If you’re looking for some Funky Jazz this is the album for you. This was the second and last album from Messenger. I checked and none of the members of the band seem to have done anything more except for Rick Riso who had 2 albums in the 80’s and one in the 90’s. He also had a whole bunch of albums with his wife. Other than that I couldn’t really find out much about this band. Like I say the album has a Jazz infused Funk feel and is actually really well done. Pity this band didn’t keep on as they did know what they were doing.
Tracklist
1 – Bringin’ The Message – 2:57
2 – Our Love Will Grow – 4:40
3 – Livin’ In Love – 2:44
4 – Pressin’ On – 3:47
5 – Song In The Night – 3:51
6 – Changin’ Me – 4:16
7 – All You Need – 3:20
8 – I Still Love You – 5:08
9 – Now Is The Time – 3:16
10 – Home To You – 4:25
Credits
Acoustic Bass – Dave Marotta
Arranged By – Messenger
Arranged By [Strings] – Clark Gassman
Arranged By [Vocals] – Si Simonson
Artwork, Design – Thel
Backing Vocals – Rebecca Sue Sherburn
Drums – Mike Feller
Electric Bass – Dave Marotta
Executive-Producer – Bill Cole
Flugelhorn, Trumpet – Jerry Hey
Keyboards – Si Simonson
Lacquer Cut By [KP in runouts] – KP
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitar – Rick Riso
Percussion – Fred Petry, Mike Feller
Producer – Rick Riso, Si Simonson
Saxophone – Kim Hutchcroft
Strings – L.A. Superstrings, Sidney Sharp
Tenor Saxophone – Larry Williams
Trombone – Bill Reichenbach
Vibraphone – Larry Troxel (tracks: B5)
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Lexicon Music, Inc.
Published By – Lexicon Music, Inc.
Recorded At – Martinsound
Recorded At – United Western Studios
Mastered At – Capitol Mastering
This was Michael And Stormie’s first release using both of their names. Stormie had appeared on Michael’s previous albums but this is the first album she did lead vocals on. They actually married the same year they released this album so I guess we could consider this album a celebration of their partnership. If you hear a bit of darkness in some of Stormie’s writings she has previously shared that before Michael she was actually in a disastrous marriage and that her childhood wasn’t that great either. As such she wrote many songs reflecting her life experiences. While Michael was the musical driving force of the marriage without a doubt Stormie was the lyricist. Together they made a great musical couple from whom we would enjoy many more albums. Nice to see Matthew Ward and Phil Keaggy helping out with the album, I’ve been told they were all great friends.
Tracklist 1 – Ms. Past – 4:09 2 – Travel On With Me – 5:27 3 – Gonna Write Me A Song – 2:39 4 – More Like You – 3:19 5 – Where I Been – 4:08 6 – It All Comes Down To You – 3:46 7 – Heaven Will Wait For Me – 4:15 8 – Seasons Of The Soul – 6:47
Credits Backing Vocals – Matthew Ward, Myrna Matthews Bass – Abraham Laboriel Drums, Congas – Paul Leim Engineer – Buck Herring, Wally Duguid Engineer [Mixdown] – Jay Graydon Lead Guitar – Phil Keaggy Lyrics By, Vocals, Backing Vocals – Stormie Omartian Music By – Stormie Omartian (tracks: A3) Photography By [Back Cover & Sleeve] – Harry Langdon Photography By [Front Cover] – Bob Anderson Producer, Arranged By, Music By, Vocals, Keyboards, Percussion [Tuned] – Michael Omartian Rhythm Guitar – Bud Nuanez Saxophone, Flute – Larry Wilson Saxophone, Flute, Horn [Solos] – Kim Hutchcroft Trumpet – Jerry Hey
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc. Published By – See This House Music Recorded At – Buckskin Studio Recorded At – Garden Rake Studio Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
I am full convinced that more than even the Beatles, the most influential band on Jesus Music was The Eagles. The Way, Parable, Daniel Amos and countless others always seem to be compared to The Eagles. My thesis is that they country/folk/rock was considered “safer” within Church walls than the Beatles, Beach Boys and Rolling Stones. That being said the band that pulled off the comparison best was easily Bethlehem. The songwriting seems legitimate and band leader, Danny Daniels, had the perfect voice for the job. The band released one album on Maranatha Music in 1978 and disbanded shortly after. One reviewer noted that “Desert Song” was a dead ringer for “Peaceful, Easy Feeling” and he was right on. The band separated itself during its short tenure by incredible musicianship, wonderful harmonies and very memorable songs. The album also sported some of the finest production for the time with Jonathan Brown, Tom Stipe and Al