Category: Albums

Kerry Livgren / AD – Prime Mover – 1988

After the demise of AD Kerry Livgren and Warren Ham came back together to record and release this album using the AD name. It is said that this album was put together to fulfill contractual obligations and raise some funds. I’m not really sure if I believe this but it is said that Kerry said this but I can not find the actual quote. Kerry supplied all of the instruments with the exception of harp and sax supplied by Ham and this gives the album a rather unique sound and I really like it. I’m not disrespecting the rest of the band I’m just saying I really like this sound. The track “Portrait II” is actually a re-write of Portrait (He Knew), from the 1977 Kansas album Point of Know Return. Kerry rewrote it to be about Christ rather than Albert Einstein. Strangely the entire album was re-recorded and re-released in 1998 as Prime Mover II with 5 additional tracks. One last point of trivia of this album is that the UK vinyl version stated the title as “Prime Cuts” on the vinyl label. Rather odd error but errors on vinyl labels are actually quite common.

Tracklist
1 – Don’t Pass Me By – 4:24
2 – Fathers And Sons – 3:56
3 – Portrait II – 5:35
4 – Children Of The Shadows – 4:49
5 – Wandering Spirit – 4:04
6 – I’ll Follow You – 3:55
7 – New Kind Of Love – 3:37
8 – One More Song – 4:09
9 – T.G.B. – 5:58

Credits
Design – Nick Newton
Illustration [Photo Illustration] – Mark Fokol
Instrumentation By [All Instruments By] – Kerry Livgren
Lead Vocals – Warren Ham
Mastered By – Glen Meadows
Producer [Produced By] – Steve Walsh
Recorded By, Mixed By – Kerry Livgren
Vocals – Kerry Livgren, Steve Walsh, Dean Heitkamp, Michael Gleason

Companies, etc.
Produced For – GrandyZine Productions Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Copyright (c) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Recorded At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Mixed At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Mastered At – Masterfonics

Gideon’s Army – Grace – 1990

The third and last album from Gideon’s Army picks up where Warriors Of Love left off but it has a feel of maturity to it. At this point I think the band had settled into the style that they liked as there was some style fluttering in their first 2 releases. Unfortunately this was the last album from their band and I feel they were just hitting their stride. Darin Warren stepped in to replace Dave Angles on guitar and his sound fit in well with the band. I missed this band entirely in the 80’s and really wish I could have seen them live, I just get the feel that they were good live. Original copies of this release are apparently few and far between which suggests to me that it just didn’t sell well. Luckily it was re-released in 2015 by Retroactive Records so it’s easy to get a copy now.

Tracklist
1 – Knowing You – 3:45
2 – Lonely Lover – 4:20
3 – Christina – 4:45
4 – Grace – 5:21
5 – Make Up Your Mind – 3:10
6 – Open Arms – 4:23
7 – Tough Love – 3:24
8 – With The One I Love – 4:21
9 – Turn Up The Heat – 4:11
10 – Sending You – 4:08

Credits
Mark Greves – Lead Vocals & Bass
Darin Warren – Lead Guitar
Doug Naruo – Keyboards
Jerry Anderson – Drums & Lead Vocals
Brenda Perdue – vocals
Melody Lynn – vocals
Ron Davis – vocals
Dave Angeles – guitars on 7, 8, 10
Don Walker – drums on 7, 8, 10

