Apparently After The Fire played 3 years in a row at the BBC Paris Theatre, London, England. Luckily these appearances were recorded but they stayed on a shelf somewhere until Angel Air Records released them in 2009. You can buy the CD on their website below. ATF were an excellent live band and this is a great release. Thank you Angel Air Records.
1 – Joy – 3:17 2 – A Little Sun, A Little Rain – 3:11 3 – Laser Love – 3:05 4 – Time To Think – 3:31 5 – One Rule For You – 3:15 6 – Suspended Animation – 4:52 7 – Check It Out – 3:06 8 – Like The Power Of A Jet – 2:50 1980 In Concert 9 – Laser Love – 3:26 10 – Life In The City – 4:04 11 – Can You Face It? – 3:50 12 – Who’s Gonna Love You? – 4:14 13 – Billy Billy – 6:07 1981 In Concert 14 – Frozen Rivers – 4:06 15 – Dancing In The Shadows – 2:53 16 – Sailing Ship – 3:39 17 – Bright Lights – 4:09 18 – Take Me Higher – 7:06 19 – Starlight – 5:03
While this is David & The Giants 4th Christian album it’s the one where I started listening and in my opinion is there best album. It has the original version of “Almost Midnight” which is much better than the 1985 remake which is probably the better known version. This album also welcomed back Keith Thibodeaux on drums. He was the original drummer for the band but left during their Christian transition but he’s back and you can tell as on this album I think the band was much tighter. A bit of trivia about Keith is that he played “Little Ricky” on the I Love Lucy show. Anyway here’s a great rock album that was perfectly timed for 1980.
Tracklist 1 – Almost Midnight – 2:55 2 – Keep On Keeping On – 3:47 3 – Keep On Singing My Song – 2:45 4 – Thank You Lord (For Coming Into My Heart) – 3:12 5 – Upper Room Experience (Recorded Live) – 6:02 6 – The Well (Will Never Run Dry) – 4:32 7 – Ten Miles High – 2:22 8 – Borrowed Time – 5:48 9 – Holy Rain (Recorded Live) – 5:15 10 – Daddy – 4:30
Credits Bass, Backing Vocals – Clayborn Huff Cover – Jim Paris Drums – Keith Thibodeaux Engineer – David Huff, David Yelveton (tracks: A5,B4), Rayborn Huff Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Vocals – David Huff Harmonica – Lance Appleton Organ, Synthesizer [Arp Quadra, Poly Korg], Strings [String Ensemble], Backing Band – Rayborn Huff Piano, Synthesizer [Quadra], Backing Vocals – Gerald Hagan Producer – David And The Giants Written-By – Clayborn Huff, David Huff, Rayborn Huff
This is the third album for Thomas Steven Smith who released his first 2 albums using his nickname Moose Smith. Strangely for an artist with 4 albums I really can’t find much about him. There are a few notes around the interwebs of people who saw him in concert saying how great he was but that’s about all I can find. So let’s talk about the album. It has a great 70’s sound and feel. It’s not particularly my style but there’s a couple tracks I quite liked. “You’ve Gotta Hear It To Believe It” is a great rock tune that deserves to be heard and “Loco Boy Made Good” also had a great seventies rock sound. I’m looking forward to hearing his other albums as there is some real talent here. It is absolutely the wrong cover for the album but it does have a cool 3d effect which makes it stand out.
