This album probably contains the biggest CCM Christmas song ever. The title track was written by Andrew Culverwell and suited Evie’s vocals perfectly. The album also received a nominated for Grammy Award for best Contemporary Gospel performance. The album is mainly traditional material but Lennart Sjöholm did many of the arrangements. The album has a country feel and is one of the most loved CCM Christmas albums still to this day.
Tracklist 1 – Come On, Ring Those Bells – 3:02 2 – Away In A Manger – 2:37 3 – No Room/Have You Any Room For Jesus? – 3:42 4 – Mary’s Boy Child – 2:45 5 – Silent Night – 3:34 6 – O Holy Night – 3:45 7 – What Child Is This? – 3:35 8 – Some Children See Him – 1:43 9 – One Small Child – 3:04 10 – A Thousand Candles – 2:39
Credits Backing Vocals – Janie Fricke Singers Bass – Jack Williams Drums – Bill Harris, Jerry Carrigan Guitar – Billy Sanford, Jerry Shook, Pete Bordinella Harmonica – Charlie McCoy Keyboards – Lennart Sjöholm, Randy Goodrum Oboe – Bob Taylor Percussion – Farrell Morris Recorder, Clarinet – Billy Puett Steel Guitar – Weldon Myrick Strings – Shelly Kurland Strings
Companies, etc. Recorded At – The Sound Lab, Nashville Remixed At – Europa Film
This is Russ’s only Christmas album and I don’t have much to say about it. It is a collection of traditional Christmas carols with very traditional arrangements. Often these albums they lay down the music track with studio musicians then the singer comes in and does the vocals and it’s off to the stores. But credit to Russ here, he used his band for the album and the engineering/production group is his usual team. That makes me respect this album a little more though it’s still not my style. This one is for people looking for traditional songs with traditional arrangements and stand out vocals.
Tracklist 1 – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – 4:34 2 – Angels We Have Heard On High – 2:57 3 – The Christmas Song – 2:19 4 – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – 4:01 5 – I’ll Be Home For Christmas – 4:01 6 – Let It Snow, Let It Snow – 2:39 7 – White Christmas – 3:51 8 – What Child Is This? – 2:41 9 – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – 4:07 10 – What A Wonderful World – 2:27
Credits Bass – Byron House Conductor [Strings Conducted By] – John Darnall Drums, Bells [Sleigh Bells] – John Hammond Executive-Producer – John Huie Mastered By – Hank Williams Piano, Vibraphone [Vibes] – Matt Rollings Producer, Arranged By, Guitar, Backing Vocals, Recorded By, Mixed By – James Hollihan, Jr. Recorded By [Strings Recorded By] – Lynn Fuston Saxophone – Mark Douthit Strings – The Nashville String Machine Trumpet – Mike Haynes
If you do not own this album, you are truly missing out on not only one of the great Christmas albums of all time (Christian or secular) but on one of the great albums. This album was initially listed in the Top 100 before the decision to remove the seasonal albums. Years before “City of a Hill,” short lived Via Records released this brilliant acoustic collection of original and classical holiday favorites. Artists include Derri Daugherty (The Choir), Michael Pritzl (The Violet Burning), Jerry Chamberlain (DA), Kevin Smith (DC Talk), Jenny Gullen (Hoi Polloi), Brent Bourgeois, Riki Michelle (Adam Again), Julie Miller and more. Simply brilliant from first to last and years ahead of the time.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com
