Commissioned was formed in 1982 in Detroit Michigan. The six original members were Fred Hammond, Mitchell Jones, Keith Staten, Karl Reid, Michael Brooks, and Michael Williams but by the time this first album was put out the members had adjusted slightly. If I had to classify them as a group I would say they are the soul version of the Imperials. This album was very well received and Light records made an excellent decision to release this one. My understanding is that the album was recorded without a record deal and was shopped around. Light Records would go on to release 4 more albums by the band before they moved on to Benson. The album itself is an excellent light soul album that was prefect for the time it was released.
Tracklist 1 – I’m Going On – 3:51 2 – ‘Tis So Sweet – 4:14 3 – I Can See Jesus – 4:40 4 – Unworthy – 4:34 5 – You’ve Got A Friend – 3:56 6 – The City – 3:55 7 – Giving My Problems (To You) – 4:26 8 – Surely We Need Him – 4:35
Credits Fred Hammond – Vocals, Bass Keith Staten – Vocals Mitchell Jones – Vocals Karl Reid – Vocals Michael Brooks – Keyboards Michael Williams – Drums Scotti Jones – percussions
Recorded at The Civic Theatre, Des Moines, Iowa and The Civic Center Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia here’s probably Micheal W. Smiths best album. That said I always love live albums and Michael definitely turned it up a notch when appearing live. I don’t really care for his albums as they are a little too mellow for me but this album I have been listening to.
Tracklist 1 – Nothin’ But The Blood – 3:38 2 – Lamu – 8:27 3 – You’re Alright – 4:39 4 – Could He Be The Messiah – 5:02 5 – Rocketown – 6:13 6 – Emily – 3:45 7 – I Know – 4:23 8 – Friends – 3:59 9 – Old Enough To Know – 5:57 10 – Pursuit Of The Dream – 6:01 11 – Be Strong And Courageous – 4:15 12 – You Need A Savior – 6:24
Credits Art Direction, Design – Heather Brown Artwork By [Cover Painting] – Robert Meecham Bass – Chris Harris Drums – David Huff Edited By [Audio Sweetening] – Blaine Stewart Engineer [Claire House] – Bob Weibel Engineer [Monitor] – Keith Carroll Executive Producer – Dan Harrell, Jeff Moseley, Michael Blanton Guitar – Chris Rodriguez, Wayne Kirkpatrick Keyboards – Mark Heimermann, Michael W. Smith Mastered By – Glenn Meadows Photography – Tim Campbell Producer – Michael W. Smith Production Manager, Engineer [House Sound], Engineer – Chris Taylor Recorded By [Location Audio Reel Sound Recorders], Engineer [Additional Audio Engineered By] – Malcolm Harper
Companies, etc. Manufactured By – BMG Music Distributed By – BMG Music
This is Dion’s first Christian album. He was a huge artist through the 60’s and 70’s perhaps best known as Dion & The Belmonts and Dion & The Wanderers. I have to make a confession that my friends and I didn’t listen to Dion. I remember that we were aware of him but for some reason he just never made it onto our playlists (cassettes in the day). This is further confusing because I think all of us grew up with Dion in our homes in the 60’s and early 70’s. It is odd that I know his secular work better than his Christian work. I am going to further confess that I had not listened to this album before writing this review. Now the reason I am going on about this is that this album is great, I would have loved it in 1980. I do love Dion’s 60’s work but this album sounds more like his 70’s work and I think it’s darn good too. So my apologies to Dion for not listening to him at the time but I’m making up for it now.