Tracklist 1 – Love Will Find A Way – 3:28 2 – And When All Is Said And Done – 2:50 3 – Holy, Holy, Holy – 2:39 4 – Loco Boy Made Good – 3:50 5 – Anything Worth Doin’ Is Worth Doin’ Right – 3:57 6 – There Is A Way – 4:07 7 – Turn Around And See – 2:46 8 – Fresh Start – 3:26 9 – One Song – 4:04 10 – You’ve Gotta Hear It To Believe It – 3:03
Credits Art Direction – Michael Harris Design Engineer – Brian Tankersley, Paul Mills Executive-Producer – Phil Brower Horn [Arrangements] – Fletch Wiley Photography By – Michael Borum Producer – Fletch Wiley Synthesizer [Programming] – Paul Mills
Glad was, for a time, one of the most influential and important groups in Christian Music. An incredibly high standard of quality, interesting and creative arrangements and some of, if not the best, harmonies in CCM history. After their debut showed a much more “progressive” rock and jazz influence, Beyond a star would carry their original form into the 1980’s with more pop and the introduction of the a capella vocal style they would later by primarily known for. Though less progressive than their debut the album still contain several classic influences such as the Yes sounding “Away” and a touch of the 2nd Chapter of acts on “Sing a New Song.” “Iron Sharpens Iron” has a Steely Dan or Alan Parsons Project feel. The opening track, “The Reason” would introduce the a capella vocal style that would end of being the trademark for the band through much the 1980’s. In fact, their biggest selling album would be the firs “A Capella Project,” going gold and beyond. This would not have been possible without the perfect combination of voices the band possessed. Many members are still actively involved in music, most notable Bob Kauflin, who is spearheading a great modern worship label based on more doctrinally solid lyrical content than what is found in most of today’s worship music.
Contributor – David Lowman https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – The Reason – 1:50 2 – Take A Stand – 3:32 3 – Beyond A Star – 3:49 4 – Away – 4:11 5 – Sing A New Song – 3:37 6 – Iron Sharpens Iron – 3:36 7 – Lying – 3:25 8 – Lonely Love – 4:31 9 – It Is Good – 4:54 10 – Pierce My Ear – 3:19
Credits Arranged By [Special Assistance, Strings & Horns] – Dan Wolgemuth Arranged By [Strings & Horns] – Bob Kauflin, Ed Nalle Arranged By [Vocals] – Bob Kauflin Booking – Logsdon Associates Design [Art Design] – Michael Harris Drums – Brad Currie, Mark Farley, Roger Clark Electric Guitar – John Goin Engineer – Brown Bannister, Skip Plant Executive-Producer – Michael Blanton Flugelhorn – George Tidwell Mastered By – Larry Nix Photography By [Back Cover] – Mimi Roth Mandel Photography By [Front Cover] – Michael Borum Producer – Brown Bannister, Ed Nalle Saxophone – Billy Puett, Dennis Solee Strings – The Shelly Kurland Strings Trombone – Dennis Good Trumpet – Don Sheffield Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Jim Gheen Vocals, Bass [Alembic] – Don Nalle Vocals, Electric Guitar – John Bolles, Wayne Farley Vocals, Keyboards – Bob Kauflin Vocals, Percussion – Ed Nalle
This is Twila’s first album. Well that’s not entirely true she actually had a self released kids album all the way back in 1965 recorded when she was 5 years old. She said in an interview that when she was a teenager her friends would torment her by playing the album, but this is essentially her first album. It’s pretty well what you would expect for a first album from a female artist in 1980 but I do need to give Twila credit in that she was involved in the song writing. Generally first album female artists have all the tracks written for them but not in this case. If you’re a fan of female 80’s artists then this one is for you.
