This is the second album from Mark Williamson. It can be a little complicated to figure out Marks work as he released albums under several names. Mark Williamson And Friends, Mark Williamson Band, TRW, Bridge 2 Far, and Lyrix are all a version of Mark. Most of us in North America were introduced to him because Larry Norman released his Lyrix album but I was not aware of his catalog of work until we started this project. This is mainly because most of his albums were not even released in North America and this is one of those albums. So Far So Good has a solid seventies sound and you can start to hear a bit of a transition over to his later 80’s sound. It’s mainly an easy listening album but there’s a few Rock tracks like Join The Revolution for example which features Norman Barratt’s excellent guitar work. Of interest on this album is also that this is the first album Chris Eaton had played on and he also wrote a couple tracks.
Tracklist 1 – Hold On Me – 3:28 2 – Living Is Easy – 4:47 3 – I Need You – 4:59 4 – Susanne – 5:00 5 – Join The Revolution – 3:09 6 – Promises – 4:31 7 – You Gotta Get Up – 2:45 8 – Stockholm Song – 4:15 9 – Keepin’ On – 3:17 10 – Favour – 5:49
Credits Steve Richards/Spud Spurling – bass Malcolm Garrett – drums Pete Thompson – drums Rick Godsall – keyboards Colin Owen – synthesizer Chris Eaton – acoustic piano Tony Boyens – fender rhodes Norman Barrett/John Smith – e.guitar Mark Williamson – a.guitar) Hugh Thomas – sax) John Perry/Stu Calver/Muff Murfin/Chris Eaton/Alyson McCinnes/Sue McClellan/Mark – background vocals
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Marshall Morgan & Scott Recorded At – The Old Smithy Recording Studio Mastered At – Tape One
Washes Whiter Than is the third studio album by Petra and would mark the beginning of the chaos that became membership in the band. First, Greg Hough and John DeGroff left the band during the previous tour for “Come and Join Us” so Bob Hartman brought in Rob Frazier as a guitarist and vocalist. Then as they were starting to record this album drummer Bill Glover also left. Bob now invited Greg X. Volz who had been entertaining an offer from REO Speedwagon but decided Petra was for him. So the root of the band for this album was Bob Hartman, Rob Frazier, and Greg X. Volz while studio musicians rounded out the band for this recording. During all this chaos the band had taken a 9 month sabbatical to ponder their future. The band actually started recording this album while not even having a record deal in place. While recording and touring they were able to secure a record deal from Star Song Records. Now we’re not really too sure if it was Star Song or the band but the album took a mellow turn. It wasn’t an entirely mellow album but much more mellow than their previous 2 albums. I’ll be honest here that this is probably my least liked Petra album because of this turn. Even though this album had some great tracks it generally sat on the shelf in our listening room. The album did have 2 successful singles. “Why Should the Father Bother” made it to #3 on the CCM AC charts and stayed on the charts for 25 weeks while “Yahweh Love” made it to #20 on the CCM AC charts and stayed on the charts for 4 weeks. As usual for the CCM charts these were probably my 2 most disliked tracks. While Greg and Rob were sharing the lead vocal duties there is little doubt that Greg had the better tracks. That said I kind of like Rob’s vocals and it would have been interesting to see what direction he would have taken the band in. But anyway, Greg ended up with the vocalist job and Petra history would have him at the forefront until John Schlitt would take over in 1986. So that’s the interesting story behind this album making it historically one of the great story behind the album stories in CCM music.