John Mehler – Bow & Arrow – 1982

Ten years removed from Love Song and ten light years removed musically, Bow and Arrow was an original artistic revelation in 1982. I had just begun working for a small buy relatively aggressive Christian Bookstore in orange, CA called The Pink Lady. The store with odd name was kind of a crazy combination of ice cream shop, Bible bookstore, Hallmark store and music store. Half of the music department was dedicated choral and instrumental music with instruments, cantatas and several rooms for private instrument instruction. Yet, at the same time, the music department carried Bruce Cockburn, U2 and Bill Mason band along with Amy, Michael and Larnelle. One of my first days working there the owners daughter was training me and had put a brand new album from Maranatha Music on the in store turntable. After several songs I mentioned that I thought this was, by far, the best Phil Keaggy album I had ever heard! The album was “Bow and Arrow” by former Love Song drummer John Mehler and I bought the album that night. The album was produced by Mehler with help from Bill Batstone who also played bass on the album. The musical direction will always find comparison to Phil Keaggy because of Mehler’s voice having such an uncanny resemblance to the guitar virtuoso. Keaggy’s providing some of his best recorded guitar work helped to add luster to the comparison. But there are to be found touched of early 80’s new wave and a dash of the Police. And within the framework of the 9 songs one will find nine brilliantly written, produced and performed songs. As pioneering Love Song was for the early Jesus Music days, Mehler’s Bow and Arrow was just as captivating, original and significant. The album received very limited promotional and radio support as it was at this time that Maranatha Music decided to no longer do artist oriented releases and focus exclusively on worship and children’s albums. This is one of the great travesties in the history of the industry that the album was never picked up by another label and was left to disappear into many a cut out bin. That same album now fetches a pretty penny on the open market as audiophiles and fans recognize what a great album it was. In fact, a recent HM Magazine countdown of the Top 100 Rock albums in CCM history listed Bow and Arrow amongst many of the great releases. It should be noted here that this is sonically one of the best albums of its day. The production quality is tremendous and is easily one of those albums that deserves a CD release. I really wish I owned it on CD. The sound is worthy and the album is more than worthy! Mehler would go on to record another project five years later and a live album. In between there would also be two great instrumental jazz albums (I can’t recommend “Light the Night” enough), countless studio sessions, ministry opportunities, concerts, teaching, etc. But for one all too brief moment in CCM history, one of the truly great albums found a home on my turntable and remains “one of the greatest Phil Keaggy albums ever!”

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Trust In The Lord – 3:57
2 – Just Like You – 2:55
3 – His Love For You – 5:19
4 – Bow And Arrow – 3:39
5 – Be Strong In The Lord – 5:55
6 – Alright – 4:08
7 – Little Drummer Boy – 4:00
8 – The Seventh Seal – 2:32
9 – My Strength – 4:10

Credits
Bill Batstone – Songwriter, Arrangements, Bass
Wayne Brasel – Guitar
Bill Cobb – Engineer
Katherine Davis – Songwriter
Steve Hall – Mastered
Phil Keaggy – Guitars
Jim Lacefield – Bass
John Mehler – Producer, Songwriter, Arrangements, Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Lynda Mehler – Songwriter
Randy Mitchell – Guitar
Henry Onorati – Songwriter
Harry Simeone – Songwriter
Chuck Smith – Executive Producer
John Vestman – Co-Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Percusion, Violin, Guitar, Background Vocals
Rob Watson – Keyboards
Dan Willard – Mastered

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Maranatha! Music
Copyright (c) – Maranatha! Music
Engineered At – Trianon Studios
Mastered At – MCA Whitney Recording Studios
Mixed At – Trianon Studios
Published By – Maranatha! Music

Sandi Patti – Songs From The Heart – 1984

Sandra generally put out an album a year and this was her album for 1984. It was one of her most successful with 4 charting singles including 2 making the top 10. “Sing To The Lord” made it to #1 and “We Will See Him As He Is” made it to #4. She was also nominated for the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Vocal Performance, Female but lost out to Amy Grant who pretty well owned the category for the decade though Sandra did win it in 1987. She did however win the 1985 Dove award for Inspirational Album. As for the album it is your standard worship album with nothing that really stands out in my opinion. I’m not saying it isn’t a good album I just find so many of these female worship albums to be too alike.

Tracklist
1 – Give Him The Glory – 2:37
2 – Sing To The Lord – 2:58
3 – We Will See Him As He Is – 3:42
4 – Cradle Song – 2:59
5 – Wonderful Lord – 2:34
6 – Via Dolorosa – 4:34
7 – Shine Down – 3:29
8 – Pour On The Power – 3:11
9 – Glorious Morning – 3:29
10 – Purest Praise – 2:01
11 – The Stage Is Bare (I Need Thee Every Hour) – 5:52