Tracklist 1 – Spring Water – 2:46 2 – Angel Band – 3:09 3 – I’ll See You Sunday – 3:55 4 – Knowin’ You’re Around – 3:28 5 – Morning Sunrise – 1:57 6 – I’m Singing Again – 3:13 7 – Turn Around – 2:58 8 – Victory Song – 3:05 9 – Elijah – 2:50 10 – Sing Me A Lullaby – 4:18
Credits Drew Barlow – Engineer Stephanie Boosahda – Background Vocals Wayne Boosahda – Producer Cornerstone Strings – Strings Larry Dalton – Piano Mike Demus – Electric & Acoustic Guitars Bob Farrell – Background Vocals Rocky Gribble – Electric Guitars Sandra Halgendale – Oboe Jim Hochanadel – Acoustic Guitars, Saxophone Maurice Love – Bass Glenn Meadows – Mastered Twila Paris – Songwriter, Keyboards, Vocals Kenny Sarkey – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Keyboard, Acoustic Guitars, Arp Omni, Mini Moog, Orchestra Bells, Background Vocals Julianne Siens – Background Vocals David Stearman – String Arrangements, Acoustic Guitar Rhenda Edwards Tull – Background Vocals Genevieve Winkenbach – Harp Steve Wright – Drums, Percussion
This is the 3rd and last album from One Truth. Well they did release a 4 track EP in 1983 using the band name Ipso Facto so we did get one more bit form them later. Oh and just a quick note the EP is fantastic. After that EP several members went on to release solo projects but most of them were more in the Worship genre. This album has a great seventoes fell and is probably one of the better 70’s style (not Jesus music) lbums I’ve heard. There’s even a couple of good 70’s rockers on the album. The album jacket had a baseball theme and the album has a track called “Seventh Inning Stretch” featuring an organ playing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”. A bit strange but something different qhich I appreciate.
Tracklist 1 – I’ll Have Enough – 4:01 2 – Rock Or Sand – 5:12 3 – I’ve Never Been There Before – 2:47 4 – Teach Us To Forgive – 6:25 5 – Don’t Be Deceived – 3:40 6 – Satisfied – 3:22 7 – Lord My Desire – 4:17 8 – Seventh Inning Stretch – 0:49 9 – Gonna Run – 3:43 10 – Jesus Wants To Know Each One – 3:15
Credits Greg Butler – Background Vocals Randall Butler – Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals Terry Butler – Songwriter, Keyboards, Background Vocals Bob Clark – Engineer Bill Dragoo – Drums Dave Emerson – Songwriter Dave Etzen – Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals Phil Johnson – Producer, Engineer, Background Vocals Brent King – Engineer Larrie Londin – Drums Andy Osbrink – Bass, Background Vocals Warren Peterson – Engineer Smitty Price – Engineer, Keyboards, Background Vocals Hank Williams – Mastered
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Sound House, North Hollywood, CA Remixed At – Great Circle Sound Mastered At – Masterfonics
This was actually the 7th album from The Rance Allen Group. I will forgive you if you have never heard of them because they were in that segment of Christian music that some of us were never exposed to. There seems to have been a whole parallel Christian music industry specializing in soul gospel music. As I researched this side genre I discovered that it was actually huge with several large labels. That said in the early 80’s these two industries started to cross over. This album was before those days so this album is on a soul gospel label. Anyway these guys were huge but I never had any exposure to them. This is a pity because they are really good. I don’t know if I would have bought any of their albums but it would have been nice to have heard them. As for this album it is an excellent soul album and you may have missed it in the day so you should give it a listen now.
Tracklist 1 – Where Did I Go Wrong – 4:45 2 – Some People – 4:50 3 – I’m Coming Back To You – 6:12 4 – Can’t Get Enough – 3:27 5 – God Can Do The Impossible – 5:10 6 – I Will Forever Lean On You – 5:23 7 – Believe In Yourself – 4:32 8 – I Feel Like Going On – 3:35
Credits Arranged By – Johnny Allen Art Direction – Phil Carroll Backing Vocals – Brandye Bass – Billy Sumler Design – Kris Johnson Drums – Jerry Jones Engineer – Warren Woods Executive-Producer – Toby Jackson Guitar – Bruce Nazarian, Cecil Womack, Rance Allen Horns – Eli Fontain Keyboards – Rance Allen, Ronnie McNair Mastered By – José Rodriguez Percussion – Butch Small, James Griswold Photography By – Phil Bray Producer, Arranged By – Rance Allen, Ronnie McNair Recorded By, Mixed By – Mark Calice Strings – Betty Metzker, Carl Austin, Charles Everette, Edouard Kesner, Max James Bourbonnais, John Ronai, Marguerite Deslippe, Meyer Shapiro, Morris Hochberg, Nicholas Waselowich, Richard Piippo, Umberto Primo
Companies, etc. Distributed By – Fantasy Records Recorded At – The Sound Suite Detroit Mixed At – The Sound Suite Detroit Mastered At – Sterling Sound Published By – Stora Music Co. Published By – Roxatlanta Lane Published By – Tight Squeeze Music Published By – Dark Star Music Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Stax Records
This is another oddball Canadian artist found on New Born Records (Sister label to Tunesmith). There are several of these one album artists on New Born and Tunesmith. The real standout on the album is Diane’s guitar and banjo work. The opening track is a toe tapper but unfortunately the album turns easy listening after that. Her vocal stylings are not my cup of tea but she is a very good vocalist and this album is a stand out if you like her vocal style.