Tracklist 1 – I Believe (Sweet Lord Jesus) – 3:34 2 – He’s The One – 5:02 3 – Center Of My Life – 4:28 4 – The Truth Will Set You Free – 6:10 5 – Gonna Be Ready – 3:39 6 – Old Souvenirs – 3:51 7 – New Jersey Wife – 3:54 8 – Man In The Glass – 4:21 9 – Sweet Surrender – 4:33
Credits Art Direction [Cover Art Direction] – Dennis Hill Bass – George “Chocolate” Perry Co-producer [Co-Produced By] – Eric Schilling, Paul Harris Drums, Percussion – Jose Galdo* Engineer – Eric Schilling Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Jim Peterson Guitar – Dion DiMucci, Tony Battaglia Keyboards – Paul Harris Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Other [Cross Presented By] – August DiMucci Photography By [Cover Photographs] – John Miller Photography By [Cross Photograph] – Dion DiMucci Producer [Produced By] – Dion
I have written this elsewhere on several occasions and will repeat it again here: Michael Been was the single most impressive and passionate lead vocalist to ever grace a rock and roll stage. Others may bellow, scream and prance about, but Been could stand perfectly still and show little or no emotion and still drive me to tears with the sheer passion and believability of his voice. The rich baritone that could elevate to staggering heights of emotion has simply not been matched. I miss him… Let the Day Begin was the 6th album from The Call and carried the band into the 1990’s with what should have been the coming out party. Rock radio loved the title track, making it the bands only number one single, but it just wasn’t to be. It is one of the great mysteries of rock and roll music that a band like The Call could never break into the mainstream music fans consciousness despite a consistently impressive output of amazing music. This album was that one shot. It was filled with radio friendly rock music with a slight alternative twist that seemed reared and ready for success. The first four songs (Let the Day Begin, Run, Surrender and When) should have been runaway hits and appeared on several movie soundtracks. Been’s history in Christian music is actually relatively unknown. His first known appearance (that I am familiar with) is playing bass on the first two Barry McGuire albums as well as being a musician for 2nd Chapter of Acts. He regularly appeared on Jesus Music/CCM albums before creating The Call and heading into a more mainstream world. But his Biblical worldview is present here and on every able he was connected with. It should not difficult to see the hope, grace and mercy that poured from his been and voice. Yes, he will be missed. Greatly!
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Let The Day Begin – 3:50 2 – You Run – 5:34 3 – Surrender – 4:07 4 – When – 5:18 5 – Jealousy – 5:38 6 – Same Ol’ Story – 3:36 7 – For Love – 6:13 8 – Closer – 5:00 9 – Communication – 5:38 10 – Watch – 4:16 11 – Uncovered – 2:24
Credits Art Direction – J.A. Design – Jeanne Bradshaw Drums, Vocals – Scott Musick Engineer [Assistant] – Matthew “Boomer” LaMonica, Paul Dieter Engineer [Studio Monitor] – Gary Sanguinet Guitar, Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals – Michael Been Guitar, Vocals – Tom Ferrier Keyboards, Vocals – Jim Goodwin Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Photography By – Richard Corman Producer – Jim Goodwin, Michael Been Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Ed Cherney Recorded By, Mixed By – Rob Eaton Supervised By [Equipment Supervision] – Mike Smith Technician [Guitar Techs] – Edd Kolakowski, Rich Modica
This is Steve’s 3rd album. It is a little more uptempo than his previous release but for the main part follows right along with his previous work. It contains one of Steve’s best known songs, “Run to the Battle”. Keith Thomas wrote or co wrote several tracks and you can hear his heavy influence on the album. I going to have to classify this album as “also came out in 1981” but really it deserves more recognition than that as it is a pretty good album.
