Category: Albums

First Love – Nothing Can Keep Me Away – 1981

OK so I did a bunch of looking and I can’t find anything about this band. Their proper name was First Love Band and the main members were John P. Volz & Joan C. Volz. I have no idea whether they were brother and sister or husband and wife. I also have no idea if they are related to Greg Volz. This is the second of three albums by them. Generally when a band has 3 albums I can find out a little more about them but this time I’m stumped. Anyway as for the album it has a seventies easy listening sound and is actually really well engineered and produced. Best track is probably “Child Of The King” which features some pretty good guitar work. If you like obscure 70’s CCM bands then I’m pretty sure you’ll like this one.

Tracklist
1 – Closer To The Light – 4:06
2 – Fishes And Loaves – 4:01
3 – Paradox – 4:46
4 – Crockpot Christian – 5:09
5 – Nothing Can Keep Me Away – 3:11
6 – Hands Off The Altar – 3:36
7 – Give It All Up – 4:14
8 – Child Of The King – 2:26
9 – Raise A Praise – 5:32

Credits
Piano, Lead Vocals – Joan C. Volz
Lead Vocals, Latin Percussion – John P. Volz
Organ – John Drymon
Lead Guitar – Jim Scott
Classical Guitar – Steve Stoutenberg
Strings – Loretta Shotwell, Mary Burke
Sax – Richard Malfitano
Congos, Drums – John Allen
Bass, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Henry Triplett
Horns – Gary Laustsen
Woodwinds – Bill Davis
Trombone – Henry Pearlberg
Background Vocals – Joan C. Volz, John P. Volz, Joe Saint, Henry Triplett
Synth – Tom Cook
Engineer – Joe Saint
Producer – Joe Saint, First Love

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – John Volz Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – John Volz Music
Published By – John Volz Music
Recorded At – Emmaus Sound Studio

Steven Curtis Chapman – More To This Life – 1989

Well I’m definitely going to piss some people off with this review. This is Steven’s third album and it was wildly successful. It had four number one hits, “More To This Life”, “I Will Be Here”, “Love You With My Life”, “Treasure Island”, as well as a number 6 track, “Waiting For Lightning”. This is all according to CCM magazine. I think it was about this time in history that CCM magazine completely lost the plot. I was never particularly happy with their chart decisions but really this album was ridiculous. If you listen to all of the singles on this album they sound like they were written by AI. This is the same drivel that is coming out of the Christian music scene today. In fact you could release this album today and it would sound like everything else on Christian radio. I can imagine that Sparrow records is still rolling in the royalties from thousands of worship services that use these songs. I’m sorry Steven, you are a fantastic artist but this kind of music is what ruined CCM music for everyone. Now I know plenty of you love this album and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean Steven is a great artist and in fact a couple tracks on this album that didn’t single are pretty good but they don’t follow the worship style that the industry was turning to. I quite liked his previous albums but this one just sounded too industry oriented for me.

Tracklist
1 – More To This Life – 5:11
2 – Love You With My Life – 3:23
3 – Waiting For Lightning – 3:40
4 – Living For The Moment – 4:47
5 – I Will Be Here – 4:24
6 – Who Makes The Rules – 3:33
7 – Treasure Island – 4:46
8 – Way Beyond The Blue – 5:43
9 – In This Little Room – 3:36
10 – More Than Words – 4:28
11 – Out In The Highways – 4:54

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Jon Goin
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals, Arranged By [Rhythm] – Steven Curtis Chapman
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor – Don Wyrtzen
Art Direction – Barbara Hearn
Backing Vocals – Chris Harris, Chris Rodriguez, Herb Chapman, Mark Heimermann
Bass – Jackie Street
Design – Brenda Whitehill
Drums – Mark Hammond
Engineer [Additional] – Ronnie Brookshire
Engineer [Assistant] – Barry Ray Dixon, Carry Summers, Howard Levy, Steve Bishir
Mandolin – Mark O’Connor
Mastered By – Denny Purcell
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Producer, Keyboards, Arranged By [Rhythm] – Phil Naish
Production Manager – Cindy Wilt
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Slide Guitar [Acoustic] – Don Potter
Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, The Nashville String Machine
Violin – Mark O’Connor

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Nineteenth Street Productions
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright © – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Christian Marketing Canada, Ltd.
Pressed By – Capitol Jax
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Recorded At – The Pond
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Studio 55, Los Angeles
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters
Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Designed At – Hipke, Inc.

