Category: Albums

Wendell Burton – Closer – 1983

This is Wendell’s 4th album. This is another album that doesn’t fall in the style I usually listen to BUT I do listen to this one. This is a great Easy Listening album and Wendell was a great song writer. Now this album came out in 1983 and I should have heard of it but somehow I don’t remember anything about it. I’m pretty sure the album cover turned me off if I did see it. This is another example of a horrible album cover that I have complained about before from several labels. Strangely a track from this album ended up on a Sparrow records sampler but the album was on Lamb & Lion Records and Word Canada. I’m just guessing that Sparrow was doing the U.S. distribution but like I said that’s just a guess. Anyway there is one stand out track to me on the album. “America” just begs to have been covered by Springsteen. But I don’t want to say the original isn’t good, it’s very good and is gong into my regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Spreading All Over the World – 3:52
2 – Just Like You – 3:04
3 – Who He Is – 3:24
4 – The Battle Is Already Won – 3:50
5 – Come To Me – 3:27
6 – America – 5:17
7 – Today’s The Day – 3:34
8 – Only Be Strong – 4:11
9 – Greatly Rejoice – 4:04
10 – To Be Like Jesus – 2:46

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Wendell Burton
Arranged By [Strings] – Allen Moore, Kristen Wilkinson
Backing Vocals – Christie Houser, Donna McElroy, Lynn Kellogg, Patti Burton*, Randy Thompson, Vicki Wilson
Bass – Larry Paxton, Tim Smith
Drums – Buster Phillips, Joe English
Keyboards – Bobby Wood
Keyboards, Synthesizer – John Lawry, Roger Morris, Shane Keister
Mixed By – Joe Wilson
Mixed By [Assistant] – Bill Cobb
Mixed By, Backing Vocals – Dan Collins
Percussion [Synthesized] – Dan Collins
Producer, Recorded By, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Joe Wilson
Saxophone – Donnie Sanders
Synthesizer, Backing Vocals – Tom Howard

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Lamb & Lion Records
Recorded At – Master’s Touch
Mixed At – Poiema Studios
Mixed At – Martinsound
Mixed At – Glaser Sound Studios, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee

Debby Boone – Surrender – 1983

This was Debby’s seventh album and considering we’re talking about Debby Boone here it didn’t do all that well. I’ve listened to it a few times and to be honest it’s just kind of boring. I know I’m not her target audience but the album just didn’t have any punch to it. It was produced by Brown Bannister so I don’t know why it has this feel. I’ve kind of decided it was due to song selection. I think they just got unlucky and didn’t have a great track that stuck. Now lets be clear the album was popular and did sell well. I’m just saying it didn’t sell well for a Debby Boone album.

Tracklist
1 – O Come All Ye Faithful – 4:05
2 – Keep The Flame Burning – 4:42
3 – Can You Reach My Friend – 4:09
4 – Lift Him Up – 4:23
5 – Wounded Soldier – 4:59
6 – Surrender – 3:35
7 – Keep Rollin’ On – 4:05
8 – Find A Hurt And Heal It – 2:38
9 – O Holy One – 4:12
10 – Blessing – 3:05

Credits
Debby Boone – Vocals
Jim Baird – Engineer
Brown Bannister – Producer, Handclaps
Debbie Bannister – Handclaps
David Baroni – Songwriter
Laury Boone Browning – Background Vocals
Niles Borop – Songwriter
Harry Browning – Songwriter
Robbie Buchanan – Keyboards, Synthesizers, Background Vocals
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Bill Champlin – Background Vocals
Tamara Champlin – Background Vocals
Gary Chapman – Background Vocals
Claire Cloninger – Songwriter
Diana DeWitt Hanna – Background Vocals
Phil Driscoll – Duet Vocal
Nathan East – Bass
Gene Eichelberger – Engineer
Victor Feldman – Percussion
Marty Goetz – Songwriter, Piano
Richard Green – Handclaps
Debbie Hall – Background Vocals
Sandy Hall – Background Vocals
Russ Hollingsworth – Songwriter
John Houghton – Handclaps
Dann Huff – Guitars
Shane Keister – Keyboards, Synthesizers
Jim Keltner – Drums
Brent King – Engineer
Greg Laughery – Songwriter
Pam Mark Hall – Songwriter
Martyn Ford – Orchestra Strings
Dony McGuire – Songwriter, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Alan Moore – String Arranger
Farrell Morris – Percussion
Rich Mullins – Songwriter
Connie Nelson – Songwriter
Dean Parks – Guitars
Jack Joseph Puig – Engineer
Bill Purse – Songwriter
Reba Rambo – Songwriter, Background Vocals
John Rosasco – Songwriter
Rick Shlosser – Drums
Leland Sklar – Bass
Billy Sprague – Songwriter
Fred Tackett – Guitars
Carmen Twillie – Background Vocals
Jim Weber – Songwriter

