Well here’s the 1983 offering from the Talbot brothers. It’s pretty standard fare for them but there is a highlight on this album. The title track actually has an Eagles feel and it sounds like something from back in their Mason Proffit days. It’s actually good enough for me to add it to my regular rotation. The music may be Eagles but the lyrics are typical of what you would expect form them. That said this may actually be one of their best tracks since the Mason Proffit days.
Tracklist 1 – No Longer Strangers – 4:08 2 – He Is Risen – 2:42 3 – We Will Rise – 4:07 4 – Silence – 3:34 5 – Nature And Grace – 3:30 6 – Holy Father – 3:37 7 – Isaiah 58 – 5:06 8 – Lady Poverty – 4:10 9 – Hear Us Oh Lord – 4:10 10 – Few Be The Lovers – 4:22
Credits Arranged By [Orchestra] – Lee Holdridge Bass – Abraham Laboriel Cover – Stan Evenson Design Cover [Coordination] – B. Charlyne Hinesley Drums – Bill Maxwell Engineer – Darrel Powell, Mike Ross-Trevor Executive-Producer – Billy Ray Hearn Guitar, Vocals, Co-producer, Arranged By [Vocals] – John Michael Talbot, Terry Talbot Mastered By – Ken Pennell, Steve Hall Orchestra – National Philharmonic Orchestra Of London Performer – National Philharmonic Orchestra Of London Photography By – Mark Hanauer Written-By – John Michael Talbot, Terry Talbot
There are only two artists in the history of CCM that I wish would come out from hiding and release a new album. The first is Steve Taylor and i understand the whole “trying to make a movie” clap trap, but enough already! The second is David Edwards and I would prefer the latter to the former if I had to choose just one to release an album. Two rock efforts, a lullaby album and a collection of Christmas carols is simply not enough; especially when the artists is simply this amazing. The debut album will be discussed later. Here we will look at the sophomore release that suffered from no sophomore jinx. A little darker, more musically refined and chock full of pop music goodness, this album will go down as the greatest crime in CCM history. He should have been a rock star and this album should have made him a household name. Hell, there’s even a great wedding song and that always meant success in the early 80’s in CCM! Musically that album is a bit the Knack and a bit Billy Joel. More rock than new wave and more smart than quirky. Perhaps it was all those songs about “love” on the album that caused it’s doom; just like one sweet little lady told me when she wanted to return the album to the store I was working at by asking “what does love have to do with Jesus anyway?” Edwards walks the listener through the many feelings, struggles and circumstances that come about when love is either absent or twisted. “Anything But Love” describes how lust clouds the heart from seeing reality, while “Someone to Trust” pictured the opposite reality. It’s a great wedding and I should know, it was in mine! “The Feeling Part” addresses the mistake Christians make by not addressing the reality of romance and feelings in relationships, both with God and with one another. “How Could You Throw It All away?” should have made Edwards a star. sadly it just kicks off side 2 with a great reminder that love is worth holding on to. “Break the Big One” deals with the scar of abortion when sexual love is removed from its Biblical context of marriage. The album closes with two songs that, though not connected on the recording, are completely inseparable. “Girls Like You” expresses the anger of a broken heart and the vindictive feelings associated with being the “dumped.” Kind of like the losers version of Ben Fold’s “Song for the Dumped.” “Girls” is followed by possibly Edwards’ finest composition, “A Fools Condition.” The song recounts the story of a young (naive?) and sexually tempted boy who falls for and is captured by a dead and decaying woman who only possesses a beautiful outer appearance. Borrowing from the writings of George MacDonald (this wouldn’t be the last time), Edwards’ protagonist is consumed by the appearance and loses his soul as a result. Brilliantly conceived, wonderfully presented and utterly unforgettable. I went nearly two decades unable to listen to it until Edwards released the album himself on CD, and was singing along by the first line. This album is the definition of an AYSO!
