be it, but personally I suggest “C’mon Back” Bottom line is that this is a fun sounding album that should keep your toes tapping.

Track Listing:
1 – Be Like You – 2:10
2 – Operator – 2:45
3 – Scream and Shout – 2:41
4 – I’m Goin’ to Heaven – 3:01
5 – Front Slidder – 1:49
6 – No Middle Ground – 3:13
7 – What Love’s All About – 2:24
8 – Do What I Do – 2:48
9 – Eternity Bop – 2:21
10 – C’mon Back – 3:13
11 – My Love For You Will Stay – 4:04

Credits:
Albert Berry – Background Vocal
Chris Brigandi – Producer, Songwriter, Guitars, Lead Vocals
Lucky Chuck – Background Vocals
Derri Daugherty – Engineered, Mixed
Stan Endicott – Over Dub Production
Rex Harvey – Songwriter, Guitars, Background Vocals
Dave Kaplowitz – Sax
Kass – Bass, Background Vocals
Mark Kirschak – Songwriter
Joey Mitchell – Drums, Background Vocals
Kathy Perry – Background Vocals
Brian Ray – Drums
Joanne Saundenberg – Background Vocals
Marnie Saundenberg – Duet Vocal, Background Vocal
William Spivery – Songwriter
Adrian Tapia – Sax, Clarinet
Joe Van Gilder – Piano

Larry Norman – Something New Under the Son – 1981

This album is probably Larry’s best straight out Rock and Roll album.

Recorded in 1977 it didn’t get released until 1981 due in part to difficulty with Word Records. In fact Word censored “Watch What You’re Doing”. Given these difficulties, this album was the end of Larry’s distribution agreement with Word Records. It was also his last release on Solid Rock Records, which was actually shut down before this album was released.

As a teen I remember loving “Watch What You’re Doing” though now I can enjoy all of the album with more years of life experience under my belt.

Track Listing:
1 – Hard Luck Bad News
2 – Feeling So Bad
3 – I Feel Like Dying
4 – Born To Be Unlucky
5 – Watch What You’re Doing
6 – Leaving The Past Behind
7 – Put Your Life In His Hands
8 – Larry Norman’s 97th Nightmare
9 – Let That Tape Keep Rolling (C:12/L:6)

Credits:
Bass – Billy (Shazam) Batstone*, Dave Coy, Tim Jaquette
Drums – Alex MacDougall, Peter Johnson (3)
Guitar, Slide Guitar – Jon Linn
Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – Larry Norman
Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Piano, Harmonica, Saxophone, Harmony Vocals, Photography By, Artwork – L.N.*

Steve Camp – One on One – 1986

This 4th offering from Steve Camp was more of the same.

This album has a distinctly 80’s sound and is slightly more up tempo than previous ones. If I had to pick one track to listen to it would be “Foolish Things”.

Tracklist
1 – Foolish Things
2 – Other Side Of The World
3 – Judgement Begins With The House Of God
4 – One On One
5 – He Covers Me
6 – Cheap Grace
7 – Mr. Brokenhearted
8 – Threshing Floor
9 – He’s All You Need

Credits
Backing Vocals – Bill Champlin, Bob Carlisle (2), Jason Scheff, Steve Lively, Tamara Champlin, Tommy Funderburk
Bass – Lee Sklar*
Drums – Jeff Porcaro
Engineer [Additional] – Dan Garcia, David Schober, Mike Ross*, Peter Hayden
Engineer [Rhythm Tracks] – Dennis Mackay
English Horn – Jon Clarke
Keyboards – Smitty Price
Mixed By – Bill Schnee
Percussion – Dan Greco*
Producer, Arranged By, Drum Programming [SP-12 Drum Machine Programming] – Steve Camp
Producer, Arranged By, Orchestrated By – John Rosasco
Rhythm Guitar – Michael Landau
Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Dann Huff
Vocals [Female Vocal, Duet] – Margaret Becker (tracks: A4)

Steve Taylor – Meltdown – 1984

This album was a followup to Steve Taylor’s EP “I Want to Be a Clone”. It is slightly more refined, but for the main part it followed the new wave sound of the previous EP.