Tracklist 1 – Jesus On Our Side – 3:25 2 – Gimme What It Takes – 3:29 3 – Farther And Higher – 3:16 4 – Jesus Drawing Me – 4:12 5 – The Net Of Peter – 4:10 6 – Thank You – 3:25 7 – The Only Story (Written In My Life) – 2:36 8 – You Just Talk To Me – 3:40 9 – Run To The Battle – 3:46 10 – Back In The Furnace – 4:48 11 – For Every Man – 1:20
Credits Richard Achor – Engineer Joane Anderson – Background Vocals John Bolt – Engineer Steve Camp – Songwriter, Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Lead and Background Vocals Danny Carden – Handclaps Doana Cooper – Background Vocals Diana DeWitt Hanna – Background Vocals Steve Dokken – Bass Jerry Evans – Handclaps Carol Frazier – Songwriter Rob Frazier – Songwriter Sonny Garrish – Steel Guitar Jon Goin – Acoustic and Electric Guitars Randy Hammel – Synthesizer Mark Hammond – Drums Ben Harris – Engineer Don Hart – String Arranger Randy Holland – Engineer Russ Hollingsworth – Songwriter Neal Joseph – Executive Producer Paul Libman – Horn Arranger Kenny Malone – Drums Howard McCrary – Songwriter, Wurlitzer, Acoustic Piano, Fender Rhodes, Synthesizer, Organ, Background Vocals Terry McMillan – Percussion Hank Neuberger – Co-Producer, Engineer, Songwriter Larry Paxton – Bass Gary Pigg – Background Vocals Denis Solee – Flutes, Saxophone Russ Taff – Duet and Background Vocals Diane Thiel – Background Vocals Kevin Thiel – Background Vocals Denise Thomas – Songwriter, Handclaps Keith Thomas – Producer, Songwriter, Fender Rhodes, Acoustic Piano, Handclaps, Background Vocals D. Bergen White – String Arranger Hank Williams – Mastered Bob Wray – Bass
In 1989 Mark Williamson (Mark Williamson Band/Lyrix) put out an album with John Robinson on a secular label. This appears to have been a one off idea with musical support with some excellent studio musicians. Chris Eaton did write a few of the tracks so there’s also that connection to CCM. The album is a solid AOR project and the 2 artists work very well together. I am a big Mark Williamson fan but I did not know about this album until it was sent to me. I don’t know if I would say it’s his best work but it is definitely good and it’s always exciting to find “bonus” work from an artist you love.
Tracklist 1 – Heaven On Earth – 4:22 2 – I Must Be Blind – 4:14 3 – Say You Will – 3:55 4 – Anyone Out There – 4:52 5 – Caught Inside Your Heart – 4:52 6 – We Got A Way – 4:18 7 – Hold You Tonight – 5:03 8 – Straight To The Heart – 4:22 9 – This Is Killing Me – 4:52
Credits Arranged By [Horns] – Jerry Hey Bass – Freddie Washington, Neil Stubenhaus Drums, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Bass, Percussion, Producer – John Robinson Electric Guitar – Michael Landau, Steve Lukather Executive-Producer – Brad Westering Guitar – Al McKay, Clem Clempson, Marty Walsh Keyboards – Aaron Zigman, Alan Shacklock, David Paich, John Van Tongeren, Larry Williams, Richard Souther Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Producer – Mark Williamson Mixed By – Chris Lord-Alge Piano – David Paich Producer – Alan Shacklock Saxophone – Kim Hutchcroft Saxophone [Solos] – Kirk Whalum Trumpet – Dan Higgins, Gary Grant, Jerry Hey Vocals [Additional] – Chris Eaton, Lance Ellington
I have to admit that I am a little confused by this album. It’s an album of covers by relatively unknown artists. Well that’s not actually true I guess. Mark Williamson (Mark Williamson Band/Lyrix) sings a couple tracks, and Dennis Holt (AD) plays drums and the rest seem to be relatively successful studio musicians. I really have no idea what the idea was behind this album other than to put out some Rock versions of some songs that weren’t really Rock. That said it covers “The Rock That Doesn’t Roll” that was definitely a Rock song. The strangest thing on the album is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Man Gave Names To All The Animals” which is actually pretty good. I actually like a lot of the tracks but I think my favourite is a cover of Randy Stonehill’s “Shut De Do”. Give this one a listen if for no other reason than it’s nice to hear some of these songs with a different arrangement.
