Category: Albums

Crossection – Before The Dawn – 1989

Crossection were a band out of central Alberta Canada. They actually released this album as a independent release in 1988 but Image 7 Records picked it up and released it in 1989. The album is self produced and usually this is not a good thing but this album is actually very well produced and engineered. My only criticism of the album is that it has several tracks over the 4 minute mark including a whopper at a few seconds short of 7 minutes. That said it’s not much of a criticism as the tracks are good and their length may actually be a plus to most people. Most of the tracks lean to arena rock but there a few that are more pop oriented. Their rock tracks are the best and they really could have had some real success had they just shown up a few years earlier. Unfortunately they joined the market at the start of what I consider it’s demise. They released another album the next year and it’s even better.

Tracklist
1 – Stephanie – 3:23
2 – Things Aren’t The Same – 3:28
3 – How Long – 3:35
4 – Heartbreak City – 3:00
5 – Shadow Land – 4:54
6 – What About Forever – 5:54
7 – Battle For The Minds – 5:31
8 – Cover Feelings – 6:54
9 – Love Is Who You Are – 4:28
10 – Break The Chains – 3:16
11 – If The Son Sets You Free – 4:15

Credits
Arranged By, Keyboards, Vocals – Dale Johnson
Bass, Vocals – Bruce Rawling
Drums – Martin Zinger
Lead Guitar, Vocals – Nevin Eggum
Producer – Crossection
Vocals, Guitar – Doug Rawling

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Image 7 Records Inc
Copyright (c) – Image 7 Records Inc
Manufactured By – Image 7 Records Inc

Tony Pilcher – Livin’ For The Light – 1984

This was the only album we got from Tony. He was with DeGarmo & Key for the No Turning Back tour and album as well as the Mission of Mercy album. DeGarmo and Key actually appear on the album on Track 3 “Lift It Up”. This album was released on Voice Box records which was a very small label far better known for their very Easy Listening albums than this Pop album. Tony also had some song writing credits including a song for Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart off their 1986 album Sheep in Wolves Clothing. Other than that I can’t find much information on him. This is AOR Pop oriented album which was really quite good and I’m a but surprised how little known it is. Some may know I have a real penchant for the Rockabilly/Fifties sound and Tony closed out the album with a great song of this genre, “Roll Away The Rock.”

Tracklist
1 – Livin’ For The Light – 4:14
2 – The Long Way – 3:21
3 – Lift It Up – 2:29
4 – Lord, I Want To Shine – 3:24
5 – Rejoice The Day Will Come – 3:17
6 – Crucible Of Love – 3:36
7 – Higher Power – 3:38
8 – Roll Away The Rock – 3:03

Credits
Vocal Duet – Tanya Goodman
Electric Guitars – Tony Pilcher, Greg Reding, B. James Lowery
Acoustic Guitar – B. James Lowery
Drums – Chad Cromwell, Greg Morrow
Bass : Mike Brignardello, Dave Smith
Acoustic Piano : Carl Marsh
Hammond B3 Organ, Synthesizer – Lester Snell
Background Vocals – David Mayo, Jimi Jamison, Debbie Cathey, Tony Pilcher, Dana Key, Tommy Cathey, Dana Key, The Christ Missionary Baptist Singers
Rhodes & Synthesizer – Ed DeGarmo
Saxophone – Andrew Love

Kyle Henderson – More Than The Look Of Love – 1985

After making a name for himself as the leader of the cool, underground, new wave band The Producers, Kyle Henderson became a Christian, left the band and recorded one album for the Christian Music industry. He released the one album on Kerry Livgren’s short-lived label Kerygma. Henderson then disappeared from CCM altogether. But that one album was filed with ten great songs, if not a bit too sparsely produced. Christian radio was generally receptive to this debut and several singles charted. The album was released with a sticker that noted his experience in The Producers. Fans of the Producers were probably somewhat disappointed as the album did not really reflect the music of the classic new wave band, but rather had more in common with Bryan Adams and Benny Hester while his vocals have a Steve Perry (Journey) quality to it. The lyrics were rather common, especially among new Christian in the industry as their earlier releases of “cross over” albums tend to be more direct and testimonial in nature. The same is true here. highlights include the title track, Gift of Grace, Renaissance and the radio hit, Beautiful People. One song of note “He’s Coming Back.” I bring this song up because the production and instrumentation is for some reason superior to the rest of the album and no where near as thin sounding as the rest. As mentioned already the style was more middle American rock and roll like Richard Marx and Bryan Adams with heavy saxophone presence and unfortunately thin production. I have always wondered what would have happened if the album was more successful or how his career may have gone if he continued within the CCM industry.