Credits
Arranged By [Backing Vocals] – Alan Moore, Sandi Patti
Arranged By [Brass] – Jerry Hey
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Greg Nelson, Sandi Patti, Shane Keister
Arranged By [Strings] – Alan Moore
Arranged By, Orchestrated By, Conductor – David T. Clydesdale
Backing Vocals – Bonnie Keen, Cozette Byrd, Craig Patty, Dave Durham, Gary Music, Jackie Cusick, John Mohr, Lori Brooks, Luanne Mohr, Marty McCall, Melodie Tunney, Mike Patty, Rick Gibson, Sandi Patti, Sandie Hall Brooks, Steve Green
Bass – Craig Nelson, David Hungate, Larry Paxton
Brass – William Reichenbach, Gary Grant, Jerry Hey, Kim Hutchcroft, Lawrence Williams
Cello – David Christensen, David Vanderkooi, Inez Boyle, Mark Tanner, Martha McCrory, Roy Christensen
Concertmaster – Carl Gorodetzky
Conductor – Greg Nelson
Design – Bill Brunt
Double Bass [Bass] – Craig Nelson, Edgar Meyer, Nathan Kahn
Drums – James Stroud
Engineer – Joe Neil
Executive-Producer – John Helvering
Guitar – John Darnall, Jon Goin
Harp – Mary Alice Hoepfinger
Percussion – Bill Wiggins, Farrell Morris
Photography – Michael G. Borum
Piano – Mitch Humphries
Producer – Greg Nelson, Sandi Patti Helvering
Strings – The Nashville String Machine
Synthesizer – Shane Keister
Viola – Connie Collopy, Gary Vanosdale, John Borg, Kathy Plummer, Kris Wilkinson, Virginia Christensen
Violin – Charlie Everett, Chris Teal, Connie Heard, Dennis Molchan, George Binkley, Janet Hazen, Larry Harvin, Laura Molyneaux, Lee Larrison, Pamela Sixfin, Phyllis Mazza, Rebecca Lynch, Rosemary Harris, Stephanie Woolf, Ted Madsen, Bill Fitzpatrick
Vocals – Sandi Patti

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Impact Records
Copyright (c) – Impact Records

Randy Matthews – All I Am Is What You See – 1972

This is Randy’s second album and it marked an important change in CCM music that many may not know about. He was under contract to Word records but they were very hesitant to release this album as the felt it went a little too far into the world of Rock. As such it was decided by Word would open a subsidiary label called Myrrh to handle the “Jesus Music” market. This changed the whole industry as it condoned releasing Rock music even if you had to do it a little sneakily. Of course Myrrh went on to be a dominant face in the Christian music industry. Anyway on to the album. It is definitely a more Rock oriented album than his premiere but seems relatively tame compared to what would come in the industry. His acoustic guitar work is excellent and I particularly like the track “Important Things” which while a little gimmicky it has a great message even in current times. If you missed this one back in the day listen to it now as it really was a game changer in the industry.

Tracklist
1 – Revolutionary Cause – 3:02
2 – All I Am Is What You See (Self Portrait) – 2:20
3 – Johnny – 3:30
4 – Power Through You, People – 3:02
5 – Time To Pray – 3:29
6 – Sunny Day – 2:59
7 – Leader Liberator – 2:25
8 – Flesh Of My Flesh – 3:10
9 – Important Things – 2:05
10 – Country Faith – 2:10

Credits
Arranged By, Conductor – Bergen White
Engineer – Les Ladd
Music By, Lyrics By – Randy Matthews
Photography By [Cover] – Bill Grine
Producer – Billy Ray Hearn

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word Records Limited
Pressed By – Columbia Records of Canada, Ltd.

Larnelle Harris – I’ve Just Seen Jesus – 1985

Larnelle has been doing solo albums since 1975 and is still releasing them as of 2018. This is perhaps one of his most liked album. Considering how many albums he has I can’t confirm that of course. It was successful. It had two charting CCM singles, “How Excellent Is Thy Name” made it to #7 and his duet with Sandi Patty, “I’ve Just Seen Jesus” made it to #13. He also won the Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, Male based on this album. However quite frankly he shouldn’t have. Russ Taff was also nominated in the category based on his album “Medals” and I think most would agree that Medals was a far better album, in fact not even close. But the Grammy’s are a funny beast, lot’s of record industry politics involved. As for the album it is the epidemy of a worship album and I have no doubt some of these tracks are begin sung in churches these days.

Tracklist
1 – How Excellent Is Thy Name – 2:04
2 – Amen – 3:07
3 – Road In The Wilderness – 3:25
4 – For Unto Us – 1:48
5 – His Grace Is Greater – 4:55
6 – I’ve Just Seen Jesus – 5:42
7 – God’s Kingdom Is What I’ve Got – 2:19
8 – Desert Of My Days – 4:15
9 – Let Freedom Ring – 5:45

Credits
Arranged By, Orchestrated By, Conductor – David T. Clydesdale
Backing Vocals – Beverly Darnall, Bonnie Keen, Dave Durham, Gary Pigg, John Darnall, Jon Mohr, Judy Clydesdale, Karla Worley, Kristi Cleary, Marty McCall, Melodie Tunney*, Rick Gibson, Sherry Paige
Bass – Craig Nelson, Gary Lunn
Drums – Mark Hammond
Guitar – Jon Goin
Harp – Mary Alice Hoepfinger
Percussion – Farrell Morris
Piano – David Huntsinger
Strings – The Nashville String Machine
Synthesizer – Mark Gersmehl, Shane Keister