Tracklist 1 – The Rock That Doesn’t Roll (Larry Norman) – Gene Miller – 3:43 2 – Shut De Do (Randy Stonehill) – Carrie McDowell – 3:23 3 – Can’t Do Nothin’ Without Jesus’ Love (Darrell Mansfield) – Mark Williamson – 3:23 4 – Jesus Is Calling (Erick Nelson) – Christi Jacobs – 3:26 5 – Man Gave Names To All The Animals (Bob Dylan) – Moses Toth – 3:18 6 – Take Me Closer (Phil Keaggy) – Marty Walsh – 3:41 7 – I Love You Lord – Laurie Klein – 3:28 8 – Say It Like It Is – (Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild) – Mark Williamson – 3:24 9 – The Flood – Sumner Mering – 3:12 10 – Take No Chances (Love Song) – Gene Miller – 3:58
Credits Art Direction – Terry De Graff Bass – Glen C. Holmen Design – Bradley Grose Drums – Dennis Holt Engineer – Jim Scheffler, Steve Vidger, Thom Roy, Wally Grant Executive-Producer – Tom Coomes Guitar – Marty Walsh Organ [Hammond B-3] – Brad Cole Percussion, Art Direction – Alex MacDougall Producer – Roby Duke Vocals – Angel Smythe, Elizabeth King, John Randall, Julie Bonney, Linda Punt, Moses Toth, Troy Kennedy
In 1994 a version of Love Song came together to rerecord some of their top songs from their 3 albums in the 70’s along with a couple that were previously unreleased. The versions recorded here are updated and for the main part better I think and it’s nice to here Keaggy’s guitar work on these updated versions too. For me the highlight of the album is a fantastic blues rendition of “Take No Chances” which was previously unreleased at this point in history. Keaggy’s guitar work on that track is just awesome.
Tracklist 1 – A Love Song – 2:38 2 – Little Country Church – 2:46 3 – Let Us Be One – 3:44 4 – Little Pilgrim – 4:59 5 – Two Hands – 3:51 6 – Freedom – 3:45 7 – Take No Chances – 7:17 8 – Feel The Love – 5:14 9 – Changes – 2:21 10 – Front Seat, Back Seat – 3:04 11 – The Cossack Song – 3:43 12 – And The Wind Was Low – 3:35 13 – Welcome Back – 4:44 14 – Jesus Puts The Song In Our Hearts – 6:02
Credits Alex Acuna – Percussion John Barbour – Vocals Chuck Butler – Songwriter Tommy Coomes – Producer, Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals Denny Correll – Songwriter Koji Egawa – Mixed Fred Field – Songwriter, Violin, Mandolin, Vocals Chuck Girard – Producer, Songwriter, Vocals John Hendrickson – Engineer, Mixed Hadley Hockensmith – Guitar JB Baird – Engineer Jesse Johnston – Songwriter Phil Keaggy – Guitar Alan Pasqua – Engineer, Keyboard John Patitucci – Bass Tim Pierce – Guitar Jim Scheffler – Engineer Bill Schnee – Mixed Tom Stipe – Songwriter Chris Taylor – Engineer Jay Truax – Vocals Ron Tutt – Drums Bob Wall – Vocals
Companies, etc. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Mixed At – Bill Schnee Studios Mastered At – The Mastering Lab Recorded At – Bill Schnee Studios Recorded At – Roman Foods Studio Recorded At – Crossroads Studios, Santa Ana, CA Recorded At – It’s All Music Recorded At – The Salt Mine
Teri is back with her 2nd and last CCM album. Teri had frequent disputes with her record companies and is known in the industry for sticking to her guns on the issue. Unfortunately this probably robbed us from more great music from her. That said if I’ve learned one thing over time it’s that artists are almost always in the right in these disputes so I don’t blame her. Anyway this is a great pop album and is a little more upbeat than her previous CCM album. Like her other albums it was produced by her husband Bill Purse. The production is excellent and I have always wondered why we didn’t see his name on more albums but I’m assuming the friction with record companies may have made him persona non grata for other artists.
