Tag: 1986

Greg X. Volz – The River Is Rising – 1986

Greg X. Volz was the lead singer of Petra from 1979 to 1985 and was part of the Classic Petra project Back to the Rock.

This was his first solo effort and it was well received. It is a very heavily produced keyboards and guitar rifts affair that fit relatively well in 1986.

Lyrics were good but not outstanding but quality instrument tracks make up for it. This playlist includes “Break Out Of The Trance” which was a bonus release on the CD reissue.

Track Listing:
1 – Barrier – 4:34
2 – Joyous Grave – 4:26
3 – Livin’ For The Bell – 3:51
4 – Still Waters – 5:04
5 – All I Can Do – 4:40
6 – Heaven Is Within You – 4:38
7 – The River Is Rising – 5:17
8 – Hold On To The Fire – 5:07
9 – Man Like You – 5:32
CD Bonus Track
10 – Break Out Of The Trance – 3:38

Credits:
Bass – Jimmy Lee Sloas
Engineer, Mixed By, Cymbal [Overdubs] – Jonathan David Brown
Guitar – Kirk Henderson
Piano, Synthesizer, Keyboards [Fairlight], Drum Programming [Fairlite Drums] – Carl Marsh
Producer – Greg X. Volz, Jonathan David Brown
Vocals, Backing Vocals, Cymbal [Overdubs] – Greg X. Volz

Bloodgood – (self titled) – 1986

This was the first album from Bloodgood who were one of the early and biggest Heavy Metal bands in the Christian genre.

They were formed in Seattle in 1984 by Michael Bloodgood. They sold over 5000 copies of their self produced demo at concerts which attracted attention from new record label Frontline Records.

Darrell Mansfield was brought in to produce the album which ended up sounding very well engineered and produced.

Track Listing:
1 – Accept The Lamb – 3:47
2 – Stand In The Light – 3:41
3 – Demon On The Run – 3:56
4 – Anguish And Pain – 3:02
5 – Awake – 4:10
6 – Soldier Of Peace – 3:15
7 – You Lose – 2:53
8 – What’s Following The Grave – 5:00
9 – Killing The Beast – 4:41
10 – Black Snake – 2:53

Credits:
Bass, Backing Vocals – Michael Bloodgood
Drums – J.T. Taylor (2)
Engineer – Doug Doyle
Guitar, Backing Vocals – David Zaffiro
Lead Vocals – Les Carlsen
Producer – Darrell Mansfield

Stryper – To Hell With The Devil – 1986

To Hell with the Devil was the 3rd studio album from Stryper.

It was the first Christian metal album to achieve platinum status, which means sales of one million copies. 3 Videos were produced for the album and they played heavily on MTV.

The highest ranking single was “Honestly” and it peaked at #23 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart.

A piece of trivia, the album went through 2 bass players before a session musician (Brad Cobb) finished doing the album. He however he did not join the band.

Tracklist
1 – Abyss (To Hell With The Devil) – 1:21
2 – To Hell With The Devil – 4:08
3 – Calling On You – 3:59
4 – Free – 3:44
5 – Honestly – 4:10
6 – The Way – 3:37
7 – Sing-Along Song – 4:21
8 – Holding On – 4:16
9 – Rockin’ The World – 3:30
10 – All Of Me – 3:11
11 – More Than A Man – 4:35

Credits
Arranged By – Michael Sweet, Stephan Galfas
Art Direction – Brian Ayuso
Bass – Brad Cobb
Co-producer – Michael Sweet, Oz Fox, Robert Sweet, Stephan Galfas
Concept By [Cover] – Robert Sweet
Design – Brian Ayuso
Engineer – Dan Nebenzal, Stephan Galfas
Keyboards – John Van Tongeren
Mastered By – Eddy Schreyer
Photography By – Anna Maria Di Santo*, Anne Revenge, Neil Zlozower
Written-By – Michael Sweet (tracks: A1 to A5, B1 to B5), Robert Sweet (tracks: A2, A4)

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Enigma Records (3)
Recorded At – Master Control, Burbank
Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co.
Distributed By – Capitol Records, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Enigma Entertainment Corporation
Copyright (c) – The Enigma Entertainment Corporation

Street Angel – (self titled) – 1986

Street Angel was an 80’s Christian band with 2 releases.

This EP release was the demo they shopped around before being picked up by Dark Records. The band was fronted by Bill Romansky who had a solo album in 1979 just catching the end of the Jesus music era. The album has strong U2 influence, but with slightly more synth.