Perkins. Side One is more melodic and pop/country influenced while side two demonstrates a bit more rock and creative influence. This is most notable on the album closer, Pilgrim, which features lengthy instrumental breaks, a wall of backing vocals and a more progressive arrangement. Side two also contain a personal and fan favorite, Night Rider, which has more in common with The Outlaws than the Eagles with a great story telling vocal and big chorus. Themes on the album are very consistent with music from the era with songs of repentance, community and more than a few obligatory “end times” songs. Of all of the bands from that era, Bethlehem was a notch above most on nearly all fronts from songwriting and production to musicianship and performance. Daniels went on to a great solo career as many of his solo albums are worth owning.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Think It Over – 3:50 2 – Lover – 4:02 3 – Desert Song – 3:41 4 – Holy Ghost Blues – 2:39 5 – Dead Reckoning – 3:47 6 – Night Rider – 3:04 7 – This Road – 3:16 8 – No Good Excuses – 4:02 9 – Just A Prayer Away – 3:57 10 – Pilgrims – 4:43
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Danny Daniels Artwork [Leather Tooling] – Al Dugas Backing Vocals – Bethlehem, Bob Bennett, Cindy Simmons, Dan McCleery, Danny Daniels, Dom Franco, Gary Arthur, Jerry Chamberlain, John Falcone, John Wickham, Julie Paulsen, Kelly Willard, Lewis McVay, Lisa Irwin, Perry Hildebrant, Richie Furay, Sharon McLaughlin, Tom Coomes Banjo – Don Gerber Bass – John Falcone Clavinet – Randy Rigby Cowbell – Dan McCleery Design [Album], Art Direction, Layout – Neal Buchanan Dobro – Dom Franco Drums – Dan McCleery Electric Guitar – Danny Daniels, Randy Rigby Electric Piano – Randy Rigby Engineer – Al Perkins, Jonathan Brown, Peter Gregg Guitar [Pull-String Guitar] – Al Perkins Harmonica – Frank Loomis Keyboards – Randy Rigby Lead Guitar – Randy Rigby, Randy Rigby Lead Vocals – Danny Daniel, Dom Franco Mastered By – Bob Carbone Mixed By – Al Perkins, Jonathan Brown Percussion – Dan McCleery Photography By – Sam Emerson Photography By [Insert] – Mike Shoup Photography By [Tinting] – Neal* Piano [Acoustic Piano] – Randy Rigby Producer – Al Perkins, Tom Stipe Steel Guitar – Dom Franco Vocals – Dan McCleery, Danny Daniels, Dom Franco, John Falcone, Randy Rigby
So this album has kind of a cute shtick to it. Side A, “A Time To Laugh”, is a selection of witty and fun moments form Terry’s concerts. Side B “A Time To Sing” is a selection of new tracks from Terry. I have heard some of Terry’s live work before and I didn’t find it particularly witty but obviously Terry has a great sense of humour and it’s great to hear it here. As for the new material there are actually a couple really good 70’s rock tracks here. Hollywood Lies absolutely kicks butt and wow I wish Terry would have perused this style of music as I much prefer it and wow, he was really good at it.
Tracklist 1 – Down To The Well – 5:04 2 – Intro – 1:07 3 – Bible Land – 4:44 4 – Lamplighter – 4:44 5 – Angels! – 4:01 6 – Sing Hallelujah! – 3:37 7 – Pleasin’ You Pleases Me – 3:04 8 – Never Let Yesterday – 3:19 9 – Hollywood Lies – 3:19 10 – Takin’ The Time – 2:15 11 – Father – 2:53
This album has been floating around the internet claiming that this album was recorded with After The Fire (ATF). I decided I wanted to get to the bottom of the story and talked with Peter Banks about this album. Here is the true story. John Pantry was producing the album and had booked Peter Banks to do some keyboard work for the album. Ishmael consequently asked if ATF could come into the studio as session players. John Pantry asked Peter if this was possible and Peter and ATF agreed to step in to help with the album. The version of ATF at the time was Andy Piercy, Ian Adamson, Robin Childs, and Peter Banks. So the internet story is relatively correct. Okay now that we’ve set the record straight (see what I did there?) lets talk about the album. To be clear this album is the amalgamation of 2 of my top 5 favourite Christian artists and I was excited to give it a listen and I wasn’t disappointed. It is done in Ishmael’s style but you can get a feel of ATF in the background. Peter’s keyboards are very distinctive and you can tell a mile away it is him. Unfortunately in the 80’s we simply didn’t know anything about ATF except Der Kommissar or Ishmael other that Ishmael United due to where we lived. I simply wish I could go back and enjoy those days when their music was fresh but I’m delighted to hear it now.