Tracklist 1 – I’m Thankful – 2:41 2 – Why Should The Father Bother? – 3:46 3 – Morning Star – 4:47 4 – Magic Mirror – 3:27 5 – Mary’s Song – 4:00 6 – Yahweh Love – 5:38 7 – (Couldn’t Find Love) Without You – 4:19 8 – Taste And See – 3:23 9 – Magic Words – 3:31 10 – Deep Love – 3:57
Credits Arranged By – George Atwell, Bob Hartman, Robert Frazier Bass – Chip Meyers Design, Artwork – George Werth Drums, Percussion – Randy Nichols Engineer – Andy deGanahl Guitar – Gerald “Jit” Byron, Joel Balin Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – Robert Frazier Keyboards – George Atwell Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals – Bob Hartman Lead Vocals – Greg X. Volz (tracks: 1, 4, 6, 8), Rob Frazier (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 7, 9, 10) Management, Booking – Dan Brock Associates Mastered By – Allen Zentz Recording Musician [“The Crown Of Sound”] – Bob Prince Producer – George Atwell, Dan R. Brock
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) Star Song Records Copyright (c) Star Song Records Manufactured By Word, Inc. Distributed By Word, Inc. Published By Dawn Treader Music Recorded At Bee Jay Recording Studio Mastered At Future Disc
Here’s a great 5 man band out of Spokane WA. This is their first of two albums. It was Originally self released but was picked up by Praise records for their New Born label. The band has a great 70’s sound that leaned more Light Rock but the track Devil’s Friend was a real rocker. Not really much else I can tell you about them as they are a rather obscure band that I didn’t hear of back in the day even though they were on a label we followed closely. My best guess is that the label didn’t do much distribution on the album.
Tracklist 1 – Long Long Way 2 – How Long 3 – Pretty Lady 4 – One Nighter 5 – Good Samaritan 6 – Pearly Gates 7 – Devil’s Friend 8 – Walkin’ In Darkness 9 – Comin’ Home 10 – Soul’s Desire 11 – Heirborn
Credits Rob Neuschwander – Drums, Vocals, Percussion Dave Wold – Fender Rhodes, Piano, A.R.P., Vocals Ben Mayo – Fender Bass, Vocals Michael Lehnen – Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, A.R.P., Percussion Dick Ellis – Engineer, Mixdown Mike Dwyer – Mixdown
Companies, etc. Recorded and Mixed at – Sounds Unlimited Studios Mastered at – KM Records Burbank, California
Here we have another self released CCM album that I never heard or heard of before. Tradewind was two sets of brothers joined by another friend on drums. There isn’t much info on the band out there but they were together for a few years and were able to get this album out there. The album leans more to 70’s light rock but Radio Man turns it up a notch and is a pretty good Rock track. It has an obligatory country track which was a required on any Jesus music album of the period. The real stand out of this album was the quality of the mix and the production. Greg Thompson was credited with assistant Producer and Engineer credits and while he may not be household name he worked on some really good projects in this era. When you hear this one it’s as good as anything that was on Word or Sparrow at the time and really with this quality of production this album should have been picked up by a label for distribution. It had everything they were looking for. Mike Pearsall and Dave Robbins continued on to record as Burton & Logan and we’re actively looking for a copy of their album for you.
Tracklist 1 – Until The Storm Is Past – 4:02 2 – Yours To Stay – 4:19 3 – My Heart Belongs To You – 4:04 4 – Perfect Love – 2:46 5 – Radio Man – 4:13 6 – There Won’t Be A Better Time – 2:19 7 – Puppet – 04:09 8 – Psalm 40 – 3:30 9 – As For Me And My House – 3:25 10 – Look Beyond Today – 3:26
Credits Guitars, Vocals – Rob Robbins Keyboards, Vocals – Dave Robbins Guitars, Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Rob Pearsall Bass, Vocals – Mike Pearsall Drums, Percussion – Keny Baiza Pedal Steel Guitar – Ismael Garcia Executive Producer – Tom Murphy Produced by – Rob Pearsall & Greg Thompson Arranged by – Tradewind Orchestrated by – Rob Pearsall Recorded & Mixed – Greg Thompson Mastered by – Steve Hall Cover Design and Artwork – Thel Arthur Photography – David Pavol, Eric Simonson
Jim Thomson is one of the most prolific artists you never heard of. He claims to have over “100 releases and production or writing credits for about 30 other artists”. I don’t know if he means 100 songs or albums but he has way over 100 songs so he must mean albums. Anyway this is where it started for him and what a start it was. It was a self released effort released in his own country of Canada but he had a great group of studio musicians to augment his own band. The album was produced and engineered by Ron Moore and the production has more of an early 70’s sound than 79. Ron heavily split up the instruments heavily to left or right sides of the stereo track. This kind of production was more common during the origins of stereo but by 1979 was more rare. Anyway it works really well and really accentuates the seventies sound of the album. Point of trivia is that this is one of the earliest albums featuring John Lawry (Petra). This is a great 70’s album with very limited distribution so if you like 70’s style music this one is for you. If you only have time for one track head down to track 9 “Oh Lord” which is my choice for best track.