Contributor – David Lowman https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Anything But Love – 3:43 2 – Someone To Trust – 3:09 3 – The Feeling Part – 4:55 4 – Watch Over Your Heart – 3:19 5 – How Could You Throw It All Away – 4:37 6 – Break The Big One – 3:38 7 – Put Me Down – 3:06 8 – All I Want – 3:10 9 – True Confession – 2:50 10 – Girls Like You – 2:18 11 – A Fool’s Condition – 5:17
Credits Acoustic Guitar – David Edwards Alto Saxophone – Irv Cox Arranged By, Programmed By [Synthesizer], Backing Vocals, Written By, Composed By – David Edwards Art Direction – Barbara LeVan Backing Vocals – Randy Stonehill, Suzan Curly Bass, Backing Vocals – John Trujillo Cello – John Walz Drums, Percussion – Rick Geragi Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Dan Jacob Marimba – Guy Shiffman Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Piano – David Edwards Producer, Keyboards, Arranged By, Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Barry M. Kaye Recorded By, Mixed By – Britt Bacon Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Jay Leslie
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright – Word, Inc. Copyright – Word, Inc. Published By – Mountain Park Music Published By – Dayspring Music Recorded At – Skyline Recording Mixed At – Skyline Recording Mastered At – A&M Mastering Studios Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co. 25877
This was the introductory album from Phil & John. It is probably one of the oddest choices for an premier album in CCM. The entire side 2 of the album is a live recording. Now this may sound like a very strange thing to do but in this case I think it was brilliant. Phil & John really did shine in their live work as they were essentially a comedy team that played music and it really set them apart frm the rest of the industry at the time. I personally love their style which on this album can be best described as 70’s Beatles. Unfortunately I did not give them the the amount of listening time they deserved in the 80’s. If you’ve never heard Phil & John live you should at least listen to side 2 of this album as it’s live where they really shine.
Tracklist 1 – Wasted Years – 2:57 2 – Teenage Millionaire – 3:13 3 – Saturday Night And Sunday Morning – 3:35 4 – You Wouldn’t Let Me Go – 3:25 5 – I Remember – 2:49 6 – Holding On – 4:16 7 – What Do You Do? – 3:10 8 – The Gnome Song – 7:06 9 – Factory Blues – 4:43 10 – Times I Find – 3:45 11 – Watch And Pray – 3:16
This is the one that started it all for Koinonia. The band formed in 1980 and were probably one of the first Christian bands to play their particular fusion jazz style. While the band were somewhat popular in North America they were huge Scandinavia where their style of music was really well received. Personally I don’t care that much for the style but they do it well and I always appreciate well done music even if it’s not my style.
Tracklist 1 – More Than A Feelin’ – 5:29 2 – Rescue – 4:24 3 – Graceful – 4:32 4 – Cuando – 3:59 5 – Divina – 4:09 6 – Give Your Love – 5:29 7 – Valentine – 5:35 8 – Funky Bumpkins – 4:43 9 – On My Way Home – 5:31
Credits Bass – Abraham Laboriel Drums, Percussion – Alex Acuña, Bill Maxwell Engineer – Bill Schnee Guitar – Dean Parks, Hadley Hockensmith Keyboards – Harlan Rogers Photography By – David Randle Producer – Bill Schnee Synthesizer – Michael Omartian Vocals – Abraham Laboriel, Bill Maxwell, Harlan Rogers, Russ Taff Woodwind – John Phillips (6), Justo Almario
This is Wendell’s 4th album. This is another album that doesn’t fall in the style I usually listen to BUT I do listen to this one. This is a great Easy Listening album and Wendell was a great song writer. Now this album came out in 1983 and I should have heard of it but somehow I don’t remember anything about it. I’m pretty sure the album cover turned me off if I did see it. This is another example of a horrible album cover that I have complained about before from several labels. Strangely a track from this album ended up on a Sparrow records sampler but the album was on Lamb & Lion Records and Word Canada. I’m just guessing that Sparrow was doing the U.S. distribution but like I said that’s just a guess. Anyway there is one stand out track to me on the album. “America” just begs to have been covered by Springsteen. But I don’t want to say the original isn’t good, it’s very good and is gong into my regular rotation.