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

Tracklist
1 – Gift Of Grace – 3:09
2 – Open The Lines – 3:53
3 – More Than The Look Of Love – 3:22
4 – Beautiful People – 4:24
5 – Renaissance – 5:02
6 – He’s Coming Back – 3:44
7 – Sold Out – 3:40
8 – It’s You – 3:30
9 – Fallen Angel – 4:46
10 – All Of My Life – 2:57

Credits
Backing Vocals – Dennis Marcellino
Bass – Kyle Henderson
Drums – Greg Eckler
Engineer – Brad Aaron
Executive Producer – Ken Marcellino
Guitar – Bob Marshalek, Kyle Henderson, Mark Moulin (tracks: B3)
Keyboards – Roger Delaney
Lead Vocals – Kyle Henderson
Mastered By – Mike Reese
Producer – Kyle Henderson
Saxophone – Dennis Marcellino
Written-By – Dennis Marcellino (tracks: B2), Kyle Henderson

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Sparrow Records

Glad – Champion Of Love – 1985

This was the 6th album from Glad. I can’t compare it to any of their earlier album because as of now I haven’t listened to any of them. It is most definitely an easy listening album with strong horns and strong production. The album had 3 singles, Still On The Side Of Love made it to #18, Where Your Heart Is made it to #38, and The More I Know Of You to #25. I’m actually quite surprised that these songs didn’t climb a little higher as this album was perfect for the CCM charts in 1985.

Tracklist
1 – Still On The Side Of Love – 3:30
2 – Stand Or Fall – 3:39
3 – Where Your Heart Is – 4:07
4 – True To You – 3:35
5 – Champion Of Love – 4:23
6 – God Is My Rock – 1:09
7 – Giant Killer – 3:36
8 – We Know – 4:03
9 – The More I Know Of You – 3:58
10 – For So Long – 4:03

Credits
Gary Adams – Trumpet
Mark Baldwin – Songwriter
Tom Beard – Songwriter, Keyboards, Vocals
Billy Brady – Engineer, Mixed
Bill Brumberg – Trumpet
Harvey Coonin – Trombone
Chris Davis – Guitars, Vocals
Larry Day – Horn Arrangements
Glad – Producer
Jimmy Hayward – Tenor Sax
John Jensen – Trombone
Monroe Jones – Songwriter
Bob Kauflin – Producer, Arrangements, Songwriter, Keyboards, Vocals
George King – Executive Producer, Songwriter
The Loudoun Transfer – Background Vocals
Sue McCauley – Background Vocals
Chris McCollum – Songwriter
Don Nalle – Bass, Vocals
Ed Nalle – Producer, Arrangements, Mixed, Songwriter, Percussion, Vocals
Art Noble – Drums
Paul Smith – Songwriter
Dick Tunney – Songwriter

Siloam – Sweet Destiny – 1991

Siloam was brought together by drummer Brian Lutes. Brian had a checkered past and upon becoming born again wanted to use his life experience and music skills to minister. He brought together an international collection of musicians. Brian was from Canada, Lee Guthrie and Chad Everett hailed from Boston, Ken Maris from Vermont, and Tim Laroche from Iceland. I must say that Lutes did an excellent job of picking band members as they came together very quickly and this album (their first) is very very well done. The band is tight and the songs are great. This album has a very commercial metal sound and in my opinion was as good as anything on secular radio at the time. A copy of the original release is rare so hang on to yours . Luckily for those who hadn’t found a copy Retroactive Records re-issued the CD in 2020.

Tracklist
1 – Here I Am Again – 3:01
2 – Miss Lizzy – 3:36
3 – Child Of Mine – 3:53
4 – Chemical King (Big Fight) – 3:35
5 – Eastern Skies – 6:37
6 – Deceiver – 3:16
7 – After The Fire – 4:54
8 – Lethal Lady – 5:03
9 – Sweet Destiny – 4:28
10 – Decent Souls – 4:12

Credits
Arranged By – Frank Levin, Siloam (2), Tom Saidak (tracks: 1, 3-5, 7-10)
Bass, Backing Vocals – Chad Everett
Cover, Layout – Richard A. Yaeger
Drums, Percussion, Executive-Producer – Brian Lutes
Guitar – Rob Durbano
Guitar, Bass – Tom Saidak
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Ken Maris
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals – Tim Laroche
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Lee Guthrie
Photography By – Paul Couvretta
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By, Keyboards – Frank Levin

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Image 7 Records Inc
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Image 7 Music Inc.
Copyright (c) – Image 7 Music Inc.
Manufactured By – Image 7 Music Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Distortion Studios
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Mastered At – Future Disc

