This was In The Silence’s first album. They had released a single before this called “Reaching” that eventually appeared om the Star Song Records 1991 Brave New Music compilation album. This album was self released in 1987 and is really really well put together. Production is really good and the engineering is good too. I really haven’t found out much more about this band so I am going to refer you to Frank Axel Rasenberger’s review of the bands next album to learn a little more about the band.
As for this album it’s a little rawer than their subsequent work but has a great New Wave feel. The quality of musicianship is excellent and this is yet another band that should have had an album deal but they are from Australia and it was 1987. The industry was starting a transition that really abandoned many Australian artists unfortunately. So much great music to be heard and it was essentially hidden from us.
Tracklist 1 – Who Am I – 5:57 2 – Are You Satisfied – 3:13 3 – Draw Me Nearer – 4:51 4 – In My Life – 4:40 5 – I’m So in Love – 5:03 6 – The State of Your Heart – 4:58 7 – Why’d You Never Tell Me? – 4:23
Credits Bass – Angus McLeay Drums – Jacques Zeelie Lead Vocals – John Dickson Guitar, Backing Vocals – Ben Shaw Engineer, Mixed By, Produced by – Jeff Todd Produced by, Engineer – Bill Hurst
Companies, etc. Recorded at – Windwood Studios, Black Inc. Studios
This is Sheila’s 8th studio album and it has a bit of an interesting history. It was released in 1987 around the world but not in the U.S. It was subsequently released the next year in the U.S. which was coincidentally after Sheila Walsh took a co-host seat on the television talk-show, The 700 Club. I don’t know if they held the release or weren’t going to release it but anyway it was released in the U.S. and did very well on the CCM charts. It had 3 top 10 singles, “Angels With Dirty Faces”, “Jesus Loves The Church”, and “Wind Of Change”. Interestingly the album included a cover of the Todd Rundgren’s Utopia song “Love Is the Answer”. I can’t really judge if it’s a good cover as I don’t acre for the song no matter who did it. You should always read the credits for Sheila’s albums and on this one Phil Keaggy stepped in to help out on “Angels With Dirty Faces” and “Hope For The Hopeless”. Personally I have always struggled listen to Sheila. My first exposure to her as her duet with Steve Taylor of David Edwards “Not Going To Fall Away” which is one of my all time favourite recordings. Also on that E.P. was her cover of Bryn Haworth’s “We’re All One”. These two recordings were certainly not her usual style and as such I ended up judging all her subsequent work against something she wasn’t particularly known for. This ended up causing this strange situation where I absolutely loved her as an artist but didn’t really like her music. Strange I know but I stand by my misguided love of her.
Tracklist 1 – Wind Of Change – 4:07 2 – Surrender – 4:27 3 – Love Is The Answer – 4:32 4 – Trapeze – 5:03 5 – Dorai Sani – 6:33 6 – Empty Boxes – 5:05 7 – Angels With Dirty Faces – 3:50 8 – Jesus Loves The Church – 4:16 9 – Human Cry – 4:12 10 – Hope For The Hopeless – 4:24
Credits Jimmy Abegg – Songwriter J.J. Belle – Guitars Richard Blackford – Orchestra Arrangmenets, Conductor Simon Chamberlain – Piano Clem Clemson – Guitars David P. Cook – Songwriter Neil Costello – Guitar Pandit Dinesh – Percussion Colin Elswood – Background Vocals Dave Engel – Drums Martin Green – Saxophones Steve Griffith – Songwriter Phil Keaggy – Guitars London Community Gospel Choir – Choir Basil Meade – Background Vocals Charlie Morgan – Drums Lynn Arthur Nichols – Executive Producer Stuart Ongley – Executive Producer Richard Osborne – Producer, Drum Programming, Keyboards, Guitars Alan Park – Piano Todd Rundgren – Songwriter Bruce Spencer – Songwriter Miriam Stockley – Background Vocals Jon Sweet – Producer, Songwriter, Keyboards Rod Trott – Songwriter Sheila Walsh – Executive Producer, Songwriter, Vocals Paul Westwood – Bass
Force 3 only had one album but they did have this demo. There is a lot of debate on when this demo was released but given all my reading I have settled with 1987.I could be entirely wrong however that’s pretty rare. As for the album it has 2 tracks that aren’t on their album and was released on a double sided cassette. There is not credits or year out there so I can’t tell you much more than that. If you’re a fan of Charlie Wilson here’s a couple bonus tracks for you.
This is the first of 2 solo albums from Reneé. I first saw this album posted in our Facebook group and found it in the stack so gave it a listen. It was described in that post as the “CCM Madonna”. While I generally don’t agree when people compare artists on this one I feel the poster was correct. This album has a definite Madonna pop dance style sound but quite frankly Reneé’s vocals are better. Honestly though I was never a fan of Madonna’s vocals. Anyway a little back ground on Reneé is that she was born in Indiana and moved to Nashville in her mid 20’s. She actually sang backup on several Amy Grant tours before this album so she had some good exposure in the industry. Chris Eaton produced the album and he is well known for “finding” a lot of his projects but I don’t know if this project was his idea or the record companies. Anyway this is a great album and really should have been much better known but perhaps it was just a little late in 1987 for this sound.