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Sparrow Records
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab

Tourniquet – Psycho Surgery – 1991

This is the second album from Tourniquet. Now everyone should know by now I don’t care for Metal and or Thrash and I often get bashed for saying I don’t like a metal album. Now that said even though I don’t like the style I can still tell if an album is good or not. This album is good, not just a little good either, it is probably one of the best Thrash albums I have ever heard. It was produced by Bill Metoyer who has been producing some of the best secular music bands as well as the metal version of Deliverance. Anyway the album was very well received including two GMA Dove Award nominations for Metal Album of the Year and Metal Recorded Song of the Year. HM Magazine ranked Psycho Surgery #18 on its list of Top 100 Christian Rock Albums of All Time and the #2 album on its list of Top 100 Christian Metal Albums of All Time. I might agree with the Metal album spot but I think their being a little over the top on the #18 ranking on its list of Top 100 Christian Rock Albums of All Time. Anyway this is a great album and even if you’re not a big fan of Metal you should probably give it a listen at least once.

Tracklist
1 – Psycho Surgery – 4:14
2 – A Dog’s Breakfast – 4:27
3 – Viento Borrascoso (Devastating Wind) – 3:06
4 – Vitals Fading – 2:46
5 – Spineless – 5:12
6 – Dysfunctional Domicile – 5:01
7 – Broken Chromosomes – 5:21
8 – Stereotaxic Atrocities – 4:21
9 – Officium Defunctorum – 6:26

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass, Vocals – Victor Macias
Concept By [Illustration Concept] – Jim Martin
Design – Joe Potter
Drums, Lead Guitar [Additional], Rhythm Guitar [Additional] – Ted Kirkpatrick
Engineer, Mixed By – Bill (G. Shumway) Metoyer
Illustration [Cover Illustration] – Ken Taufer
Keyboards, Lead Vocals, Effects, Engineer – Guy Ritter
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Erik Mendez
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals – Gary Lenaire
Lead Vocals [On Verse One Of Vitals Fading And All Verses Of “Psycho”] – Gary Lenaire
Musical Assistance [Theological Review] – George Bryson
Photography By – Jim Muth
Producer – Bill Metoyer
Producer, Concept By [Illustration Concept] – Tourniquet
Vocals [Spanish Vocals on Vitals Fading] – Victor Macias

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Broken Songs
Mixed At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Recorded At – Hammersound, Chatsworth
Recorded At – Asaph
Produced At – Downtown Rehearsal
Produced At – Eagle Rock Studios
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Intense Records
Copyright © – Intense Records
Distributed By – FMG Distribution
Glass Mastered at – Nimbus, Virginia

Phil Driscoll – I Exalt Thee – 1983

I’m pretty sure we will agree that this was Phil’s most successful album. The album got a Grammy nomination for Best Male Gospel Performance and also received the 1984 GMA Dove Award for Instrumentalist of the Year. It was also nominated for the GMA Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. That’s pretty impressive. Now one of the stranger things about this album is that Phil went back into the studio are rerecorded the entire album so he could release it on his own label. He also added a track. I can’t say for sure but I’m pretty sure this was a big screw you to Sparrow records. Anyway if you only have time to listen to one track make it his version of “Amazing Grace”. It’s actually my favorite version of this classic hymn, Phil’s voice just makes it sound so great.