Nutshell – Begin Again – 1978

This is the third release from Nutshell though it was a shell of the previous band. See what I did there? Anyway after the Flyaway album Pam Thiele and Heather Barlowe left the group. They were replaced by Annie McCaig and Mo McCafferty and this lead to the name of the album. The album was of course punctuated by Paul Field’s excellent songwriting. This album continues with that seventies folky sound they had before and if you didn’t know about the change in lineup you would swear it’s the same band. This is not a genre I like very much but if you do like this sound this is a must listen album.

Tracklist
1 – Love With No Limit – 3:32
2 – Don’t Let Me Fall – 3:39
3 – Caroline – 4:38
4 – In The Father’s Hand – 3:31
5 – Starry Eyed & Laughing – 3:16
6 – First Snow – 2:41
7 – Take Me Down – 2:50
8 – Stay Close – 3:42
9 – The Dancer – 5:19
10 – Heaven In Your Heart – 3:14

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Piano – Paul Field
Arranged By [Rhythm Charts And String Arrangements] – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Bass – John G. Perry
Design, Photography By – Tony Neeves
Drums – Barry de Souza
Electric Guitar – Norman Barratt
Engineer – Roger Wake
Percussion – Tony Carr
Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer [Roland Synthesizers] – Rod Edwards
Producer – Jon Miller (4), Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Vocals – Annie McCaig, Mo McCafferty, Paul Field

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word (UK) Ltd.
Copyright © – Word (UK) Ltd.
Copyright © – Word Music (UK)
Printed By – Errey’s Printers Ltd.
Printed By – James Upton Ltd.
Pressed By – CBS Pressing Plant, Aston Clinton
Recorded At – Redan Recorders

Steve Grace – One Night In A Million – 1991

Following up on the phenomenal success of his Children Of The Western World album Steve took his ministry on the road. At a 1991 concert in Mansfield Queensland Steve recorded this live release. It features some of the tracks from his previous album and a lot of new/other tracks. I know this might cause some controversy but personally I truly believe he is the Bruce Springsteen of Christian music. Again the album was only initially released in Australia so us in North America were robbed of getting to hear this great album. It did get a re-release in Europe but I don’t know when. Anyway I’m not going to bore you any further as your time should be spent listening to this fantastic album.

Tracklist
1 – Land Of The Rock – 5:31
2 – One Night In A Million – 3:55
3 – Stand Your Ground – 4:13
4 – Unknown Hero – 3:52
5 – Men Of God – 4:59
6 – Travelling Man – 3:12
7 – Kids On The Street – 5:05
8 – Lonely Feeling – 5:17
9 – World Turn Around – 3:34
10 – Reach Out – 3:04
11 – That’s Alright – 3:21
12 – I Live To Know You – 5:44

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Blues Harp – Steve Grace
Acoustic Guitar, Fiddle, Blues Harp – Peter Shurley
Backing Vocals – Chris Butson, David Vine
Bass – Jason Chandler
Drums – Steve Francis
Electric Guitar – Phil Yates
Electric Guitar, 12-String Acoustic Guitar – Phil Butson
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – David Richard, Greg Dore
Engineer [Live Engineer] – Steve Hartley, Wyn Wynard
Executive-Producer – Colin Dyer, Mike Jeffs
Keyboards, Piano, Backing Vocals – Karl Laurens
Producer, Engineer – Phil Butson

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Christian Outreach Center, Brisbane
Mixed At – Sing Sing Studios
Distributed By – Word Australia
Glass Mastered At – Disctronics USA – 114451

Jeff Fenholt – Live – 1989

If you know of Jeff you know of his claim to have sung with Black Sabbath. There is a lot of disagreement over this claim but quite frankly I’m not going to repeat the back and forth between Jeff and Joe Siegler (Black Sabbath Historian). After reading both sides of the story this is my take away. Yes Jeff did some studio work with Tony Iommi (BS guitarist). This is a fact as the tracks are out there floating around the internet. The Jeff version of these tracks were not released on any album. What really happened is lost in Rock & Roll history. I think both versions are somewhat correct and the absolute truth lays somewhere in the middle. Did Jeff embellish his role with Black Sabbath? Probably. Is Jeff one hell of a vocalist? Absolutely. I heard of Jeff’s ministry through the grapevine but quite frankly I never had any interest in it. I have listened to a few of his albums and I’m still not much interested except for this album. This is a very good album. Jeff’s vocals are spot on and the choice of tracks is excellent. I am a bit mystified as to why called a studio album “Live:” however. Anyway this album was released through his ministry and several pressings were done. Not all these pressings are the same. At some point the track order was changed and the track “I Exalt Thee” was added or removed. That track is a cover of Phil Driscoll so there may have been licensing issues. All in all I think this is a great album and regardless of your opinions of Jeff you can not deny that he is a fantastic vocalist.