Tracklist 1 – Derri Daugherty & Riki Michelle & Steve Hindalong – Babe In The Straw – 3:32 2 – Michael Pritzl & Jenny Gullen – Silent Night – 3:36 3 – Jerry Chamberlain & Sharon McCall & Riki Michelle & Derri Daugherty – I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day – 2:57 4 – Kevin Smith – In The Bleak Mid-Winter – 3:15 5 – Jenny Gullen & Derri Daugherty – Bring A Torch Jeannette, Isabella – 2:52 6 – Stephen & Jenny Gullen – O Holy Night – 4:26 7 – Brian Whitman – Carol Of The Birds – 3:00 8 – Brent Bourgeois & Carolyn Arends & Derri Daugherty – What Child Is This? – 4:30 9 – Riki Michelle & Jerry Chamberlain & Sharon McCall – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – 2:53 10 – Buddy & Julie Miller – Away In A Manger – 2:57 11 – Carolyn Arends & Stephen Murray & Jenny Gullen – Angels We Have Heard On High – 4:43
This is a rather odd Christmas album. While popular in Chrisn circles due to Amy’s involvement the album actually flopped but is highly regarded by music reviewers and many describe it as one of the best Christmas albums ever. Personally I don’t fall in that group. I just don’t like the album. It does not compliment Art or Amy’s vocal style. That said I really like the concept and many of the songs are really good. The concept is that these are the stories/songs of the animals on Christmas day. The songs are well written and actually I think they are some pretty good songs. They were written by Jimmy Webb who is one of the greatest lyricists of all time. My complaint is the arrangements. I just don’t feel the whole choir and orchestra thing and I wish so much that someone else had made the production decisions for this album. However as I said the songs are excellent and many people love the arrangements and I respect their opinion. For many people this album is a Christmas staple.
Tracklist 1 – The Annunciation – 2:38 2 – The Creatures Of The Field – 2:31 3 – Just A Simple Little Tune – 2:54 4 – The Decree – 3:25 5 – Incredible Phat – 4:56 6 – The Friendly Beasts – 3:23 7 – The Song Of The Camels – 2:44 8 – Words From An Old Spanish Carol – 3:43 9 – Carol Of The Birds – 1:58 10 – The Frog – 5:15 11 – Herod – 4:20 12 – Wild Geese – 3:32
Credits Art Direction – Christopher Austopchuk Banjo, Acoustic Guitar – Eric Weisberg Bass – Joe Osborn Cello – Peter Presser Choir – Kings College School Choir Conductor – Carl Davis Directed By [Choir] – Michael Jenkins Drums – Steve Gadd Electric Guitar – Elliott Randall Engineer – Geoff Emerick, Jon Kelly, Roy Halee Engineer [Assistant] – Stuart Breed Illustration – Abby Levine Mastered By – Greg Calbi Orchestra – The London Symphony Orchestra Organ – Paul Halley Percussion – Gordon Gottlieb Piano – Jimmy Webb Producer – Art Garfunkel, Geoff Emerick, Jimmy Webb Remix – Art Garfunkel, Geoff Emerick, Nicole Graham, Stuart Breed Saxophone – George Young Synthesizer – Rob Mounsey Vocals – Amy Grant, Art Garfunkel Vocals, Soloist – Declan Costello, Jonathan Jenkins, Nicholas Dykes, Stephen Bayly
This is Jeff’s first Christmas album. He has actually done several Christmas albums over the years. This one is spoken word of poetry by Keith Patman with a musical score written by Jeff. I’m not usually a fan of spoken poetry but I quite enjoyed this album. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age or maybe it’s just that good. The poetry is pretty good and as usual with Jeff the music score is fantastic. This might be one you may want to add to your Christmas rotation.