Tracklist 1 – Be My Song – 0:42 2 – I’ve Got Jesus – 3:09 3 – Lonely One – 2:58 4 – New Song – 1:56 5 – Blend – 4:19 6 – Train For Thought – 2:54 7 – Eternal Light Brigade – 5:12 8 – Come Follow – 3:34 9 – Oh Lord – 2:55 10 – Showdown – 2:18 11 – You Are The Song – 2:21 12 – Be My Song (Reprise) – 1:15
Credits Bass – Stephen Romanow Cello, Mandolin – Dorothy Nielsen Drums – Barry Salmon Electric Guitar [Rhythm] – Kevin Rogers Keyboards, Strings – John Lawry Producer [Assistant], Engineer – Ron Moore Trumpet, Percussion – Danny Srnec Vocals – Joe Paquette Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Jim Thomson II Vocals, Percussion – Danny Thomson
This is the second album from Bob and Jayne and Word records (The distributor) promoted it like crazy. It included the enduring hit “Boundless Love” (originally written and released by Dennis Loewen) which made it to #13 on the CCM charts. The bigger hit on the album was actually “All You Need” which climbed to #3. This track featured Amy Grant on background vocals which must have had something to do with the albums producer Brown Bannister. Bob said in an interview that he sought out Bannister after hearing Amy’s first album. Brown listen to some of the Farrell’s first album and wanted to do this album. They headed into Gold Mine Studios in Nashville, which was owned by Chris Christian, and cut the album. Farrell & Farrell are not exactly my preferred genre but they always seemed to have the ability to get a few tracks on each album that I liked. Most of this album is soft rock but there’s a few tracks that keep me interested. This in one of the CCM era albums that everyone should listen to.
Tracklist 1 – I Couldn’t Live Without You – 3:44 2 – Fallen – 3:55 3 – Put More Love In Me – 3:23 4 – Can’t Ask Anything More – 2:27 5 – Boundless Love – 3:34 6 – No Need – 3:04 7 – Find It In The Word – 2:52 8 – Jailhouse Rock (Acts 16:16-34) – 1:50 9 – All You Need – 4:44 10 – Scars – 4:12 11 – A Place In His Heart For You – 3:03
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Jon Goin, Larry Byrom, Ron Elder Backing Vocals – Amy Grant, Ava Gardner, Cindy Richardson, Marie Clark Bass – Jack Williams, Jerry Bridges, Mike Leach Congas, Bongos – Terry McMillan Cymbal – Terry McMillan Drums – Kenny Malone, Roger Clark Electric Guitar – Jon Goin, Larry Byrom Electric Piano – Randy Goodrum, Bobby Ogden, Shane Keister Flugelhorn – Harrison Calloway, Jr. Flute – Quittman Dennis Horn – Charles Rose, Harrison Calloway, Jr., Harvey Thompson, Ron Eades Lead Vocals – Bob Farrell, Jayne Farrell Lyricon – Quittman Dennis Organ – Shane Keister Percussion – Roger Clark, Terry McMillan Piano [Acoustic Piano] – Bobby Ogden, Randy Goodrum, Shane Keister Strings – Shelly Kurland Strings Synthesizer – Shane Keister Saxophone, Lyricon – Quittman Dennis Trombone – Charles Rose
You likely know Malcolm better as a member of the Malcolm & Alwyn duo but he did have a solo album and this is it. After the second Malcolm & Alwyn album they went their separate ways with Malcolm moving to the U.S. to work with Maranatha music. This is the album that came out of that relationship. The album features many of the Gang from Calvary Chapel Cosa Mesa including almost all the members of Gentle Faith but with drumming duty being shared between John Mehler and Greg Gustafson. There were many others appearing but I won’t list them all because it would take quite awhile, there was that many of them. Anyway this was my first time hearing this album and while I do like the album it just doesn’t have the magic touch that Malcolm and Alwyn had when they worked together. It ha s a strong 70’s feel and like I say it’s pretty good but it really lacked a track that stood out and made me want to listen to the rest of the album. That said this is still a great 70’s album and it deserves a listen.