Tracklist
1 – Living Sacrifice – 3:33
2 – He Will Carry You – 4:22
3 – Make Us One – 3:24
4 – Oh, Happy Day – 4:23
5 – The Anointing – 6:29
6 – Standing In the Shadow of The Almighty – 3:40
7 – I Need To Be Still – 2:41
8 – Hosanna – 4:35
9 – I Exalt Thee – 6:06

Fish Co – Can’t Be Bad – 1975

Well we have covered all the albums from Writz, Famous name, Techno Twins etc.. BUT this is where all that started. This is Steve Fairnie and Steve Rowles’s first published band. Yes this is where it all started in 1975. And what a start it was. This is a fantastic 70’s sound album. I’m a little surprised that Myrrh actually released this album. Yes it is Jesus music but not every track shoves Jesus in your face. There are a few tracks here that actually could have singled on the secular charts. The track “Soup & Whisky” is without a doubt one of my favourite 70’s era songs Jesus music or otherwise.

Tracklist
1 – Jimmy Bootlace Seller – 3:35
2 – A Line Must Divide – 3:50
3 – Beautiful Secret – 4:00
4 – Matthew – 3:52
5 – Good Night Brothers – 2:55
6 – Soup & Whisky – 3:32
7 – 60’s Children – 3:57
8 – Share The Same – 3:56
9 – Broken Dream – 3:00
10 – Precious Lord – 4:17

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Steve Fairnie, Steve Rowles
Engineer – Jeremy Stenham, Martin Levan, Mike Bobak, Mike Silverstone*
Mastered By – George Peckham
Photography By [Uncredited] – Bev Sage
Producer – John Pac
Vocals – Steve Fairnie, Steve Rowles

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Morgan Studios
Mastered At – Master Room

Prism – Red – 1988

This is the final album in the Prism series. I’ll be honest I still don’t understand what the project was really all about. Again there are children on the cover of the album that have nothing to do with the album. I truly believe the original idea was Kidz Bop idea but in the end it just turned into Chris Harris and Mark Heimermann doing an album. I actually find it a bit disingenuous to have a bunch of kids on the album cover when they have nothing to do with the album. Very strange. Now that aside these were a series of very successful albums because they are very good. These guys knew how to make music and I am totally baffled at why they didn’t want to do it using their own names. Thy did have First Call do the track “If You’re Happy And You Know It”. Bottom line is I really like the whole project, the results were fantastic I’m just not sure the path they took to get there.

Tracklist
1 – Amazing Grace – 3:37
2 – Kum-Ba-Yah – 4:49
3 – He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands – 4:54
4 – If You’re Happy And You Know It/I’m Happy Today – 2:25
5 – Love Him In The Morning – 3:39
6 – Seek Ye First – 3:15
7 – Sure Shot – 3:48
8 – Count Your Many Blessings/Can You Count The Stars – 3:01
9 – Big Enough – 3:43
10 – The Lord Bless You And Keep You – 2:03

Mylon – Over The Influence – 1972

This is a Mylon album from a time of his troubles in the early 70’s. Mylon knew he wanted to do gospel music but Rock & Roll being what it is Mylon was having addiction issues. In fact some have argued that we shouldn’t be posting album from this part of Mylon’s career but I believe Mylon was doing some great work even in this troubled time. It was all part of Mylons trip to being the spectacular testament he was. This album has some great covers including “Mama, You Been On My Mind” by Dylan, “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, “My Lady” by Mountain, and “He’s Not Just a Soldier” by Little Richard. We have 2 traditional gospel songs and an assortment of his own writings. In my opinion the best track on the album is “Working On A Building”. This album has a spot in Christian music history and we’re proud to present it.

Tracklist
1 – Mama, You Been On My Mind – 2:54
2 – Blue Suede Shoes – 2:55
3 – Down By The Riverside – 1:00
4 – My Lady – 4:37
5 – Kickin’ – 1:51
6 – Working On A Building – 4:54
7 – I Am What I Am – 2:55
8 – I’ll Fly Away – 2:17
9 – I’m Flying #1 (For Fee) – 3:09
10 – He’s Not Just A Soldier – 3:08
11 – For The Record – 3:20
12 – Waymaker – 4:11