T-Bone Burnett – T-Bone Burnett – 1986

T-Bone changes it up a bit for this album. It’s essentially an acoustic guitar country album. That said T-Bone is one of those artists that it is difficult to squeeze into a particular style category. I categorize all music flowing through the studio here but in the end I have given up on categorizing T-Bone. Instead I have just categorized all his work as T-Bone. I had to do a similar thing with Larry Norman. So far that’s the only 2 artists I have done this with. The album has a bit of an odd label lineage. It was first rereleased on Dot Records which is a pretty oddball label but just the nest year it ended up on MCA Records. Finally it showed up on Universal which is just odd. Anyway if You’re a T-Bone fan you will like this one but if this is the first T-Bone album you have listened to I suspect you won’t enjoy it much and quite frankly it’s not really representative of his work so give a different album a listen before deciding if you like him or not.

Tracklist
1 – River Of Love – 3:30
2 – Poison Love – 2:33
3 – Shake Yourself Loose – 3:00
4 – No Love At All – 2:54
5 – Annabelle Lee – 5:01
6 – I Remember (Instrumental) – 2:21
7 – I Remember – 3:39
8 – Little Daughter – 3:29
9 – Oh No Darling – 3:49
10 – Time – 4:59
11 – Little Daughter (Instrumental) – 3:23
12 – Song To A Dead Man – 3:34
13 – Bird That I Held In My Hand – 3:04

Credits
Dobro, Lap Steel Guitar – Jerry Douglas
Double Bass [String Bass] – Jerry Scheff
Fiddle – Byron Berline
Guitar, Accordion, Vocals – David Hidalgo
Producer – David Miner
Recorded By – Rik Pekkonen
Snare – Steve Duncan
Vocals – Billy Swan

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – MCA Records, Inc.
Copyright (c) – MCA Records, Inc.
Manufactured By – MCA Records Canada
Distributed By – MCA Records Canada

Russ Taff – Walls of Glass – 1983

This was Russ’s first album after leaving the Imperials and I’m pretty sure it’s success confirmed to him that he had made the right decision by going solo. The lead single “We Will Stand” sat at #1 on the CCM charts for 15 weeks. That’s a pretty respectable first album single. He also won the 1983 Grammy award for Best Male Gospel Performance. As for the album I’m pretty sure Myrrh records pulled out all the stops as the production quality and over all quality of the album is very high. If your a fan of Russ’s albums after this one you might be surprised a bit at how mellow this one is. It is definitely a transition of styles from the Imperials to his more rock style on subsequent albums. We did get a hint of what was to come with “Inside Look” which is actually a pretty darn good Rock track. While this album doesn’t make many “Best of the 80’s” lists I think it probably deserves a spot.

Tracklist
1 – Tell Them – 4:23
2 – Walls Of Glass – 3:57
3 – I Want To Change – 5:05
4 – Pure In Heart – 3:59
5 – We Will Stand – 4:37
6 – Jeremiah – 4:02
7 – Inside Look – 4:01
8 – Just Believe – 4:26
9 – Kathryn’s Song – 4:24
10 – Unto The Lamb – 2:42

Credits
Mike Baird – Drums
Laury Boone Browning – Choir, Background Vocals
Bonnie Bramlett – Background Vocals
Raymond Brown – Songwriter
Harry Browning – Choir
Robbie Buchanan – Songwriter, Synthesizer Bass, Rhodes, Synthesizer
Don Cason – Choir
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Bill Champlin – Background Vocals
Tamara Champlin – Background Vocals
Cynthia Clawson – Choir
Ragan Courtney – Choir
Charlotte Crossley – Background Vocals
Nathan East – Bass
Daniel Garcia – Assistant Engineer
Bill George – Songwriter, Rhodes
Gary Grant – Horns
John Hammond – Drums
Joann Harris – Background Vocals
Susan Pyron Heard – Choir
Jerry Hey – Horn Arrangements, Horns
James Hollihan – Songwriter, Guitar
Richard Hopkins – Bass
Abraham Laboriel – Bass
Michael Landau – Guitar
David Lasley – Background Vocals, Choir
Charlie Loper – Horns
Arnold McCuller – Choir, Background Vocals
Dony McGuire – Background Vocals
Bobby Messano – Choir
James Newton Howard – Songwriter, Piano, Synthesizer
Michael Omartian – Songwriter, Piano, Rhodes, Synthesizer
Stormie Omartian – Songwriter
Jeff Porcaro – Drums
Frank Previte – Choir, Background Vocals
Jack Joseph Puig – Vocal Production, Engineer
Reba Rambo – Background Vocals
Patti Roberts – Songwriter
Doug Sax – Mastered
Bill Schnee – Producer, Engineer
David Schober – Assistant Engineer
Russ Taff – Songwriter, Vocals
Tori Taff – Songwriter, Choir
Keith Thomas – Songwriter
Carmen Twillie – Background Vocals
Marty Walsh – Guitar
Ernie Watts – Horns, Sax Solo
Gary Whitlock – Choir