Tracklist 1 – Spreading All Over the World – 3:52 2 – Just Like You – 3:04 3 – Who He Is – 3:24 4 – The Battle Is Already Won – 3:50 5 – Come To Me – 3:27 6 – America – 5:17 7 – Today’s The Day – 3:34 8 – Only Be Strong – 4:11 9 – Greatly Rejoice – 4:04 10 – To Be Like Jesus – 2:46
Credits Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Wendell Burton Arranged By [Strings] – Allen Moore, Kristen Wilkinson Backing Vocals – Christie Houser, Donna McElroy, Lynn Kellogg, Patti Burton*, Randy Thompson, Vicki Wilson Bass – Larry Paxton, Tim Smith Drums – Buster Phillips, Joe English Keyboards – Bobby Wood Keyboards, Synthesizer – John Lawry, Roger Morris, Shane Keister Mixed By – Joe Wilson Mixed By [Assistant] – Bill Cobb Mixed By, Backing Vocals – Dan Collins Percussion [Synthesized] – Dan Collins Producer, Recorded By, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Joe Wilson Saxophone – Donnie Sanders Synthesizer, Backing Vocals – Tom Howard
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Lamb & Lion Records Recorded At – Master’s Touch Mixed At – Poiema Studios Mixed At – Martinsound Mixed At – Glaser Sound Studios, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee
This was Debby’s seventh album and considering we’re talking about Debby Boone here it didn’t do all that well. I’ve listened to it a few times and to be honest it’s just kind of boring. I know I’m not her target audience but the album just didn’t have any punch to it. It was produced by Brown Bannister so I don’t know why it has this feel. I’ve kind of decided it was due to song selection. I think they just got unlucky and didn’t have a great track that stuck. Now lets be clear the album was popular and did sell well. I’m just saying it didn’t sell well for a Debby Boone album.
Tracklist 1 – O Come All Ye Faithful – 4:05 2 – Keep The Flame Burning – 4:42 3 – Can You Reach My Friend – 4:09 4 – Lift Him Up – 4:23 5 – Wounded Soldier – 4:59 6 – Surrender – 3:35 7 – Keep Rollin’ On – 4:05 8 – Find A Hurt And Heal It – 2:38 9 – O Holy One – 4:12 10 – Blessing – 3:05
Credits Debby Boone – Vocals Jim Baird – Engineer Brown Bannister – Producer, Handclaps Debbie Bannister – Handclaps David Baroni – Songwriter Laury Boone Browning – Background Vocals Niles Borop – Songwriter Harry Browning – Songwriter Robbie Buchanan – Keyboards, Synthesizers, Background Vocals Lenny Castro – Percussion Bill Champlin – Background Vocals Tamara Champlin – Background Vocals Gary Chapman – Background Vocals Claire Cloninger – Songwriter Diana DeWitt Hanna – Background Vocals Phil Driscoll – Duet Vocal Nathan East – Bass Gene Eichelberger – Engineer Victor Feldman – Percussion Marty Goetz – Songwriter, Piano Richard Green – Handclaps Debbie Hall – Background Vocals Sandy Hall – Background Vocals Russ Hollingsworth – Songwriter John Houghton – Handclaps Dann Huff – Guitars Shane Keister – Keyboards, Synthesizers Jim Keltner – Drums Brent King – Engineer Greg Laughery – Songwriter Pam Mark Hall – Songwriter Martyn Ford – Orchestra Strings Dony McGuire – Songwriter, Keyboards, Background Vocals Alan Moore – String Arranger Farrell Morris – Percussion Rich Mullins – Songwriter Connie Nelson – Songwriter Dean Parks – Guitars Jack Joseph Puig – Engineer Bill Purse – Songwriter Reba Rambo – Songwriter, Background Vocals John Rosasco – Songwriter Rick Shlosser – Drums Leland Sklar – Bass Billy Sprague – Songwriter Fred Tackett – Guitars Carmen Twillie – Background Vocals Jim Weber – Songwriter
Companies, etc. Distributed By – Sparrow Records Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
I’m pretty sure we will agree that this was Phil’s most successful album. The album got a Grammy nomination for Best Male Gospel Performance and also received the 1984 GMA Dove Award for Instrumentalist of the Year. It was also nominated for the GMA Dove Award for Inspirational Album of the Year. That’s pretty impressive. Now one of the stranger things about this album is that Phil went back into the studio are rerecorded the entire album so he could release it on his own label. He also added a track. I can’t say for sure but I’m pretty sure this was a big screw you to Sparrow records. Anyway if you only have time to listen to one track make it his version of “Amazing Grace”. It’s actually my favorite version of this classic hymn, Phil’s voice just makes it sound so great.