Tracklist 1 – Celebrate – 4:58 2 – Tapestry – 3:56 3 – Attitude Of Gratitude – 4:25 4 – Voices In The Wind – 4:53 5 – I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier – 4:50 6 – Truth – 4:43 7 – Ain’t Givin’ Up, No Way – 4:00 8 – All Day Thursday – 5:29
Credits Backing Vocals – Jon Joyce, Keely Koehr Backing Vocals, Psaltery – Teri DeSario Purse Bass Guitar – Bill Bodine Drums – Art Wood Engineer [Assistant] – Bruce Sugar, Steve Ford Engineer [Assistant], Psaltery – Jeff Demorris Engineer, Mixed By – Kevin Clark Flute, Recorder – Stephen Kujala* French Horn – Joe Meyer Mastered By – Doug Sax Percussion – Michael Fisher Producer, Arranged By, Piano, Synthesizer, Backing Vocals – Bill Purse Trombone – Alan Kaplan Trumpet – Roy Poper Tuba – Ross Deroche
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Middle Sea Sound Recorded At – Baby’O Recorders Recorded At – Mama Jo’s Mixed At – Mama Jo’s Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
This is the eleventh studio album from Petra who actually called themselves Petra Praise for this release. This was an entirely experimental/new idea for them. The album is mainly traditional worship songs done in a Petra style. Not all of them them are hard rock but of course those are the standouts. The album also has 2 original tracks written by Bob Hartman, “I Love the Lord” and “The King of Glory Shall Come In.” The album also released an accompaniment track for the youth groups. Pretty bold idea for the time. Actually it would be a bold idea today. It appears the idea was popular as Petra released 2 more worship albums over the years and they were even more popular than this one. The album was also released in Spanish and I’m currently on the hunt for that version as I love Spanish music. Personally I think the whole idea was perfect for the time as this was needed to dispel the anti Rock & Roll holdouts in the Church. All that aside my actual favourite tracks are the last 2. They are live versions of “I Will Call Upon the Lord” and “I Exalt Thee” but I’m always a sucker for live tracks.
Tracklist 1 – I Love The Lord – 3:35 2 – King Of Kings – 1:47 3 – Jesus, Jesus, Glorious One – 2:18 4 – The Battle Belongs To The Lord – 3:04 5 – Take Me In – 4:11 6 – Salvation Belongs To Our God – 2:56 7 – The King Of Glory Shall Come In – 3:10 8 – No Weapon Formed Against Us – 1:44 9 – I Will Celebrate / When The Spirit Of The Lord – 4:15 10 – I Will Sing Praise – 2:45 11 – Hallowed Be Thy Name – 4:12 12 – Friends (All In The Family Of God) – 4:20 13 – I Will Call Upon The Lord – 3:48 14 – We Exalt Thee – 3:46
Credits Arranged By [Vocal Arrangement] – Walt Harrah Backing Vocals – Kathy Riso, Charlie Hoage, John Elefante, John Lawry, Rick Riso, Sara Tennison, Walt Harrah Bass Guitar – Ronny Cates Concept By [Cover Concept] – Loren Balman Coordinator [Cover] – Terri Short Design [Cover] – Jackson Design Drums – Louie Weaver Guitar – Bob Hartman Keyboards, Backing Vocals – John Lawry Lead Vocals – John Schlitt Mixed By [Duckworth Studio] – Bret Teegarden, Tommy Greer Photography By – Mark Tucker Producer [Production Assistant on Guitars and Vocals] – Dino Elefante, John Elefante Producer, Arranged By – Bob Hartman, John Lawry Recorded By [Assistant at Pakaderm studios] – Jeff Simmons Recorded By [Pakaderm studios] – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Mike Mierau Recorded By [Recording Arts] – Carl Tatz, Dino Elefante Recorded By [The Pond] – Gary Hedden, Howard Levy Saxophone [Sax Solo] – Greg Vail