Tracklist
1 – I Exalt Thee – 7:23
2 – Wings As Eagles – 5:30
3 – Let The Whole World Know – 4:05
4 – Our God Reigns – 4:36
5 – Amazing Grace – 4:10
6 – Hosanna – 4:33
7 – El Shaddai – 3:55
8 – Everlasting Life – 4:18
9 – The Lord’s Prayer – 4:49

Credits
Backing Vocals – Beverly Baxter, Donna McElroy, Lari Goss, Melodie Tunney*, Roni Goss, Sharon Scott (3), Terry Blackwood
Bass – Ricky Keller
Congas, Timbales, Percussion – Alex Acuña, Laran Philpott
Drums – Buster Phillips, Jim Keltner
Guitar – Dann Huff, Mike Deasy
Keyboards – Jerry Cleveland, Lari Goss
Producer – Lari Goss, Phil Driscoll

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Sparrow Records

Steve Green – Steve Green – 1984

This is Steve Green’s introductory album and this album was an example of everything that was wrong with Christian music at this time. Steve did not write a single song on this album though he was given cowriting credits for one track. The songs were written by great writers employed by Sparrow Records. In fact “Wounded Soldier” was also released on Debby Boone’s album the previous year. What? You couldn’t find another song Sparrow? So it leaves me to wonder, why Steve Green? Sure he’s a good singer but there were 100’s probably 1000’s of singers as good as him. He didn’t even play an instrument on his own album. Sure he had been a minor member of Truth but what was it that had Sparrow say “This is our guy”. Now Steve did go on to be a great success though he never really did much writing. Sparrow knew what they were doing when they picked artists like this. As for the album it’s good. Steve’s a good singer and the tracks were written by the cream of the crop over at Sparrow. I just sometimes wonder how these albums came to exist.

Tracklist
1 – Lift Up A Song
2 – Looking For The City
3 – Bring Back The Glory
4 – Proclaim The Glory Of The Lord
5 – Wounded Soldier
6 – Lamb Of Glory
7 – Other Side Of The Grave
8 – Broken And Spilled Out
9 – You Can Be (As Full As You Want To Be)
10 – People Need The Lord

Credits
Engineer [Additional Engineer] – Bill Deaton, Billy Sherill, James Baird
Engineer [Chief Engineer], Mixed By [Remixed By] – Bob Clark
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Mastered By [With] – Ken Pennell
Orchestrated By – David T. Clydesdale
Producer [Produced By] – Greg Nelson
Strings [Strings By] – Nashville String Machine
Vocals [Choral Group] – Beverly Darnall, Dave Duram, Gary Music, Jon Mohr, Karla Worley, Kevin Hoffer, Kristi Cleary, Larry Brooks, Luanne Mohr, Melody Tunney*, Rick Gibson, Scott Douglas, Steve Green

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Hearn Records Fund II, Ltd.
Recorded At – Great Circle Sound
Recorded At – Center Stage Studio
Recorded At – Bullet Recording
Recorded At – Sound Emporium
Remixed At – Great Circle Sound
Mastered At – Future Disc

Rob Castles – Straight Shot – 1988/2019

Full disclosure up front Rob is a friend of mine and I am a huge fan of his music so don’t expect a very objective review of this album. Rob turned up the Rock a few notches for this album. It was released on micro label Dark Records who apparently came to an agreement with Rob to use the performer name Rob Castles because everyone was pronouncing it that way anyway. The album itself is excellent though lyrically the JPM count is relatively low for a Christian album. This in my opinion is a good thing. I always wanted Christian artists to write songs that were relevant to youth and Rob did exactly that with this album. He even did a song on the evils of crack cocaine. Imagine that, a song that would be relevant to Christian youth without just saying “trust God”. Youth had to make real life decisions in the 80’s and it would have been nice if more artists had written songs that helped youth beyond the standard “oh just pray”. In my opinion there are several tracks on this album that were radio ready but needless to say secular radio never had any idea who Rob was. In 2019 the album was re-issued by Girder Records and 2 bonus tracks recorded in 86/87 were added and we have included those 2 tracks in our playlist.

