This band were better known as Just the Watchmen in the 70’s and early 80’s. They had several albums though they all appear to have been self released. We have one that we’ll be uploading soon and it’s great. That said were talking about their 85 EP which is only 4 tracks but is great. Their previous work had a strong 70’s sound but this EP has a solid 80’s sound. These guys had at least 8 self released albums and you have to respect the effort. I really don’t know why they didn’t have an album deal but a part of me suspects that they chose the self released route intentionally. Anyway as I said this is a great little 80’s EP and the title track is fantastic. It was released on cassette with all 4 tracks on both sides.
Tracklist 1 – Seek His Kingdom – 3:36 2 – Anti-Sin – 4:31 3 – Midnight Dreams – 4:03 4 – Caught In The Undertow – 3:21
Credits Booking – John H. Abraham Producer, Composed By – Gary Sanford Paxton* Written-By – Gary Sanford Paxton, Ken Abraham, Tink Abraham
Awhile ago I reviewed a Fireworks album and I was whining how easy listening it was. Someone challenged me to listen to this album if I wanted some Rock & Roll. So here it is and yes there is definitely some great Rock & Roll here. Marty was sure on his game this day. Recorded live at the Lord’s Chapel-Nashville in Tennessee this one took me totally by surprise. I must admit I have a whole new opinion of Fireworks now and I will definitely be enjoying this album in the future.
Tracklist 1 – Rescued – 3:25 2 – Listen – 4:30 3 – Target Practice – 2:48 4 – Someone’s Got A Hold On Me – 3:30 5 – Toll Free – 3:25 6 – Good Thing – 3:09 7 – Rusty Burdens – 3:31 8 – It All Comes Down To You – 3:37 9 – Ready For The Best Of You – 3:46
Credits Bass – Bob Sinkovic Coordinator – Vickie McCall Drums, Percussion, Engineer – Lanny Avery Engineer – Bill Deaton, Jimmy Burch, Joe Wilson Executive Producer – Chris Christian Guitar, Harmony Vocals – Jerry Gaston Harmony Vocals – Mary Avery Lead Vocals, Piano, Percussion – Marty McCall Mastered By – Jim Loyd Producer – Fireworks
Companies, etc. Pressed By – MCA Pressing Plant, Pinckneyville Mastered At – Masterfonics Recorded At – The Lord’s Chapel Recorded By – Fanta Professional Services Marketed By – Sparrow Records
As near as I can tell this is the first album from both Rev. Ian Smale (Ishmael) and Andy Piercy. As such this is an important album in my After The Fire tentacles project. I read that Andy and Ishmael were very good friends and they did more projects like this at the time. They actually had self released a 45 the year before this album but strangely neither of those tracks made it to this album. This was one of the first releases on Myrrh which was called Myrrh Gold at the time. Side 2 of the album might have been recorded live or perhaps just had applause mixed in I’m not sure. Anyway the album mainly consists of them each on an acoustic guitar. As for style it leans more toward Ishmael’s style with a heavier folk influence. The intro track is also probably the best track on the album. Anyway so here’s where two of my favourite artists started out. Also note that Ishmael re released the album on CD at some point and added a 12th track which we have included.
Tracklist 1 – Salt & Light Company – 3:35 2 – Psalm 139 Vs 6-12 – 4:35 3 – Paddy – 5:00 4 – Son Of God – 2:58 5 – Who Is He? – 4:35 6 – Hallelujah Chorus – 3:07 7 – We Got Jesus,We got Joy – 2:36 8 – Schitzo – 2:57 9 – Charisma – 2:50 10 – All Gods Children – 2:16 11 – I’m So Happy – 4:07 12 – The Lords Army – 1:34
Credits Design, Photography – Bernard A Cope Engineer – Lea Nicholson, Nic Kinsey Engineer [Cutting] – John Wadley Performer – Andy Piercy, Ishmael, Littlehampton Youth For Christ Producer – Bobbie Graham
Here’s another one of those mystery 80’s cassettes. This one has a great late 80’s alternative feel and sound and is well produced and engineered. This is all we got from them and it doesn’t look like any of the members went on to do any other published projects. So this is one we have to enjoy as a standalone and wonder why we never got more.