The album features some strong “political” messages, something Steve Taylor was well known for. The album did well commercially, reaching the No. 10 spot on Billboard’s Top Contemporary Christian chart and No. 18 in the 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.

The single was “Meltdown” though I preferred “Am I in Sync?”

Track Listing:
1 – Meltdown (At Madame Tussaud’s) – 4:26
2 – We Don’t Need No Colour Code – 2:43
3 – Am I In Sync? – 4:32
4 – Meat The Press – 3:48
5 – Over My Dead Body – 5:21
6 – Sin For A Season – 4:14
7 – Guilty By Association – 3:21
8 – Hero – 3:40
9 – Jenny – 4:04
10 – Baby Doe – 3:51

Credits:
Arranged By – Steve Taylor
Bass – Chris Richards
Cover – The Graphics Studio
Cover [Coordination] – B. Charlyne Hinesley
Drums – Cactus Moser
Engineer – Jonathan David Brown
Guitar – Kerry Conner
Keyboards – Woody Waddell
Management – Rob Marshall
Photography By – Greg Wigler
Producer – Jonathan David Brown
Saxophone – Dave Thrush
Vocals, Other [Anything Else That Requires No Talent] – Steve Taylor
Written-By – Steve Taylor

Gentle Faith – (self titled) – 1976

Gentle Faith was Darrell Mansfield’s first band and they released their only album in 1976.

This album varies greatly in style as there are some light rock 70’s style tunes, a few bluegrass songs, and one good solid rock song. Most of the other band members from Gentle Faith worked with Darrell in future projects.

While this album is all over the place it should be listened to for the sake of hearing where Darrell came from.

Tracklist
1 – Simple Song
2 – Living In The Sonshine
3 – The Whole Lump Of Dough
4 – It’s So Good To Know
5 – Jerusalem
6 – Noah
7 – My Love For You
8 – Goin’ Back Home
9 – Turnaround
10 – Home

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Vocals – Don Gerber
Art Direction – Neal Buchanan
Artwork [Embroidery] – Nona Cutrona
Backing Vocals – Virgil Beckham
Bass, Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Henry Cutrona
Co-producer [Production Assistance] – Al Perkins
Drums, Percussion – Paul Angers
Electric Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Vocals – Steve Kara
Engineer, Mixed By – Jonathan Brown*
Fiddle – Fred Field
Keyboards, Saxophone – Dave Garland*
Lead Vocals, Harmonica – Darrell Mansfield
Photography By – George Fortner, Scott Lockwood
Producer – Virgil Beckham
Resonator Guitar [Dobro] – Leroy McNee*
Strings – Dave Garland* (tracks: B5), Jim Stipech (tracks: A1)

Darrell Mansfield – Born To Be Wild – 2008

This is a collection of classic rock songs (some altered slightly) put out by Darrell Mansfield.

There is actually very little info on this album and I’m not able to find the catalogue number for it. It is however perhaps the greatest “cover” album ever put out.

Some of the covers are so good you wouldn’t even know it’s a cover. I have no idea who his backing band was for this album, but they are obviously a very strong band.

Track Listing:
1 – Born to Be Wild
2 – Just Lookin’ for a Church
3 – Spirit in the Sky
4 – Back Slider
5 – Radar Love
6 – Drift Away
7 – For the Love of Money
8 – Are You Ready?
9 – Respect Yourself
10 – Put a Little Love in Your Heart
11 – Oh Well
12 – Walking in God’s Love
13 – Get Together
14 – I’ll Be There
15 – Lean on Me
16 – Nature’s Way

Kenny Marks – Make It Right – 1987

This is the 4th album from Kenny Marks and by this point he had perfected his pop rock sound.

While this album has a decidedly 80’s sound it really has a feel that makes it an album that still plays well today.

The track “Good News” (a Randy Stonehill cover) shows us Kenny’s rock and Roll side and “Bon Appetite” gave us some variety in the form of a 50’s style rock tune.