Larry Bryant – The Artist – 1985

This is the first of 2 albums from Larry Bryant who started his music career by writing songs in the early 80’s. He actually attained a fair amount of success writing songs with his wife Lesa later in the 80’s but I’ll document those in the review for his second album. There actually isn’t much info out there on Larry other then his writing career. This album leans towards AOR but there are a couple of pop songs on it. It did spawn a single with “Thankful On My Knees” making it to #24 on the CCM charts. I think it should have climbed higher but it was probably held back by Larry’s relatively little known work at this point in time. He has done something I strongly respect and that is that he offers his 2 albums free for download. You can get this album at http://www.larrybryant.com/downloads/the_artist_downloads.html

Tracklist
1 – That’s When the Angels Rejoice – 3:12
2 – The Artist – 4:03
3 – Shopping List – 3:21
4 – Shadows – 2:48
5 – Crown Of Thorns – 3:42
6 – Father of Lights – 4:26
7 – Note In A Bottle – 3:58
8 – Take A Chance – 3:30
9 – Never Say Never – 2:59
10 – Thankful On My Knees – 3:52

Credits
Keyboards – Michael W. Smith, Shane Keister, Larry Bryant
Guitars – Jon Goin, Greg Jennings
Bass – Mike Brignardello
Drums – Mark Hammond
Vocals – Bonnie Keen, Rich Mullins, Jackie Cusick, Wayne Gurley, Nan Gurley, Larry Bryant
Engineer – Mike Psanos
The cast:
keyboards – Michael W. Smith, Shane Keister, Larry Bryant
guitars – Jon Goin, Greg Jennings
bass – Mike Brignardello
drums – Mark Hammond
vocals – Bonnie Keen, Rich Mullins, Jackie Cusick, Wayne Gurley,
Nan Gurley, Larry Bryant
engineer – Mike Psanos
Producer – Joe Huffman

Randy Stonehill – Love Beyond Reason – 1985

This album is often thought of as Randy’s “safe” album. It sounded much more mainstream than his usual work and by mainstream I mean boring in this case. That said the album was actually pretty good just not representative of Randy’s other work. Of course the big single was a duet with Amy Grant, “I Could Never Say Goodbye” that climbed it’s way to #9 on the CCM charts. Though the album is a bit dull it was a star studded affair with Randy being joined by Bryan Duncan, Keith Green, Bryan Duncan, Mark Heard, Tom Howard, and Tonio K. Most only provided background vocals but Mark Heard Engineered the album as well as providing some guitar tracks. Randy also released a VHS tape in conjunction with the album. It included videos of “Love Beyond Reason,” “Until Your Love Broke Through,” “Hymn,” “You’re Loved Tonight,” “Still Small Voice,” (from Celebrate this Heartbeat) and “The Gods of Men.” Though the album wasn’t overly well received the video was very well received as in this time period any videos of artists were rare.

Tracklist
1 – I Could Never Say Goodbye – 3:44
2 – Love Beyond Reason – 3:36
3 – The Gods Of Men – 4:13
4 – Bells – 4:15
5 – You’re Loved Tonight – 5:50
6 – Until Your Love Broke Through – 4:03
7 – Hymn – 2:47
8 – Angry Young Men – 3:35
9 – Judgement Day – 4:55
10 – Cross That Line – 3:30

Credits
Tim Aller – Simmons Drum Programming
Milo Carter – Guitar
Bryan Duncan – Background Vocals
Todd Fishkind – Songwriter
Richie Furay – Background Vocals
Rick Geragi – Congas, Bongos, Tambourine, Cabasa, Claves, Percussion
Amy Grant – Duet Vocals
Keith Green – Songwriter
Don Griffin – Guitar
Steve Hall – Mastered
Mark Heard – Engineer, Mixed, Guitar
Tom Howard – Songwriter
Danny Jacob – Guitars
Tonio K. – Background Vocals
Barry Kaye – Producer, Arranger, Fairlight C.M.I.
Jay Leslie – Soprano Sax
Barry Liss – Harmonica
David Raven – Drums
Dan Reed – Engineer
Caryn Robin – Background Vocals
Andrea Saparoff – Fairlight C.M.I. Programming and Arranging
Denver Smith – Synthesizers, M.I.D.I. Technician
Randy Stonehill – Songwriter, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Tata Vega – Background Vocals
Ray Ware – Executive Producer
Steve Wilkinson – Bass
Tom Willett – Executive Producer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Sound Vault Studios
Engineered At – Fingerprint Recorders
Mixed At – Fingerprint Recorders
Mastered At – Future Disc
Duplicated By – Electrosound Los Angeles

Jan Groth – Good To Know… Where You’re From – 1980

Jan Groth was an artist out of Norway. In the early 70’s he was in a very successful secular band called Aunt Mary. In 1980 he released this his first Christian album. I do not believe this album was released outside of Norway so you may not have heard this one. It has a great late 70’s early 80’s rock feel to it. Don’t worry, no hint of disco and it also does not sound like the usual 70’s Jesus music. Unfortunately Jan passed away in 2014 but we have lots more of his music to hear. He released 4 more albums in the 80’s and many more over the later years.