Tracklist 1 – When You Call – 3:45 2 – Morning Star – 3:05 3 – Broken Chains – 4:53 4 – Was It You My Love? – 3:50 5 – Dreams – 3:49 6 – Pride (Before A Fall) – 3:44 7 – The Best Is You – 3:04 8 – You’re The Reason – 3:45 9 – Love Is You – 3:14 10 – The Prize – 3:32
Credits Arranged By [Basic Track Arrangement Assistance] – Don Gerber, Henry Cutrona Arranged By [String Arrangements] – Colin Owen Art Direction [Inner Sleeve] – Neal Buchanan Artwork, Art Direction – Jim Shepard Co-producer – John Pac, Malcolm Wild Concept By [Cover] – Malcolm Wild Engineer – Chris Taylor, Colin Owen Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Photography By – Linda Dillon Photography By [Assisted By] – Gary De Lacy, Steve Churchill Vocals, Harmony Vocals – Malcolm Wild
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pilgrim Records Recorded At – Maranatha! Studio Recorded At – The Old Smithy Recording Studio Mixed At – The Old Smithy Recording Studio Mastered At – A&M Studios
This is Bryn’s 4th album and while his previous album “Grand Arrival” was released in the U.S. I can’t find any record of this one being released outside of Europe and Japan. I was a big fan of Bryn in the 80’s but where I lived the only album available to us was “Pass It On” and “The Gap”. It is great that all these years later I can listen to his other work. This is a rather atypical album from Bryn and falls in line with most of his work. As such there aren’t any real outstanding track but I found Bryn’s version of the Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody pretty good but he did it as an instrumental and I think he should have done the vocals too.
Tracklist 1 – Keep The Ball Rolling – 4:02 2 – First Time – 3:52 3 – Let Me Love You – 4:22 4 – Standing On The Rock – 3:59 5 – City Boy – 6:00 6 – Party Girl – 2:12 7 – Luxury Liner – 3:29 8 – Unchained Melody – 4:02 9 – Unemployment Blues – 3:58 10 – Working For Love – 4:35
Credits Arranged By [Brass] – Lyle Harper Arranged By [Strings] – Ted Astley Baritone Saxophone – Bud Beadle Bass – Dave Markee Drums – Henry Spinetti Keyboards – Pete Wingfield Percussion – Simon Morton Producer – Doug Bennett, Jon Astley Saxophone – Jim Cuomo Saxophone, Flute – Mel Collins, Steve Gregory Trombone – Terry Hellyer Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Martin Drover Vocals, Guitar – Bryn Haworth
This album has a but of a strange history. It was recorded at Greenbelt obviously but Larry Norman released it in 2005 on his label. I don’t think Larry actually had the rights to this recording. Yes it was recorded back when Larry and Randy were getting along but in 2005 they were not doing business together. I have no idea how Larry decided he had the rights to this album but who knows what was said back in 1979. That said after Larry passed suddenly Randy owned the rights and released it himself in 2021. Anyway the version you will listen to here is a hybrid I worked over offering the best versions in my opinion. !979 was a great year in CCM music and this album displays that.