Tracklist
1 – Shoot It Straight – 2:49
2 – Safety Zone – 3:17
3 – What’s That Voice – 3:28
4 – Overkill – 2:46
5 – Next Time – 2:40
6 – Living On The Edge – 4:08
7 – Save Yourself For Love – 3:32
8 – Only Lovers – 4:25
9 – Can’t Turn Down – 3:49
10 – Crack – 3:02
Bonus Tracks
11 – Epidemic Of Love – 4:22
12 – Voyagers – 4:49

Credits
Rob Cassels – Keyboards, Harmonica, Guitars, Lead Vocals
Sam Eakins – Guitars, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Mark Ediger – Drums, Percussion, Background Vocals
David Lee – Guitar, Background Vocals
Steve Morse – Producer
Kent Reed – Bass, Background Vocals
Rick Sandidge – Background Vocals
Matt Schwartz – Background Vocals
Steve Hill – Background Vocals
Andy Childress – Background Vocals (“Only Lovers”)

Leon Patillo – Love Around The World – 1985

This is Leon’s 6th solo album and in my opinion his best up to this point. The album has a strong soul pop fell and sound. Leon perfected this very narrow sound as far as CCM music was concerned and his sales numbers showed this. Again Leon essentially played all the instruments though John Robinson did provide a few drum tracks and Leon also wrote all the tracks except one. I have great respect for Leon as he was able to get albums out almost every year. Considering he played most the instruments, did the production and wrote the tracks you simply have to respect that.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPcTOx34g9XSwX0kfLY2VbHMIGjvOgFLw

Tracklist
1 – Love Around The World – 4:49
2 – Up And Over – 5:59
3 – One Thing Leads To Another – 4:06
4 – Magic Man – 5:14
5 – Fire – 3:19
6 – Friends In High Places – 3:35
7 – I’ll Be With You – 5:11
8 – Treat Her Like A Lady – 4:16
9 – Safe Delivery – 3:29
10 – The Lord’s Prayer – 5:07

Credits
Executive-Producer – George Duke
Mixed By – Raymond Jones
Producer, String Arranger, Songwriter, Guitar, Synthesizer, Drums, Drums Synthesizer, Fender Rhodes, Bass, Horns, Lead and Background Vocals – Leon Patillo
Drums – John Robinson

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Produced For – George Duke Enterprises, Inc.
Pressed By – Electrosound Los Angeles – △27177

John Michael Talbot – The God Of Life – 1984

I find it increasingly difficult to review John Talbot’s albums. The albums are quite good but they just aren’t my style and they are very repetitive. That said this album did differ a bit in style with a little less guitar and a little more symphonic sound. There’s even a celtic track which was a nice change from him. The album actually several instrumental tracks which I didn’t appreciate as much. So while I complain that John’s stuff all sounds the same to me I guess I’m kind of proven wrong with this album.

Tracklist
1 – Glory To Thee O God Of Life – 3:04
2 – God – 1:53
3 – In The Name Of God – 6:43
4 – Peace – 4:47
5 – Betwixt Me – 4:50
6 – Belfast – 1:58
7 – The Eyes Of The Great God – 2:57
8 – Holy God Of Truth – 2:45
9 – Healer Of My Soul – 3:35
10 – The Meadow – 1:46
11 – Thanks To Thee – 4:43
12 – Father Make Me Holy – 2:36

Credits
Art Direction [Cover Coordination] – B. Charlyne Hinesley
Backing Vocals – Terry Talbot, Wendy Hofheimer
Bagpipes [Highland Bagpipes, Uilleann Pipes], Hurdy Gurdy – Michael Hubbert
Cello – Alan Dalziel
Concertmaster – Sidney Sax
Conductor – John Leonard
Cover [Cover Design], Design [Lyric Sheet Design] – Marlene Bergman
Design [Lyric Sheet Design] – John Taylor
Dulcimer [Hammered Dulcimer] – Carole Koenig
Engineer – Darrell Powell, Peter Hayden, Ron Capone
Engineer, Mixed By – Mike Ross-Trevor
English Horn – Malcolm Messiter
Flute – Edward Becket
Harp [Celtic Harp, Troubadour Harp] – Gayle Levant
Illustration [Front Cover Illustration] – Christine Soldenski
Orchestra – National Philharmonic Orchestra Of London
Producer – John Michael Talbot
Producer, Arranged By, Orchestrated By, Conductor – Phil Perkins
Tin Whistle – Michael Harriton
Vocals [Solo Voice], Guitar, Banjo, Backing Vocals – John Michael Talbot