Tracklist 1 – More Than Fascination – 4:30 2 – Running From A Legacy – 4:15 3 – I See Love – 5:30 4 – Deepest Love – 6:23 5 – Living In The Vertical – 4:10 6 – I’ve Got My Eye On You – 4:20 7 – The Bounce – 3:57 8 – Imagination – 4:35 9 – I Want To Be Used For You – 4:27
Credits Administrator [Covert Operations] – Terry Hemmings Art Direction – Bill Brunt Designs Backing Vocals – Chris Eaton, Mark Williamson, Reneé Garcia Bass [Fretless] – Steve Greetham Cymbal [Additional] – Lang Bliss Drums, Bass, Programmed By [Percussion], Keyboards – Chris Eaton Engineer – Laurence Burrage, Steve Boyce-Buckley Engineer [Additional] – David Holmes, John Revenhall, Jon Sweet Executive-Producer – Dan Harrell, Jeff Moseley, Michael Blanton Guitar – Neil Costello Lead Guitar – Peter Brooks Mastered By – Glenn Meadows Mixed By – Glenn Tommey, Raine Shine Photography By – Peter Nash Producer – Chris Eaton Programmed By [Additional Keyboards] – Richard Osborne Rhythm Guitar [Additional] – Richard Osborne Saxophone – Martin Green
Jamboree are back with their 2nd EP and this one is even better than their first one. If you don’t know Jamboree is an early version of Hoi Polloi without Jenny on vocals. The title track of this EP is actually a cover of a 1980 The Comsat Angels track that didn’t chart. Quite frankly this version is much better. Anyway, the other 2 tracks are equally good and this is an EP I would have loved in 1987 but alas it was only released in New Zealand so there’s no way I would have heard it. Strange printing error on the album, the cover calls track 3 “Cloak & Sickle” but the vinyl label says “Hammer & Sickle”.
Tracklist 1 – Independence Day – 3:47 2 – The Longing – 4:49 3 – Cloak And Sickle – 4:18
Credits Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Andrew Horst Drums – Josef Fityus Guitar, Synthesizer – David Steunebrink, David Ball Vocals – Brent Tasker
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Hit Singles Recorded At – Mandrill Studios
Kind of an interesting back story to this album. Philip Bailey started his solo career when Earth, Wind & Fire suddenly took a break in 1984. Some of Earth, Wind & Fire’s previous albums had lyrics that definitely did not jive with him being a Christian artist. This was of course because Maurice White (Lead band member) was not a Christian and had some questionable beliefs. Suddenly the band wants to make a return in 1987 but Philip was a full Christian artist at this point so how do they make a comeback? Voila a Christian album from Earth, Wind & Fire, problem solved. Personally I don’t care but it’s all very humorous. Anyway lets get into the most over produced album in the history of music. This album had 6 producers and 12 engineers. I discovered this as I listened to the album and became alarmed at the production so I checked the credits. Suddenly it all made sense. Now I just want to say that my favorite track on the album, “Money Tight”, is because of this overproduction. It has some great sampling and production which proves that overproduction is not always a bad thing. Most people and reviewers actually appeared to enjoy the production and I’m probably in the minority on this one. I’ve been a bit hard on the album but I actually quite liked it. The talent is there and the song writing is fantastic. But I think it would have been even better if it was a little more raw.