Tracklist 1 – You Don’t Know Me – 4:25 2 – Lightning – 3:50 3 – Nothin’ To You – 3:06 4 – Private 1 – 4:02 5 – Overflow – 4:16 6 – Running Out – 3:36 7 – Black And White – 4:05 8 – Nova Huta – 4:39 9 – St. Peter’s Village – 3:34 10 – Beach Tags – 4:48
Credits Bass, Vocals – T. William Gallagher Drums, Percussion – Mike Ling Guitar, Vocals – Doug Davidson
Peter had performed as a studio musician in the 70’s and 80’s and in his whole career he appears on over 100 albums. Strangely though this is his only personal album. You may know Peter better as the CEO of Sparrow Records and Capitol Christian Music Group. He was involved with Sparrow records in some form for 37 years and just retired in 2020. Anyway back to the album. It was only released in Australia and only on cassette so I am guessing most people have never heard it. It was recorded in 1983 after Peter was able to find a benefactor to pay for the studio time. Peter put together a pretty good team of relatively unknown studio musicians and the album turned out great. I’m actually quite confused that this album didn’t get picked up as it is really good and as Peter was connected in the industry. Oh well thankfully the album is on the internet for us to enjoy today.
Tracklist 1 – Key To My Heart 2 – I’m Alone 3 – Lovely Smile 4 – It’s All Right 5 – On This Day 6 – Noonkanbah 7 – Close To The Bone 8 – Blow Your House Away 9 – Willie’s Blues 10 – So Good To Be Alive
Credits Martin Zammit – drums Duane Mitchell – bass. Graham McCoy – guitar Jordie Young – flute, vocals Les Price – keyboards Rowan Shinkfield – bass on “Willie’s Blues” Peter Fiddler – guitar on “Blow Your House Away”
The story goes that Jeff cut this album/demo in 3 days to demo his guitar work. The story is that it was picked up by a Mexican label and then he got a record deal with Pure Metal records but in reality the timeline doesn’t work so I have no idea how that all worked. I do know that in 2005 this album along with his second album “Woodpecker Stomp” were released as a single CD. As for what we have here is some excellent heavy guitar work. The album is an instrumental which is a little disappointing because there’s some great tracks here but it was recorded as a demo so I understand why. Many people consider Jeff one of the best guitarists in the genre and I have to admit listening to this album will probably support that view.
Credits Bass – Eddie Pruitt Drums – Gabriel Anthony Engineer – Alan Pangelinan Guitar, Producer – Jeff Scheetz Keyboards – Eric Greif Producer – Eric Greif
While Andy Piercy was off recording his new album Peter Banks and Pete King went into the studio to record this rather excellent album. Even though it was recorded and mixed in Peter’s home studio it sounds radio ready to me. I am assuming they shopped the album around but like all things After The Fire the record labels didn’t want it. I will try to not go off on a tangent again about how After The Fire and subsequent member recordings were treated but I just simply can’t understand how this didn’t get picked up. Anyway it lived on a shelf until Pete King’s death in 1987 when Peter took it back out to try to get it released in memory of Pete. Lucky for us Christian label Plankton Records picked up the ball and released the album. Unfortunately it looks like it was only released on cassette and of course it had a tiny distribution so most of us never heard it but here it is. This is yet another excellent 80’s sounding album that we should have been able to hear at the time.
Tracklist 1 – Got My Reasons – 3:46 2 – Making It Tougher – 2:58 3 – I Won’t Go Home – 2:34 4 – Hold Me Tight – 3:38 5 – Where Are You Now – 3:36 6 – Let It Go – 3:38 7 – Hold On – 2:53 8 – Never Let It Be Said – 3:37 9 – Nothing You Can Say – 3:22 10 – Found You Out – 3:04 11 – Call Me Up – 4:22 12 – Something special – 3:28
Credits Peter Banks Peter King Stewart Van Blandameyer Elana Harris Mark Pearson Colin Pye Keith Smith Dave West Simon Wilkinson
In 1993 Andy got together with David Clifton and recorded a “worship album” and it is without a doubt my favourite worship album of all time. Now you may be wondering who David Clifton is as did I but I can bet you’ve probably heard him. He is a prolific studio guitarist who has appeared on a ton of album and done a ton of tours. He actually started out his recording career in a band called Sensible Jerseys who had a couple of really good singles you’ve probably never heard but you should. As for this album the songs are all very worship oriented BUT the arrangements are not. The arrangements are very contemporary and it really works. Now you know I love Andy’s music and this album may have my favourite track by him. “Precious In Your Eyes” has a fantastic sound and I can sense a touch of Elvis Costello but let’s give Andy and David all the credit. It is a fantastic track. This album was first released on Cassette in 1993 with a CD release in 1994. It has been re-released a few times since with a few tracks added here and there but this is the original.