Track Listing:
1 – When The Sun Comes Up – 3:26
2 – I Am Calling – 6:21
3 – The Blood – 5:20
4 – Together We – 5:32
5 – Falling – 3:33
6 – MTV – 3:44
7 – The End – 2:47

Level Heads – (self titled) – 1986

Level Head was a new wave band out of Sarnia Ontario Canada.

This was their self titled introductory EP that appears to only have been released in Canada. Very heavy New Wave influence on this album makes it a favourite of mine.

The music has a strong Depeche Mode feel while I can’t actually nail down a comparative vocalist. The bottom line is that the album has a very strong Synth sound and yes the track Wo Wo Wo is supposed to end that way.

Track Listing:
1 – Excuses (Really?) – 3:12
2 – Behold – 2:41
3 – How Long? – 7:23
4 – Wo Wo Wo – 3:17
5 – The Fighter – 3:10
6 – Tell Me What You See – 2:25

Credits:
Bass – Craig Gillings
Cover – Sue Houden
Drums – Todd Gillings
Engineer – John Press (2)
Guitar – Jim Chevalier
Keyboards – Scott Douglas
Marimba – Scott Douglas
Performer [Level Heads Is] – Craig Gillings, Jim Chevalier, Scott Douglas, Todd Gillings
Producer – Gamiel Shabawda, Level Heads
Vocals – Craig Gillings, Jim Chevalier

Steve Camp – One on One – 1986

This 4th offering from Steve Camp was more of the same.

This album has a distinctly 80’s sound and is slightly more up tempo than previous ones. If I had to pick one track to listen to it would be “Foolish Things”.

Tracklist
1 – Foolish Things
2 – Other Side Of The World
3 – Judgement Begins With The House Of God
4 – One On One
5 – He Covers Me
6 – Cheap Grace
7 – Mr. Brokenhearted
8 – Threshing Floor
9 – He’s All You Need

Credits
Backing Vocals – Bill Champlin, Bob Carlisle (2), Jason Scheff, Steve Lively, Tamara Champlin, Tommy Funderburk
Bass – Lee Sklar*
Drums – Jeff Porcaro
Engineer [Additional] – Dan Garcia, David Schober, Mike Ross*, Peter Hayden
Engineer [Rhythm Tracks] – Dennis Mackay
English Horn – Jon Clarke
Keyboards – Smitty Price
Mixed By – Bill Schnee
Percussion – Dan Greco*
Producer, Arranged By, Drum Programming [SP-12 Drum Machine Programming] – Steve Camp
Producer, Arranged By, Orchestrated By – John Rosasco
Rhythm Guitar – Michael Landau
Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Dann Huff
Vocals [Female Vocal, Duet] – Margaret Becker (tracks: A4)

Stryper – Yellow and Black Attack – 1986

Originally released in 1984 as a 6 song EP was “The Yellow and Black Attack”. This is the 1986 blue vinyl re-release which featured 2 bonus tracks. While this was Stryper’s debut album it didn’t sell well until their second release “Soldiers Under Command” achieved gold then fans hunted out this album. It had the typical Stryper sound which of course was strong heavy metal. Like them or not Stryper did fill a gap in Christian music and they did have some crossover success. Point of trivia is that the Japanese version of this album featured another bonus track “Winter Wonderland”.

Tracklist
1 – Loud ‘N’ Clear – 3:28
2 – From Wrong To Right – 3:47
3 – My Love I’ll Always Show – 3:39
4 – You Know What To Do – 4:48
5 – Co’Mon Rock – 3:44
6 – You Won’t Be Lonely – 3:43
7 – Loving You – 4:12
8 – Reason For The Season – 6:31

Credits
Art Direction – Brian Ayuso
Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Tim Gaines
Drums – Robert Sweet
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Oz Fox
Illustration [Cover] – Tom Utley
Lead Vocals, Guitar – Michael Sweet
Mastered By – Eddy Schreyer
Mixed By – Jim Faraci
Photography By – Glen La Fermin
Producer – Ron Goudie (tracks: A1 to 2, A4 to B3), Stryper
Programmed By [Synclavier] – Chris Currell

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – The Enigma Entertainment Corporation
Distributed By – Capitol Records, Inc.
Mastered At – Capitol Mastering
Mastered At – Sheffield Lab Matrix – ? 13003
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Enigma Entertainment Corporation
Pressed By – Allied Record Company – B-24020
Pressed By – Allied Record Company – B-24021
Published By – Sweet Family Music
Recorded At – Amigo Studios
Recorded At – Clover Recorders