Credits
Backing Band – Holy Smoke
Backing Vocals – Holy Smoke Singers
Bass – Tom Robb
Drums, Backing Vocals – Marty Simon
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Dobro, Sitar – Auburn Burrell
Electric Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar – J.P. Lauzon
Electric Guitar – Barry Bailey
Harmony Vocals, Backing Vocals – Pat Cummings, Renay Garvin, Steve Sanders, Tina Blount
Keyboards – Lester Langdale
Keyboards – Alan Toussaint
Piano – Dr. John
Producer – Alan Toussaint
Slide Guitar – Leslie West
Vocals – Mylon LeFevre

Andraé Crouch & The Disciples – Live In London – 1978

Well for some reason we waited 5 years before even scheduling an Andraé Crouch album. Kind of silly when you think about it as he really was one of the most important artists of the period. I didn’t really know which album to pick but I kept reading how great this album was so it is the one I chose. Now if you have been following me you know that again this is not my chosen genre to listen to but wow did Andraé ever nail this concert or should I say concerts as it was recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London and at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England. I understand why there is high praise for this album as it really is very good. Note that I have carved up the album very differently than it was originally chopped up so as to have a greater flow. Listening to a YouTube album with 30 second tracks just doesn’t work.

Tracklist
1 – Perfect Peace – 4:23
2 – I Surrender All – 4:20
3 – You Don’t Have To Jump No Pews – 4:08
4 – Take A Little Time – 6:28
5 – Tell Them – 3:37
6 – If I Was A Tree (The Highest Praise) – 5:09
7 – Hallelujah – 2:16
8 – Revive Us Again – 2:06
9 – Power In The Blood – 5:30
10 – I Just Want To Know You – 5:04
11 – Just Like He Said He Would – 6:14
12 – I’ll Keep On Loving You Lord – 4:26
13 – You Gave To Me – 3:49
14 – Oh Taste And See – 1:28
15 – Praise God, Praise God – 2:46
16 – This Is Another Day – 6:12
17 – Praise God Reprise 3:02
18 – Well Done – 5:46
19 – My Tribute – 6:00

Credits
Bass – James Felix
Drums – Bill Maxwell
Engineer – Robin Black
Guitar – Hadley Hockensmith, Jimmie Davis
Illustration [Album Illustration] – Robert August
Keyboards – Andraé Crouch, Harlan Rogers, Mike Escalante
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Mixed By – Andraé*, Bill Maxwell, Gordon Shryock, Richie Schmitt
Photography By – Danny Dunn, Paul Slaughter
Producer – Andraé Crouch, Bill Maxwell
Saxophone – Glenn Myerscough
Tambourine – Sandra Crouch
Trumpet – Allen Gregory
Typography [Lettering], Design – Don Zubalsky
Vocals – Andraé Crouch, Bea Carr, Danniebelle Hall, James Felix, Perry Morgan, Sandra Crouch

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Hammersmith Odeon
Recorded At – Free Trade Hall
Published By – Heart Warming Music Co.

Danny Paul Wayne – Salvation Song (English)

I’m not entirely positive but I believe this is the first album from Danny and Paul Janz. It is possible there was an earlier one as the church they attended did have their own record company so they may be earlier work. This album however is the first album they did that was released in both Germany and Canada. I also found a reference that it was released in the United States but I am unable to confirm this. Anyway the album was released in Germany first with 8 German language tracks and 3 English tracks. Each version has 2 tracks that aren’t shared between the 2 versions. There are also some differences in the mix between the two. The English version was released by Image VII and Word and it sounds like they reworked the mix on most of the mutual tracks. As for the album it has a seventies folk sound and wasn’t really much of a hint of what was to come from the brothers.

Tracklist
1 – Who Can Show The Way – 2:56
2 – Summer’s Gone – 3:50
3 – Books And Calendars – 2:12
4 – Questions – 3:13
5 – Jesus Loves Me – 1:20
6 – Salvation Song – 3:39
7 – Give Me Love – 2:41
8 – Don’t Walk Away – 2:45
9 – Teach Me – 2:13
10 – Day By Day – 2:34
11 – He’s Always There – 2:32

Credits
Arranged By, Vocals, Soloist, Composed By – Daniel Janz
Composed By, Piano, Vocals, Soloist – Paul Janz
Coordinator – Margitta Paul, Nils Kjellström
Cover, Design – Helmut Mono
Drums – Mike Starr
Engineer, Photography By – John Dueck
Guitar, Vocals, Composed By, Soloist, Bass – Wayne Quiring

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Janz Team Tonstudio
Record Company – Word
Copyright © – Word Records Limited
Manufactured By – Word Records Limited
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Image VII Records Inc. – VII7716