Tracklist 1 – Praise God – 4:09 2 – God Is Our Refuge – 3:58 3 – Oh How I Love Your Law – 3:58 4 – Come Let Us Sing – 3:01 5 – I Need A New Heart – 2:04 6 – Thank You – 2:25 7 – Father In Heaven – 3:25 8 – Holy Holy – 4:34 9 – Precious In Your Eyes – 5:01 10 – Name High Over All – 3:00
Credits Andy Piercy: vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion David Clifton: vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin and mandola Dudley Phillips: bass guitar Terl Bryant: drums and percussion Martin Neal: drums and percussion Steve Creese: drums Pete Sainsbury: keyboards Holly Coward, Jess Rudolf, Ellen Holly & Laura Piercy, Benj, Barny, Kirsty & Josh Lee: backing vocals Produced by Andy Piercy & David Clifton
Third and final LP from Oklahoma group Solid Rock. They are best known for their progressive 70’s rock sound and this album they continue that but give their music a more 80’s sound and feel. They did a great job of adjusting their music to changing times. The problem of course is that niche CCN bands had an even smaller audience. Too bad because these guys were very good and did this style very very well. Only time for one track? Check out “Time Goes By”.
Tracklist 1 – Uncommon Valor – 3:38 2 – Plastic Love Affair – 3:36 3 – Open Your Eyes – 3:30 4 – No Substitute – 2:48 5 – Time Goes By – 4:08 6 – Blind Lead The Blind – 2:45 7 – Wheel Of Fortune – 2:35 8 – Alien – 4:46 9 – Where Are The Banners – 4:16 10 – Right Road – 3:09
Credits Bass, Vocals – Kevin Bartel Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Larry Percy Guitar, Vocals – Stan Mathis Keyboards, Vocals – Scott Jay Lead Vocals, Keyboards – Jerry Johnson
Brighton was fronted by David Brighton. On bass was Mark Robertson who would go on to be in several bands including Altar Boys, The Stand, and Rich Mullins to name a few. Drummer Steve Latanation was and has also been in a ton of bands but none of them Christian that I can tell. Guitarist Dave Wronski and Keyboardist Denny Bouchard rounded out the band. This is a 90’s band that I think would have fit better in the 80’s. That is not a negative comment because I absolutely love their sound. I first heard these guys through a live clip recorded at the 1991 Flevo festival and knew I had to find and upload the album. This is a great Rock/Pop album with the standout track being “(Doesn’t Sound Like) Love To Me”. Also of note is Boulevard which has a pretty good early 90’s rock feel. The novelty track on the album is “Anytime At All” which is a Beatles cover and the band does a pretty good cover which is very much like the original. This is the only album we got from them though they did have a demo before this with the same name and many of the same tracks. If we find it we will post it. The Elefante brothers must have liked what they heard in the demo and signed them for a deal on Pakaderm records which generally had more hard rock oriented bands but I still think these guys were a good fit for the label. So in closing if you missed this one in the 90’s you really should give it a listen.
Tracklist 1 – Promise Of Love – 4:13 2 – On Any Sunday – 3:40 3 – Wash Me In The Rain Again – 4:05 4 – I Would Die For You – 3:55 5 – And You Know – 3:30 6 – Anytime At All – 2:07 7 – (Doesn’t Sound Like) Love To Me – 3:40 8 – Run Through The Flames – 4:10 9 – Boulevard – 3:12 10 – Cursing The Night – 3:50
Credits Art Direction, Design – Terry DeGraff Backing Vocals – J. Elefante, Linda Elias Bass, Vocals – Mark Robertson Booking – Street Level Booking Agency Design Concept – Jeff Michaels Drums, Vocals – Steven W. Latanation Engineer – Randy Thomas Engineer [Assistant] – Jeff Simmons Engineer, Mixed By – Mike Mierau Executive-Producer – John Elefante Executive-Producer, Engineer, Mixed By, Guitar – Dino Elefante Guitar – Dave Wronski Keyboards – Denny Bouchard Photography – Karen Brighton Producer – The Pakaderm Company Vocals, Guitar, Producer, Design Concept – David Brighton