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Bill Schnee Studios
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co. – △26106

Jimmy Hotz – Beyond The Crystal Sea – 1980

The definitive and original Christian progressive rock album, Beyond the Crystal Sea is the masterpiece of an artist that may be one of the most important people in the history of all of rock music that very few may even be aware of.Musicians around the world have been indebted to Hotz’s work and may not even realize it. He is the inventor of the Hotz Box, Midi Vest, Atari Hotz Box, MIDI Translator and host of other commonly used and creatively important electronic advances. In fact, Hotz is also responsible for integrating 3D Graphics and manipulating their movement through computer technology. Hidden amongst his technological achievements is also a brilliant composer, arranger, instrumentalist and songwriter. his musical vision met his technological genius ion 1980’s brilliant Gospel themed “Beyond the crystal Sea.” Like much or progressive rock Hotz borrows from fantasy literature and themes and infuses them into clear Biblical messages. This album is “Art Rock” at its finest. Fans of early Genesis and experimental rock fans of Yes, King Crimson and Pink Floyd will love what Hotz creates here. Songs are complex, with intricate changes and musical instrumental breaks interspersed with more commercial rock vocal influences. But one great joy is Hotz ability to remain accessible with this album and not alienate those outside of the limited “art rock” fan base. There are layers of vocals, keyboards and guitars creating a much larger than life wall of sound. There is no doubt that modern Progressive Rock legends like Dream Theatre and Neal Morse were heavily influenced and inspired by Hotz’s work. It should also be noted that Hotz also had a hand in producing the classic Ark Angel album to be discussed later.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Observations Of A Larger Reality – 8:32
2 – Night Passage – 2:12
3 – Vision Ship – 5:35
4 – Teton – 3:18
5 – Beyond The Blues – 4:53
6 – Alpine Magic – 1:42
7 – From Love Life Did Begin – 4:37
8 – Long, Long Ago – 5:47
9 – The Gates Of Time – 3:45

Credits
Artwork By [Front Cover Art By] – Bruce Eagle
Backing Vocals [Vocals (Backup)] – Bob Farrell, Carol Chambers
Bass – Brian Tankersley, Wayne Six
Concept By [Cover Concept By] – Jimmy Hotz
Drums – Gary Ingram, Rocky Mountain, Russell Dunlap
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Brian Tankersley
Keyboards – Paul Mills, Phil Huston
Layout – Lex Zachary
Producer, Engineer – Jimmy Hotz
Recorder – Kemper Crabb
Remastered By – J. Powell
Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Keyboards – Jimmy Hotz

Companies, etc.
Remastered At – Steinhaus
Recorded At – Rivendell Sound Recorders
Mixed At – Rivendell Sound Recorders

Larry Norman – Live at the Mac – 1998

Larry apparently released this album almost grudgingly because he did not have many decent live recordings from this era of his touring and there were bootlegs making the rounds that he didn’t like. Larry stopped distributing Roll Away The Stone (although he continued to encourage people to buy it if they could find it), and he considered Live At The Mac a better version of that. The combination of bad recordings and bad timing haunted Larry’s late 70s work. He was touring but never did get good recordings done with a full band. Later works like the Live At Flevo recordings made up for it in a way, but they are not the same as Larry in this era. To hear it as it was, all we have are some bootlegs and some primitive recordings. This concert was August 18, 1979 in Eugene, Oregon. This CD was released in 1998 through Solid Rock Records and apparently only 200 were made, although some later versions were evidently sold by Solid Rock that were done up as CD-R with the same packaging.

Tracklist
1 – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – 4:58
2 – I’ve Searched All Around The World – 5:33
3 – Soul On Fire – 6:48
4 – Watch What You’re Doing – 8:36
5 – Let The Tape Keep Rolling – 5:00
6 – UFO – 10:16
7 – The Outlaw / If God Is My Father – 8:26
8 – Song For A Small Circle Of Friends – 3:37
9 – Shot Down – 2:41
10 – Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music – 2:44
11 – The Rock That Doesn’t Roll / Exit – 3:25
12 – Lonely By Myself – 6:15