Tracklist 1 – I Exalt Thee – 7:23 2 – Wings As Eagles – 5:30 3 – Let The Whole World Know – 4:05 4 – Our God Reigns – 4:36 5 – Amazing Grace – 4:10 6 – Hosanna – 4:33 7 – El Shaddai – 3:55 8 – Everlasting Life – 4:18 9 – The Lord’s Prayer – 4:49
Credits Backing Vocals – Beverly Baxter, Donna McElroy, Lari Goss, Melodie Tunney*, Roni Goss, Sharon Scott (3), Terry Blackwood Bass – Ricky Keller Congas, Timbales, Percussion – Alex Acuña, Laran Philpott Drums – Buster Phillips, Jim Keltner Guitar – Dann Huff, Mike Deasy Keyboards – Jerry Cleveland, Lari Goss Producer – Lari Goss, Phil Driscoll
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Sparrow Records
Many readers may be more familiar with Paul Field as a member of Nutshell for four albums, with two different incarnations. A very popular British folk trio, Nutshell was referred to by some as the British Second Chapter of Acts. But Field is quite the prolific songwriter, including writing a number one CCM single for pop group Avalon called “Testify to Love.” Winona Judd would actually cover song as it was used on the popular “Touched By An Angel” television series and made it a Top Ten Billboard Hit! But here we are discussing his first solo album, and the one that most may be familiar. He would later record a few other solo projects and spend much of his time writing musicals. Field is a prolific songwriter and has produced scores of albums though many reached widespread distribution in the US. Immediately “Restless Heart” sounds like it could just have easily been released by Cliff Richard. It also reminds me of the “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” album by Richard, and not only because Richard would cover a song from this album (“Has to Be You, Has to Be Me”). Like the previously discussed Mark Williamson composition, Richard’s version is a bit more upbeat. The album kicks of with what would be the one single KYMS in Southern California really jumped on. “Rock with the Best of Them” is a fun song to start the album with a great horn section a la Chicago. If the world of CCM radio at the time had any justice, this would have been a monster hit! “Radio” follows with a much more mid-tempo feel very reminiscent of the sound for that day. Darker, more somber, I always saw the metaphor of the radio as being related to the Holy Spirit. The song always reminds me more of what the late 70’s Steve Winwood music was like. The album’s 12 songs (quite a few for the day) bounces back and forth between uptempo pop/rock and ballads. One stand out in the Loggins & Messina vein is “The Storm Is Over.” Something that perhaps Scott Wesley Brown would have done at the same time, it may be the most obviously evangelical song on the album. At the same time, it should have been a hit. The whole album is filled with great songs, but the last song I would like to highlight is the most upbeat song on the album, “Fair Fight.” This could just as easily fit on an album from Mark Williamson/Lyrix or even Morgan Cryar or David Edwards, both musically and lyrically. Never released on CD that I know of (at least in the US) and missing from virtually every streaming service (like much of early 80’s Myrrh releases), the album is worth tracking down. I have seen it for a reasonable price on Amazon and Ebay.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Rock With The Best Of Them – 3:23 2 – Radio – 3:56 3 – Has To Be You, Has To Be Me – 4:42 4 – Solo – 3:48 5 – Positive – 2:57 6 – The Storm Is Over – 3:51 7 – Fairfight – 2:46 8 – Stranger In Your Eyes – 3:45 9 – Just Around The Corner – 3:04 10 – You’re The One – 5:12 11 – Nearly Midnight – 3:48 12 – Restless Heart – 3:46