Tracklist 1 – O Come, O Come Immanuel – 1:18 2 – Another Mystery I Pose – 0:48 3 – A Gallery Carol – 3:00 4 – The Bondage Of Corruption – 1:40 5 – While Shepherds Watched – 5:10 6 – Snow – 3:54 7 – Lord Of Green And Red – 1:43 8 – Judah’s Lion / Carol Of The Bells – 3:43 9 – Centerpoint – 2:04 10 – Oregon Carol – 2:14 11 – Inversion – 2:52 12 – The Heavens Declare / Wexford Carol – 3:08
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Paul Chasman Artwork By, Photography By – Kathy Hastings Bass [Fretless] – Rick Crittenden Flute – Brian Dunning Percussion, Sound Designer [Ambience] – Roger Hadley Producer, Keyboards, Music By, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Johnson Read By – Dallas McKennon Written-By [Poetry By] – Keith Patman
Here’s everything I know about this band. They were out of Garden Grove, California, and this is the first of 3 albums they released. That’s it, that’s all I got. So let’s talk about the album. This is a fantastic album. It was released on New Breed which was a sublabel of Frontline. It was produced by Chris Wimber (The Lifesavors) and mixed by Jeff Dykehouse. These two gentlemen nailed this album. The mix is perfect and final production dead on. This may actually be one of the best produced albums I have heard in the Christian genre. The tracks vary in sound from, well, everything. There’s hint of rockabilly, and grunge but mostly the album is straight up Rock & Roll. Guest appearing on the album is Chris Lizotte with some harmonica and background vocals. Also appearing is Rob Watson on keyboards. Strangely HM Magazine rates this album as #99 on their Top 100 Christian Rock Albums of all time. I agree this is a good album, even great, but #99 of all time? No sorry it’s simply not that good but it is very good. There are definitely a few tracks going into my regular rotation especially Jimi Jones Boogie which is actually a very well written song highlighting the difference between religion and following Christ.
Tracklist 1 – Road To Bonoa 2 – The Purging 3 – The Gimmick 4 – Feel Fire 5 – Psychic Babylon 6 – Back Door 7 – Circus Of Shame 8 – Jimi Jones Boogie 9 – Raucous 10 – Electric Angel Blues 11 – Screamin’ For Glory 12 – God’s Ways
Credits Artwork By [Dove Logo] – Dan Newmire Bass – John Oliveira Bongos – Shawn Tubbs Design – Bob Payne Drums, Cymbal, Percussion [Gadgets] – Bert Sanchez Guitar, Vocals – Mike Longridge Guitar, Vocals [Yelling], Slide Guitar [Pick Slides], Words By – Derek Bell Harmonica, Backing Vocals – Chris Lizotte Keyboards – Rob Watson Lead Vocals, Whistle, Words By – Jason Lohrke Mastered By – Steve Hall Mixed By – Jeff Dykehouse Music By – ASight Unseen Painting [Cover] – Trevor Lohrke Producer, Engineer – Chris Wimber Slide Guitar [Pick Slide] – Glen Schroder Trombone [T-Bone] – Mike Johnson Trumpet – Frank Lendejas Vocals – Alexandria, GeeGee, Stacey Berardino
This is a band out of Illinois that I can’t find much information on. In fact I can’t really find any. I checked with Christian Tape Underground (https://christiantapeunderground.wordpress.com)and not much info there either. As a result we’ll just discuss the album. I’ll start out by saying I really like this album. If I had a criticism for the album it’s that there is not a flow in the sound of the album. We’ve got some hard rock tracks, some alternative leaning tracks, and even some rock tracks with a new wave feel. Personally I love the variation and it works great for me. The reason I bring it up is because this was a demo and generally on demos you wanted to present your style a little more clearly. Then again I never worked at a record company so what do I know. If your preferred genre is Hard Rock this is definitely a must listen.
Credits Bass – Greg Smith Drums, Percussion – Mike Kondourajian Keyboards, Vocals – Glen Smith Lead Guitar – Steve Stripling Lead Vocals, Guitar – Gary Smith Mixed By – Glen Smith, Greg Smith, Harry Heath Producer, Recorded By – Gary Manuel Recorded By – Dave Kingland, Tom McLaughlin
This was Dion’s 5th Christian album and is actually my personal favourite. While Put Away My Idols was his big Christian album I actually think this is a better album. The Pop tracks are simple and fun which was actually Dion’s strength. It’s what made him big in 60’s and I’m glad he carried it through to most of his Christian albums. The album did have 2 CCM charting singles, “Still In The Spirit” made it to #5 and “He’s In You” made it to #24 so it was moderately successful but I think it should have done better. I am going to be a bit critical of Dion now however. I can’t see one artist on this album that was from the Christian music industry. All of the studio musicians are mainstream musicians. I’m not saying none of them were Christian because I never judge who is or isn’t a Christian but none of them were ever involved in the Christian music scene. Many people argue that Dion was jumping on the Christian bandwagon while it was hot, and he was not. I do understand their opinion because Dion just didn’t seem to be a part of the community. Strange bit of trivia about the album. Track 5 is called “Only God Can Change A Heart” an the jacket but is called “Only God Can Make A Change” on the label. Proofreading was a optional thing in the record industry. Anyway that aside I really enjoy this album and you should give it a listen if you enjoy the pop style.