Tracklist 1 – When Revival Hits Our Town – 3:57 2 – Praise Away – 4:10 3 – It’s Amazin’ What Praisin’ Can Do – 2:28 4 – Soul Man – 2:24 5 – I Will Sing A Song Unto The Lord – 1:07 6 – Martyr’s Praise Song – 2:26 7 – Who Is He In Yonder Stall – 8:30 8 – Benedictus – 4:33 9 – Lord Army/Prayer Force – 4:55 10 – Song Of Emmanuel – 3:09 11 – Jesus Christ Is Risen Today – 3:01 12 – Kiss The Hand Of Jesus – 7:10 13 – We Are Coming To His House – 3:51
Credits Ishmael – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar Andy Piercy – Acoustic Guitar Ian Adamson – Drums Robin Childs – Bass Peter Banks – Keyboards, Electric Guitar John Pantry – Producer
Companies, etc. Published By – Thankyou Music Published By – Word
Right off the bat I have to start out by apologizing because some of the videos in this playlist are blocked in some countries. This has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Cliff Richard. He has always had copyright issues and whatever management company he is using now doesn’t understand digital world copyright. I know Cliff has nothing actively to do with his copyright issues but if anyone reads this and talks with Cliff could you please tell him to fire his management company and get one that understands international copyright law in 2023 because it’s not 1980 anymore. Oh and he’s losing money because of them.
Okay and it’s on to the album. As you probably know Cliff put out a smattering of Christian albums in the 70’s and 80’s that sold poorly but were mostly loved in the CCM community. I believe this is probably the best known of those albums even though it was never released in North America. In reality there’s no original work here and the album is entirely covers of better known CCM tracks. Yes Cliff did change the arrangements but even that’s questioned as some history says that Terry Britten actually did the arrangements. To be clear I’m not picking on Cliff because I really like this album. The Larry covers are excellent I’m just telling the story. Actually my favourite cover on the album is I Love originally from Malcolm & Alwyn. Anyway if you missed this one back in the day it’s a must listen to if YouTube will allow you to.
Tracklist 1 – Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music – 4:05 (Written-By – Larry Norman) 2 – I Love – 3:15 (Written-By – Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild) 3 – Why Me – 2:40 (Written-By – Kris Kristofferson) 4 – I’ve Got News For You – 4:14 (Written-By – Randy Stonehill) 5 – Hey Watcha’ Say – 3:56 (Written-By – 2nd Chapter of Acts) 6 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready – 4:38 (Written-By – Larry Norman) 7 – Joseph – 3:22 (Written-By – Terry Britten) 8 – Good On The Sally Army – 3:04 (Written-By – Alan Shiers) 9 – Goin’ Home – 2:51 (Written-By – Annie Herring) 10 – Up In Canada – 2:44 (Written-By – Larry Norman) 11 – Yes He Lives – 3:28 (Written-By – Terry Britten) 12 – When I Survey The Wondrous Cross – 2:11 (Traditional)
Credits Arranged By – Nick Ingman Bass Guitar – Alan Tarney Chorus [Vocal Group] – Cliff Richard, John Perry, Stewart Calver, Tony Rivers Drums, Percussion – Brian Bennett Engineer – Tony Clark Engineer [Assistant] – Allan Rouse, Hayden Bendall*, John Barrett, Mike Jarrett Guitar – Terry Britten Keyboards – Graham Todd Mastered By – Chris Blair, Nick Webb Photography By – Gered Mankowitz Producer – Cliff Richard
This is the third release from Nutshell though it was a shell of the previous band. See what I did there? Anyway after the Flyaway album Pam Thiele and Heather Barlowe left the group. They were replaced by Annie McCaig and Mo McCafferty and this lead to the name of the album. The album was of course punctuated by Paul Field’s excellent songwriting. This album continues with that seventies folky sound they had before and if you didn’t know about the change in lineup you would swear it’s the same band. This is not a genre I like very much but if you do like this sound this is a must listen album.
Tracklist 1 – Love With No Limit – 3:32 2 – Don’t Let Me Fall – 3:39 3 – Caroline – 4:38 4 – In The Father’s Hand – 3:31 5 – Starry Eyed & Laughing – 3:16 6 – First Snow – 2:41 7 – Take Me Down – 2:50 8 – Stay Close – 3:42 9 – The Dancer – 5:19 10 – Heaven In Your Heart – 3:14
Credits Acoustic Guitar, Piano – Paul Field Arranged By [Rhythm Charts And String Arrangements] – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Bass – John G. Perry Design, Photography By – Tony Neeves Drums – Barry de Souza Electric Guitar – Norman Barratt Engineer – Roger Wake Percussion – Tony Carr Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer [Roland Synthesizers] – Rod Edwards Producer – Jon Miller (4), Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Vocals – Annie McCaig, Mo McCafferty, Paul Field
Well for some reason we waited 5 years before even scheduling an Andraé Crouch album. Kind of silly when you think about it as he really was one of the most important artists of the period. I didn’t really know which album to pick but I kept reading how great this album was so it is the one I chose. Now if you have been following me you know that again this is not my chosen genre to listen to but wow did Andraé ever nail this concert or should I say concerts as it was recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon, London and at Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England. I understand why there is high praise for this album as it really is very good. Note that I have carved up the album very differently than it was originally chopped up so as to have a greater flow. Listening to a YouTube album with 30 second tracks just doesn’t work.