Tracklist
1 – Peace Like A River – 4:04
2 – Count On Me – 4:18
3 – Mighty Good Friend – 3:38
4 – Let Me Feel Your Lovely Presence – 4:15
5 – Good To Know – 3:09
6 – Hear It Once Again – 4:05
7 – Friend Of Friends – 4:26
8 – Turn Around – 3:10
9 – In The Shelter Of Your Love – 4:22
10 – Thanks To Your Love – 3:04

Credits
Arranged By, Conductor, Bass, Backing Vocals – Svein Gundersen
Backing Vocals – Aleksandra N. Sandøy
Drums, Percussion – Bruce Rasmussen
Electric Guitar – Bjørn Christiansen
Engineer – Alf Emil Eik, Andy Kidd
Keyboards – Geir Langslet
Music By, Lyrics By, Arranged By, Backing Vocals – Jan Groth

Nobody Special – Nobody Special – 1987

Real punk rock. Joey “Ojo” Taylor’s (Undercover) little brother went by the name of Pat Nobody with a band called Nobody Special whose debut release was called entitled Nobody Special and was produced by older brother Ojo. There is something about the name Taylor and Christian Music that just screams quality – Ojo, Steve, Terry Scott and Pat! Nepotism and redundancy aside, this album just plain kicked ass! Fast, hard, heavy and one of the finest punk deliveries in Christian Music. Ironically Pat formed the band, Nobody Special, right after the album was released by Frontline records. The original “band” that recorded the project along with Pat included Ojo Taylor (Undercover), Gene Eugene (Adam Again), Chris Birgandi (The Lifters) and others from the OC Christian music “cool scene.” I remember seeing the band Immortal Youth a few times playing around the LA and OC Christian punk scene in the early 80’s with bands like Undercover and the Lifesavors and remembering that I thought they were really cool. I did not find out until many years later that Pat was in that band as well. They (he) would only record two albums and that is a true loss to the industry that could have used many more.

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

Tracklist
1 – Sliding Backwards – 2:22
2 – That Feelin’ – 1:45
3 – Come Around – 1:22
4 – I Was – 2:14
5 – Dissertation – 1:02
6 – We Are Confident – 1:26
7 – People Who – 1:48
8 – Killin’ Time – 2:19
9 – Burnt – 3:09
10 – I Wonder – 1:48
11 – Numb – 0:56
12 – Get Off The Air – 2:21
13 – Ain’t That Hard – 3:57
14 – Separation – 1:29
15 – Deeper Things – 1:39

Credits
Artwork [Insert Lettering, Illustrations] – John Russey
Bass, Keyboards – Turner Burn
Drums – Emil Harvey
Edited By – Dave Jahnsen
Guitar – Dickey Moe
Guitar, Vocals – Pat Nobody
Mastered By – John Matousek
Photography By – Brian Ray
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Joey Taylor
Written-By – Pat Nobody

The Heart Beats – Only A Heartbeat Away – 1987

I can’t really find any info on The Heart Beats. They were a pretty good girl group of what I assume is 3 sisters. Well at least they all had the same last name so that’s my guess. This was the only album from them so I guess there’s not much more to the story. The album is good fun and actually has 5 pretty good covers. I think my favourite was Higher and Higher originally done by Jackie Wilson. Though my favourite cover of this song in the one in Ghostbusters 2. Rounding out the covers are, Everlasting Love (Robert Knight), When I Need You (Leo Sayer), Chapel Of Love (The Dixie Cups), and Jesus Is The Answer (Andrae Crouch). There may be other covers but those are the ones I recognized. All in all a fun album with a great 80’s girl group sound.

Tracklist
1 – Everlasting Love – 3:44
2 – Higher And Higher – 2:54
3 – When I Need You – 3:57
4 – He’s The Greatest – 2:55
5 – Chapel Of Love – 4:02
6 – Risen Lord – 3:31
7 – Heaven – 2:48
8 – Joining – 4:17
9 – The Superman – 3:39
10 – Jesus Is the Answer – 3:08

Credits
Bass – Dennis Davilio
Drums – David Prater, Terry Silverlight (tracks: A1, A3)
Drums [High Hat] – Rob Cali (tracks: B3)
Guitar – Tony Davilio
Keyboards – George Small
Producer, Arranged By – Joey Powers
Vocals – Angela Bass, Kathleen Bass, Patsy Bass