Tracklist 1 – Intro-One True Love – 4:41 2 – Keep Me Running – 5:43 3 – Teen King -4:09 4 – Lung Cancer – 4:26 5 – Venezuela – 3:10 6 – Through The Glass Darkly – 5:53 7 – The Great American Cure – 4:26 8 – You Really Got Me – 3:06 9 – Trouble Coming – 4:44 10 – Good News – 4:47 11 – Let That Tape Keep Rolling – 6:09
Bruce Cockburn is the greatest songwriter of all time! OK…that may be an exaggeration…but not by much. Along with being intensely prolific, Cockburn is also incredibly intelligent, diverse, creative, original, stark, honest, transparent, intriguing… When I was first hired as a 16 year old at a local Christian Bookstore I was already a “music expert” of sorts. I had begun collecting Christian music much earlier, first as “hand me down” albums from my parents and older brother and sister, and then using my allowance or money from odd jobs to buy my own. Then as I could save money I would ask my parents to drive me to Maranatha Village or other Christian bookstores in town to pick up the most recent releases from Sweet Comfort, Daniel Amos and Darrell Mansfield. My Youth Pastor subscribed to CCM Magazine and I subscribed to Camus Life, both of which had a heavy impact on my growing love and appreciation for the genre. My first few days at my new job was primarily an education in how the store worked, my responsibilities and dealing with customers. But the owner’s daughter was a music fan, especially of more cutting edge and controversial artists. On one of those first few days she took an LP of “Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws” and placed on the in-store play system. As a fan of Bob Dylan I was immediately drawn to Cockburn’s nasally, borderline off-key vocals and compelling lyrical content. This birthed my fascination with Bruce Cockburn, an artist I have had the privilege of seeing in concert over 10 times and one of the few artists that I own every album he has released. My favorites remain those released between the mid-70′s and the mid-80′s. Cockburn had become a Christian at just about the time his solo career began despite being born and raised in an agnostic family setting. Cockburn’s Christianity would impact and influence his content from the earliest days. His brand of Christianity also informed his view of environmental and human rights issues. These two subjects, especially the latter, would be an integral part of his work. Like the previously discussed songwriter, Bill Mallonee, Cockburn has drawn criticism from evangelical circles for his subject matter and for his use of provocative language. But also like Mallonee there never appears to be an illicit purpose for the use of language, but rather an understandable inclusion of such language to express or prove a point. The subject matter, though, is quite often more provocative than certain linguistic choices. Leaning toward the political left, Cockburn has rubbed American evangelicalism the wrong way on more than one occasion. It should also be noted that Cockburn is quite the impressive musician. He is easily one of the finest acoustic guitar players around. His early work especially proved this point. One concert I attended was a solo concert in which 20 separate instruments were place behind him on the stage. That night he performed 20 songs using a different instrument for each song. I was later told be a friend that the following evening that the order of the songs remained the same but the placement and instrument choices on stage changed!
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Creation Dream – 4:00 2 – Hills Of Morning – 4:25 3 – Badlands Flashback – 6:12 4 – Northern Lights – 4:06 5 – After The Rain – 3:59 6 – Wondering Where The Lions Are – 3:42 7 – Incandescent Blue – 4:35 8 – No Footprints – 5:38
Credits Art Direction – Bart Schoales Bass – Robert Boucher Drums – Bob DiSalle Engineer – Gary Gray Engineer [Assisted By] – Frank Kitson Guitar, Voice, Chimes, Synthesizer, Dulcimer – Bruce Cockburn Lacquer Cut By – Cub Management [Direction] – The Finkelstein Fiedler Co. Painting [Cover] – Norval Morrisseau Photography By [Inside Photograph] – Christopher Dew Piano, Marimba – Pat Godfrey Producer – Eugene Martynec Translated By [Traduction Par] – Marcel Mousette Words By, Music By – Bruce Cockburn