1 – In The Land Of The Living – 4:24 2 – I’ve Seen You Smile – 4:06 3 – The Lilies – 4:52 4 – How Lovely – 2:54 5 – Dear Brother – 3:14 6 – Faith – 4:18 7 – Too Long – 2:17 8 – Heartbeat Of The Lord – 3:26 9 – Jesus Is The Lover – 4:50 10 – Morning Star – 3:48
After Larry was convinced to close Solid Rock Records he made his way to England with his father and started Phydeaux records. This was either the first or second album he released on that label. It’s a live album but were not really too sure where or when it was recorded and I don’t think even Larry knew. He printed on the album cover “This album contains ten songs from a three hour concert. It is reproduced exactly as the audience heard it, with no studio overdubs, no stereo enhancement, noise gates, etc. It is raw, real, and electronically unretouched.” As much as he tries to make the lack of production a selling point for the album I sincerely doubt the source material was capable of being remixed. I’m willing to bet it was a single track recorded right out of the mixing board. Anyway this is a great opportunity for us to hear some early Larry in his live environment.
Tracklist 1 – Jonny’s Blues – 3:03 2 – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – 4:53 3 – The Rock That Doesn’t Roll – 3:28 4 – I’ve Seached All Around The World – 3:34 5 – Watch What You’re Doing – 6:31 6 – Soul On Fire – 6:33 7 – Shot Down – 1:56 8 – Song For A Small Circle Of Friends – 3:09 9 – Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music – 2:51 10 – Let That Tape Keep Rolling – 5:24 11 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready – 5:45
Credits Bass Guitar – Dave Coy Drums – Alex McDougall Electric Guitar – Jon Linn Guitar – Mark Heard Piano – Tom Howard Vocals, Written-By – Larry Norman
This is another artist I can’t find any info on. I can’t even find much info on the album which is rather surprising consider it was produced by Dallas Holm and Phil Johnson. Furthermore it appears to have had 2 pressings as the cover changed, unfortunately the second cover is as bad as the first one. Even stranger is the fact that the album had #4 single on the CCM charts. “No Other One”, It’s actually a duet with Dallas Holm so I understand why it singled but I’m still surprised I can’t find anything out about Debbie. This was her one and only album so I guess we will just have to listen and enjoy it. As for the album it is a easy listening album but is pretty good if you like that genre.
Tracklist 1 – Don’t You Think It’s Time – 3:26 2 – So Much – 2:14 3 – Don’t Be A Fool – 3:08 4 – Jesus, I’m An Open Book – 3:37 5 – Trusting Jesus – 3:04 6 – No Other One – 3:31 7 – Rose Petal Lady – 3:13 8 – Praise Song – 3:18 9 – Softly and Tenderly – 2:23
Credits Backing Vocals – Debbie Amstutz Bass, Strings, Arranged By – Jack Williams Drums – Kenny Malone Engineer, Remix – Bob Clark Guitar – Jon Goin, Steve Gibson Keyboards – Dony McGuire Keyboards, Synthesizer – Shane Keister Lyricon, Saxophone – Denis Solee Mastered By – Hank Williams Photography By – Michael Borum Producer, Backing Vocals – Dallas Holm, Phil Johnson Remix – Warren Peterson Songwriter – Debbie Amstutz Strings – Shelley Kurland’s Strings