Tracklist 1 – Still In The Spirit – 3:35 2 – Crazy Too (Fallen In Love) – 3:32 3 – He Hears Them All – 3:48 4 – He’s In You – 3:40 5 – Only God Can Change A Heart – 2:55 6 – Daddy Says – 2:50 7 – Come To The Cross – 3:43 8 – You Can Do All Things (Through Christ) – 4:23 9 – I’ve Come Too Far – 3:21 10 – You Only Go ‘Round Once – 4:02
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Dion DiMucci Art Direction, Design – Jeffery Fey Backing Vocals – Chuck Kirkpatrick, Doug Shawe, Johnny Sambataro, Kitty Woodson, Pamela Sessody, Paul Pettitt Bass – Phil Chen Electric Guitar – John Sambataro, Leslie West, Rick Hitchcock Engineer [Assistant] – Jim Sessody, Stan Lambert, Ted Stein, Teresa Verplanck Management [Artist Direction] – Zachary Glickman Artist Management Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Percussion – Joe Galdo Photography By – Bill Tuohy Producer – Dion DiMucci Producer, Engineer – Eric Schilling Producer, Keyboards, Organ, Synthesizer – Paul Harris Saxophone, Soloist – Ed Calle Synthesizer – Larry Dermer
Jeff Johnson was making “New Age” music before “New Age” was cool. In fact, he was making it before it existed at all. More progressive rock than many of his new age instrumental contemporaries Jeff Johnson has, over the years, created a monstrous library catalog of utterly brilliant, passionate and spiritually moving music that has unfortunately escaped the attention of many in the CCM world. When “New Age” instrumental music was all the rage in CCM during the mid-1980’s Johnson was a leading artist, but many missed out on his more creative, provocative and, dare I say, commercial vocal projects. Of those many overlooked albums comes “Icons,” an utterly brilliant, and completely unforgettable album that is a must own for any audiophile. Not quite as commercial or rock influenced as “Fallen Splendor,” Icons contains some of Johnson’s best vocal music and remains his most cohesive vocal driven project. It also contains “Closed, Please Call Again,” which is Johnson’s finest song. Opening with “Tesseract,” an instrumental opener inspired by the concept of space travel as described in Madeleine L’Engle’s classic novel, “A Wrinkle In Time.” The book may be the only time in this blog I ever use the term “BYSO!” Johnson’s musically explores the “feeling” expressed in the book as the main characters travel through space using the tesseract. The album includes more of Johnson’s early progressive rock influences than on any album that follow outside of Fallen Splendor. “People in Peril” starts with limited percussive sounds and accompanying synthesizer background that is added upon as the song grows. Johnson’s wonderful falsetto is offset by a distant backing vocal that seems to challenge or respond to the lead the vocal as the song fades. The previously mentioned “Closed, Please Call Again” musically explores the heart of one postponing a response to the call of the Gospel or closed off to any true human contact. The song features some of the finest saxophone work on any Christian album. The longing heart is musically portrayed through the instrumental work and the aching vocals make this song a sheer delight. The saxophone is introduced brilliantly with a vocal and instrument interplay. There is so much more to be said about this amazing album, but space limitations prohibit a deeper discussion. Suffice it to say this is clearly an AYSO and would serve as a great introduction to the artist for those unfamiliar with his amazing collection of work.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com