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Hearn Records Fund II, Ltd.
Copyright © – Hearn Records Fund II, Ltd.
Recorded At – The Barn
Recorded At – Westwind Studio
Recorded At – Weddington Studios
Recorded At – CBS Studios, London
Mixed At – CBS Studios, London
Lacquer Cut at – Future Disc

Darrell Mansfield – Mansfield & Co. – 1995

I am a huge Darrell Mansfield fan so I rarely say anything negative about him. But I have heard one criticism that I have to somewhat agree with and it’s that Darrell’s albums started to become very repetitive. Darrell has tendency to go to the same songs over and over again and I understand that if you’re not a huge fan like I am it gets repetitive. Put that aside for a moment though and remember this album came out in 1995. Several of the tracks on this album would become regular tracks for him but this was the first time he released them. As such if you had heard this album for the first time in 1995 it would have been pretty amazing. Now even if you’re tired of hearing the same songs over and over again there is one track here that is a must listen. Willie Dixon’s Spoonful is a real treat and one we don’t hear Darrell do it often so it is a must listen to.

Tracklist
1 – Crossroads – 4:16
2 – Let’s Work Together – 3:19
3 – Heavy Load (Song For Jessica) – 5:36
4 – Flyin’ Free – 5:31
5 – The Mission – 4:31
6 – Boom Boom – 2:38
7 – Spoonful – 7:48
8 – Everybody’s Business – 3:45
9 – Starry Sea – 4:09
10 – He Has Overcome – 7:51

Credits
Backing Vocals – Jaymes Felix
Bass – Greg Chaisson
Engineer – Abe Senna, David Mansfield, Eric Smith, Jonathan Mansfield, Mark Uehlein
Engineer, Mixed By [Mix Down Engineering By] – Tim Lauber
Executive-Producer – Freddie Piro
Graphics – Atom Smith
Guitar – Craig Erickson, Eric Turner (tracks: 3, 5, 10)
Keyboards [Hammond B3 Keyboards] – Steve Wood
Percussion – Burleigh Drummond
Photography – Tom Ferguson
Piano – Rob Rinderer
Producer – Darrell Mansfield

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Ocean Records
Copyright © – Ocean Records
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Ocean Studios
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s

Brush Arbor – Hide Away – 1979

This is Brush Arbor’s 5th album and their first on a Christian album. This album doesn’t have as much of a country sound as their others and in fact this one has a 70’s rock sound to me. What this album is best known for is having the original version of David Edwards “Not Going To Fall Away” though it was titled “My Lord”. David Lowman theorizes that as Buddy King produced both this and David’s first album he had a hand in this and I think he’s probably dead on on that one. Anyway their version is pretty good and I guess because this version came out first technically David Edwards covered his own song.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPcTOx34g9XRIC7lxnCyVa1lNeMFlTKSA

Tracklist
1 – Hide Away – 2:46
2 – Listen To Your Heart – 2:52
3 – Oh, I Love You – 3:37
4 – My Lord – 2:26
5 – Here I Am – 3:26
6 – Hello God – 4:06
7 – How Long – 2:22
8 – If I Didn’t Have Love – 3:28
9 – You And Me All The Way – 2:37
10 – Please Make Yourself Known – 3:28

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Bill Keene, John Hunt
Arranged By [Basic Tracks], Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar – Tom Keene
Arranged By [Strings] – David Diggs
Arranged By [Vocals] – Jules Alexander
Art Direction – Dennis Hill
Bass Guitar, Tuba – Dave Coy
Concept By [Cover], Photography By – Scott Lockwood
Drums, Percussion – Fred Petry
Electric Guitar – David Storrs
Engineer – Bino Espinoza, Richard Donaldson
Engineer, Remix – Bill Bottrell
Executive-Producer – Gary Whitlock
Guitar – Tim Fuller
Keyboards – Dave Garland
Management – Dan McKinnon
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Performer – Dave Rose, Jim Rice, Joe Rice
Producer, Engineer, Remix – Buddy King
Saxophone – Ernie Watts
Steel Guitar, Electric Guitar – Al Perkins
Synthesizer – Yabo Obien
Violin – Fred Field

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Soundcastle
Remixed At – Soundcastle
Mastered At – A&M Studios
Mastered At – Capitol Mastering