Tracklist 1 – Perfect Peace – 4:23 2 – I Surrender All – 4:20 3 – You Don’t Have To Jump No Pews – 4:08 4 – Take A Little Time – 6:28 5 – Tell Them – 3:37 6 – If I Was A Tree (The Highest Praise) – 5:09 7 – Hallelujah – 2:16 8 – Revive Us Again – 2:06 9 – Power In The Blood – 5:30 10 – I Just Want To Know You – 5:04 11 – Just Like He Said He Would – 6:14 12 – I’ll Keep On Loving You Lord – 4:26 13 – You Gave To Me – 3:49 14 – Oh Taste And See – 1:28 15 – Praise God, Praise God – 2:46 16 – This Is Another Day – 6:12 17 – Praise God Reprise 3:02 18 – Well Done – 5:46 19 – My Tribute – 6:00
Credits Bass – James Felix Drums – Bill Maxwell Engineer – Robin Black Guitar – Hadley Hockensmith, Jimmie Davis Illustration [Album Illustration] – Robert August Keyboards – Andraé Crouch, Harlan Rogers, Mike Escalante Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Mixed By – Andraé*, Bill Maxwell, Gordon Shryock, Richie Schmitt Photography By – Danny Dunn, Paul Slaughter Producer – Andraé Crouch, Bill Maxwell Saxophone – Glenn Myerscough Tambourine – Sandra Crouch Trumpet – Allen Gregory Typography [Lettering], Design – Don Zubalsky Vocals – Andraé Crouch, Bea Carr, Danniebelle Hall, James Felix, Perry Morgan, Sandra Crouch
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Hammersmith Odeon Recorded At – Free Trade Hall Published By – Heart Warming Music Co.
This is one of A series of radio shows produced by Word records for distribution to Christian Radio Stations. This one feature DeGarmo & Key. I actually have to give Word some credit here. It was 1978 and D&K were not your typical Jesus Music performers of the era. This was southern rock album and was one of the earliest in this style. The album was not overly rock but it was rock by the standard of the day. The show highlights 7 out of the 10 tracks on the album.
00:00 – Intro 01:23 – Emmanuel 05:19 – Addey 09:22 – Chase The Wind 14:21 – Alleyways Of Strife 16:52 – Wayfaring Stranger 20:12 – Sleeper 22:52 – This Time Thru 27:28 – Outro
This is Keith’s second solo album and last on Sparrow as he would go on to start his own record label. The album was very successful with 2 top 10 singles, “Dear John Letter” and “Soften Your Heart”. “Asleep In The Light” also made it up to number 11 so I think we can round up and say 3 top 10 singles. The success of this album though changed the way Keith was thinking about the business. He bought his was out of his Sparrow contract as he and his wife wanted to have “free” concerts and albums. In reality it would be pay what you want but I think this says a lot about Keith’s reasons for playing Christian music. He obviously wanted to use it to minister to people instead of make money. I can respect him for that but ministry isn’t free and his ministry always struggled to have the cash it needed. Personally I think somewhere in the middle of business model and free ministry sits a sweet spot for artists in this genre.
Tracklist 1 – Soften Your Heart – 2:48 2 – Make My Life A Prayer To You – 3:21 3 – Dear John Letter (To The Devil) – 3:20 4 – How Can They Live Without Jesus? – 3:03 5 – Asleep In The Light – 4:25 6 – My Eyes Are Dry – 1:57 7 – You! – 3:33 8 – I Don’t Wanna Fall Away From You – 3:07 9 – Stained Glass – 2:45 10 – To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice – 3:17 11 – The Victor – 4:20 12 – Altar Call – 3:34
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Al Perkins, Hadley Hockensmith, Jay Leach, Mike Deasy Arranged By [Strings] – Lennart Sjöholm Backing Vocals – Danniebelle Hall, James Felix, Keith Green, Matthew Ward Choir – Annie Herring, Chris Beatty, Jamie Owens-Collins, Keith Green, Matthew Ward, Melody Green, Nelly Greisen, Steve Greisen, Tommy Funderburk Congas – Lee Pastora Electric Guitar – Hadley Hockensmith, Mike Deasy Guitar – Hadley Hockensmith, Mike Deasy Marimba – Mark Z. Stevens Organ – Harlan Rogers Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Harlan Rogers, Keith Green Producer – Bill Maxwell, Keith Green Recorded By – Peter Granet Steel Guitar – Al Perkins Tambourine – Bill Maxwell Triangle – Lee Pastora