Tracklist 1 – Tesseract – 2:30 2 – People In Peril – 6:22 3 – Selah – 1:55 4 – Closed, Please Call Again – 7:14 5 – Birth, Dreaming, Death – 6:02 6 – Remove The Mask – 4:32 7 – Agony And Ecstasy – 3:29 8 – Waiting For The End – 4:40 9 – Ancient Icons – 3:51 10 – Windemere – 7:08
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Sandy Simpson Acoustic Guitar [Solo] – Paul Chasman Artwork – David Hastings, Kathy Hastings Backing Vocals – Sandy Simpson Bass Guitar – Rick Crittenden Bass [Oregon] – David Friesen Bells – Roger Hadley Caxixi – Roger Hadley Cymbal – Roger Hadley Drum Programming – Brian David Willis Drums – Brian David Willis Drums [Hand] – Roger Hadley Drums [Heater] – Sandy Simpson Electric Guitar – Sandy Simpson Electric Piano – Jeff Johnson Percussion – Roger Hadley, Sandy Simpson Percussion [Shells] – Roger Hadley Piano [Acoustic] – Jeff Johnson Producer – Jeff Johnson, Sandy Simpson Programmed By [Emulator] – Jeff Johnson Saxophone – Susie May Synthesizer – Jeff Johnson Tabla – Roger Hadley Vocals – Jeff Johnson Wind Chimes – Roger Hadley Written-By – Jeff Johnson
This may be one of the best Soul Gospel albums of the 80’s. As I have said before I didn’t listen to this style of music in the 80’s which is a real pity. I know I would have loved this album. Now to be clear Pastor Shirley is the star of this album but special praise should go out to Joe Neil. Joe did the primary mix for the concert and final mix for the album. You may have heard of Sam’s Tape Truck which was used for recording live concerts and Joe was responsible for Sam’s Tape Truck. The mix for a live concert is not the same mix that usually makes it onto an album. While I never heard the concert mix I can tell that Joe laid down a fantastic mix for the album. I would argue that this is one of the best mixed live albums I have heard. Anyway let’s talk about the album. This album was one of the top Soul gospel albums of the time. It made it to #1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums charts and the single “Hold My Mule” made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart. It won the Dove award for Traditional Black Gospel Recorded Song of the Year and was nominated for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Female. As it stands today this is my favourite Live Soul album and I suspect it’ll be there for quite awhile.
Tracklist 1 – Never – 7:16 2 – His Blood – 6:16 3 – Feel The Spirit – 4:31 4 – Things Are Going To Get Better – 4:32 5 – Hold My Mule – 8:41 6 – Born Again – 5:02 7 – Yes Lord, Yes – 3:54 8 – Peace In The Midst Of The Storm – 4:51
Credits Al Willis – Guitar Albertina Walker – Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist Ann Caesar-Price – Vocals (Background) Bubba Smith – Agogo, Anvil, Bells, Producer, Tambourine Darius Brooks – Composer, Piano, Synthesizer Denis Solee – Sax (Tenor) Doug Moffet – Sax (Baritone) Hank Williams – Mastering Jay Rabbitt – Engineer Jim Whitmer – Photography Joe Neil – Engineer, Mixing Kevin Brunson – Drums Larry Goode – Engineer Lloyd Barry – Horn Arrangements, Trumpet Loris Holland – Composer Lynn Keesecker – Composer, Executive Producer Michael E. Mathis – Composer, Organ, Piano, Vocals (Background) Mike Haynes – Trumpet Oliver Wells – Synthesizer Pastor Donald Alford – Composer Rev. Milton Brunson – Guest Artist Richard Gibbs – Organ, Piano Robert Butler – Executive Producer Sam Levine – Sax (Baritone) Sanchez Harley – Horn Arrangements Shirley Caesar – Composer, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals Steve Adams – Composer Steve Huff – Bass Tyrone Block – Vocals (Background)