Track Listing:
1 – Holy Eyes – 3:38
2 – Never Been A Stranger – 3:57
3 – White Dress – 4:52
4 – Promise Me – 3:25
5 – Make It Right – 4:26
6 – Bon Appétit – 3:11
7 – I’d Do It All Over Again – 3:26
8 – Say A Prayer For Me Tonight – 4:43
9 – No Compromise – 3:32
10 – Stand – 4:32
11 – The Party’s Over (The Video Mix) – 4:37
12 – Good News – 4:27

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Chris Harris (2), Chris Rodriguez, Kenny Marks
Bass – Mike Brignardello
Bass Harmonica – Buddy Greene
Dobro – Jerry Douglas
Drums – Chad Cromwell
Electric Guitar – Jerry McPherson
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – George Cocchini
Electric Piano [B-3 Organ] – Phil Madeira
Executive-Producer – Neal Joseph
Keyboards – Phil Naish
Mastered By – Hank Williams (2)
Percussion – Bubba Smith (2)
Producer – Bubba Smith (2)
Recorded By, Mixed By – JB (12)
Saxophone – Mark Douthit

Randy Stonehill – Equator – 1983

There were moments when 1983’s CCM version of Weird Al Yankovic was Randy Stonehill. His sense of humour comes through on a number of songs in this collection.

Randy was a serious musician and had been for a long time. He has several very serious songs on this album, including the opener “Light of the World”, “China”, and “Turning Thirty.” However there is a good collection of novelty songs on this one. He always enjoyed hamming it up, going all the way back to “Lung Cancer” on his Welcome to Paradise album.

American Fast Food, Shut de do, Cosmetic Fixation, Big Ideas, are all fun songs but not light on message.

Track Listing:
1 – Light Of The World – 4:10
2 – Big Ideas (In The Shrinking World) – 4:37
3 – Shut De Do – 2:46
4 – Even The Best Of Friends – 4:52
5 – American Fast Food – 3:19
6 – China – 5:32
7 – Cosmetic Fixation – 4:17
8 – Turning Thirty – 3:49
9 – Hide Them In Your Love – 3:29
10 – World Without Pain – 3:54

Credits:
Art Direction – Paul Gross (3)
Concept By [Album Cover] – Randy Stonehill, Terry Taylor
Engineer [Engineered By] – Thom Roy
Illustration – Kurt Triffet
Management – Ray Ware
Musician, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals – Randy Stonehill
Musician, Bass Guitar [Base Guitar] – Tim Chandler
Musician, Drums, Percussion – Alex MacDougall
Musician, Keyboards [All Keyboards] – Tom Howard
Photography By [Inner Sleeve Photography] – Charles Allen (7)
Producer [Produced By] – Terry Taylor

Rick Cua – Koo-Ah – 1982

Rick Cua is one of 49 members of The Outlaws over the past 6 decades or so. The “Southern rock” sound of The Outlaws translated somewhat into his solo career, but Rick has his own sound.

Rick left The Outlaws after turning to Christ and wanted to start making music with a message. He made several Christian albums, but never quite made it to household name status.

This debut from 1982 is a classic to me nonetheless. It reminds me of those teenage years spent listening to music in the basement, and all the time spent with friends back then.

Listening to it now, I think this was a greatly underrated record.

Track Listing:
1 – Fly Me To Heaven – 3:38
2 – Spirit – 3:53
3 – The Rock Was Rolled Away – 3:14
4 – Eternity – 4:07
5 – Heaven Was Made For Everybody – 3:34
6 – You Can Still Rock ‘N Roll – 3:01
7 – Crossfire – 3:19
8 – Just A Little Bit More – 3:56
9 – I Wanna Be Like You – 4:46
10 – Melt My Heart – 2:53

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Diane Tidwell, Donna McElroy, Lisa Silver
Design [Album Design] – Bill Brunt
Drums – David Dix, Joe English
Engineer – Jeff Levine
Engineer [Assistant] – Haran Hunter, Jim Baird
Executive-Producer – Ray Nenow
Guitar – Freddie Salem, Will McFarlane
Lacquer Cut By – HW
Lead Vocals, Bass – Rick Cua
Percussion – Matt Greeley
Photography By – Larry Dixon
Piano – Mike Duke
Producer, Arranged By – John Rosasco, Rick Cua
Synthesizer – Alan Steinberger
Written-By – Greg Nelson, Rick Cua, Scott Roley