Credits Paul Field – Vocals, Guitar and Piano Graham Jarvis – Drums Mark Griffiths – Bass Martin Jenner – Guitar Dave Cooke – Piano, Keyboards, Guitar and Backing vocals Luís Jardim – Bass Linda Jardim – Backing vocals Marilyn David – Backing vocals Tom Blades – Guitar Colin Larne – Drums Bill Thorpe – Violin Martin David – Percussion Barry de Souza – Drums Ray Russell – Guitar Henry Lowther – Horn Nick Pentelow – Saxophone Nick Firkle – Trumpet Steve Jones – Violin Penny Thompson – Viola Jan Sharpe – Cello
Jerusalem’s 4th album “Can’t Stop Us Now” was a departure from their previous style. Up until this album they had been a 70’s style rock band. Surviving in the 80’s required an updated sound and they easily achieved it. The new pop rock sound was poorly received by their regular listeners but gained new users like myself. The album sold much better than their previous offerings proving their direction change to be a good idea. The album was released in both Swedish and English with the Swedish version retaining 3 English tracks. There does appear to be some minor mix changes between the two versions but for the main part it sounds like they used the same instrument tracks. The English version was reissued in 2018 with 2 bonus tracks. A new song “Time” which is more their traditional style and a remix of “Heartbeat”. We have included those tracks in oar playlist.
Tracklist 1 – Can’t Stop Us Now 4:02 2 – Loves You More 3:58 3 – The Wind Is Blowing 4:24 4 – Tomorrow’s World 5:34 5 – The Waiting – 4:33 6 – Let’s Go (Dancing) – 3:41 7 – Mourner’s Parade – 4:35 8 – Read Between The Lines – 4:08 9 – The Missing Piece – 3:43 10 – Heartbeat – 3:15 Bonus Tracks 11 – Time – 5:50 12 – Heartbeat (Light Remix) – 3:15
Credits Bass – Peter Carlsohn Drums – Mikael Ulvsgärd Keyboards – Dan Tibell Vocals, Guitar – Ulf Christiansson Composed By – Ulf Christiansson Layout, Design – Scott Waters Producer [Produced By] – Andy Kidd Remastered By – Rob Colwell
This is the Swedish version of Jerusalem’s 4th album “Can’t Stop Us Now” instead titled “Vi Kan Inte Stoppas”. It was a departure from their previous style as up until this album they had been a 70’s style rock band. Surviving in the 80’s required an updated sound and they easily achieved it. The new pop rock sound was poorly received by their regular listeners but gained new users like myself. The album sold much better than their previous offerings proving their direction change to be a good idea. The album was released in both Swedish and English with the Swedish version retaining 3 English tracks. There does appear to be some minor mix changes between the two versions but for the main part it sounds like they used the same instrument tracks.
Tracklist 1 – Vi Kan Inte Stoppas – 3:58 2 – Loves You More – 3:58 3 – Vinden Blåser… – 4:27 4 – I Skuggan Av Det Förflutna – 5:37 5 – Kärlekseld – 4:35 6 – Let’s Go (Dancin’) – 3:42 7 – Sorgsnas Parad – 4:37 8 – Regn – 4:09 9 – Pusselbiten – 3:36 10 – Heartbeat – 3:15
Credits Bass – Peter Carlsohn Drums – Mikael Ulvsgärd Keyboards – Dan Tibell Vocals, Guitar – Ulf Christiansson Composed By – Ulf Christiansson Layout, Design – Scott Waters Producer [Produced By] – Andy Kidd Remastered By – Rob Colwell