Tracklist 1 – System Of Survival – 4:59 2 – Evil Roy – 4:51 3 – Thinking Of You – 4:41 4 – You And I – 4:03 5 – New Horizons (Interlude) – 2:01 6 – Money Tight – 4:36 7 – Every Now And Then – 4:21 8 – Touch The World – 5:15 9 – Here Today And Gone Tomorrow – 3:59 10 – Victim Of The Modern Heart – 3:48
Credits
Band Philip Bailey – lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer arrangements Maurice White – lead vocals, backing vocals, vocoder, arrangements Sheldon Reynolds – guitars, lead guitar Andrew Woolfolk – saxophone solo
Additional musicians Skylark – synthesizers, drum programming, backing vocals Preston Glass – synthesizers, electric guitars, additional drum programming Rhett Lawrence – Fairlight programming, drum programming, sequencing, Fairlight synthesizer, synthesizer programming, Moog bass, additional drums Wayne Vaughn – sequencing Bill Meyers – acoustic piano, arrangements, keyboards, synthesizer programming, drums Larry Williams – additional keyboard programming, additional programming Dan De Souza – keyboards, synthesizer programming, drums Steve Lindsey – keyboards Danny Sembello – synthesizer programming, drum programming George Duke – acoustic piano, rhythm arrangements Ian Prince – synthesizer programming, drums, arrangements Attala Zane Giles – additional guitars, synth bass, percussion programming, additional backing vocals, arrangements Ray Fuller – guitars Paul Jackson Jr. – guitars Nathan East – bass Jeff Porcaro – drums Ricky Lawson – drum overdubs, drums Marc Russo – horns Wayne Wallace – horns Gary Grant – horns Jerry Hey – horns, horn arrangements Dan Higgins – horns Bill Reichenbach Jr. – horns Rev. Oliver Wells – arrangements, synthesizer arrangements Wanda Vaughn – backing vocals Jeanette Williams – backing vocals The Hawkins Family – backing vocals Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins and Lynette Hawkins Stephens – additional lead vocals
Production Maurice White – producer Preston Glass – producer Philip Bailey – co-producer Attala Zane Giles – additional production Wayne Vaughn – co-producer Bill Meyers – producer Acar Key – engineer Tom Lord-Alge – engineer, mixing Dave Rideau – engineer, mixing Paul Brown – engineer Red Davidson – additional assistant engineer Jeff Lorenzen – assistant engineer Jim “Watts” Vereecke – assistant engineer Les Cooper – assistant engineer Mitch Zelezny – assistant engineer Liz Cluse – assistant engineer Jeff Woodruff – assistant engineer Mark Slagle – assistant engineer Sterling Sound (New York City, New York) – mastering location Tony Lane – art direction Nancy Donald – art direction Max Aguilera Hellweg – photography
Here’s a Canadian artist that got one album out there in the mid 80’s thanks to his own hard work and financing. As a teen Martin played in coffee houses, churches, and many youth groups around Southern Ontario and upper New York State. Martin worked as a foot courier for a Toronto legal firm and was able to save $15,000 in 1985. Believe me that was no small feat in 1985. Instead of buying a cool car he headed to Rene Brossard’s studio and cut this album which shows an incredible dedication to his music. He subsequently appeared as the opening act for the likes of Twila Paris, Phil Keaggy, Daniel Band, Rick Cua, and others. He also played a side stage at the very first Kingdom Bound concert. It is rumoured that Larry Norman stopped to listen to him which was a proud moment for Martin as Larry was one of his favorite artists. As for the album it is a really good album and I can’t help but with some good distribution it might have been known to more of you reading this. It has a pretty good pop rock feel and the lead track sets the album up perfectly. Martin continues to make great music and you can visit his YouTube channel below
Tracklist 1 – Scapegoat Song – 2:20 2 – Who Will Tell Them – 4:19 3 – On And On – 3:55 4 – Line Of Vision – 4:09 5 – Their Own Bible – 4:00 6 – In The Future – 4:01 7 – Counterfeit Christian – 3:39 8 – In Loving Memory – 4:36 9 – Friends Like You – 4:25
Credits Cover – James Clow Engineer – David Musial, Yuri Jorbachow Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer, Engineer – Martin Barret Producer, Arranged By, Mastered By – René Brossard
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Boss Productions Recorded At – Trackmaster Audio Recorded At – Master’s Workshop
This is Gary’s 3rd album and my personal favourite. While his wife at the time, Amy Grant, was with Myrrh Records, Gary cut this album for Reunion Records. Reunion was trying to turn it up a notch at this point in history and this album was a huge help. This album showed a rockier side of Gary and there are some great pop tracks on this album. The album is still a little heavy on the ballad’s but this is Gary Chapman so he’s forgiven. Ballad’s after all were his cash cow. “I Love That Girl”, written by Randy Stonehill, could have easily singled on commercial radio but unfortunately Gary didn’t have the crossover success of his wife. I should also point out that this is a prime example of why you don’t ever put out a song with your girls name in it because like the internet, music is forever and you’re stuck with it for life. All joking aside that song is begging for a country cover as I think it has top 20 written all over it. Anyway if you avoided this on back in the 80’s like I did give it a listen now, it’s pretty good.
Tracklist 1 – Everyday Man – 3:33 2 – When Where Together (Love’s So Strong) – 3:42 3 – Love History – 4:55 4 – Breakin’ Hearts – 4:47 5 – Love Like Blood – 4:09 6 – Around The World – 3:52 7 – The Hurt Is Worth The Chance – 3:52 8 – Love That Girl – 4:41 9 – Cecil, (Life Goes On) – 6:09 10 – Your Love Stays With Me – 3:07
Credits Art Direction – Bill Brunt, Mary Hamilton Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Amy Grant, Chris Harris, Gary Chapman, Ricky Skaggs, Wayne Kirkpatrick Bass – Mike Brignardello Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Kimberly Smith, Steve Lindsey Drums, Percussion – Keith Edwards Engineer [Assistant] – Ben Williams, Billy Whittington, Carey Summers, Dave Parker, Jean Kinney, Jeff Coppadge, Keith Odle, Michael Koreiba Executive-Producer – Dan Harrell, Michael Blanton Guitar [Guitars] – Jerry McPherson Guitar [Guitars], Pedal Steel Guitar – Gary Chapman Keyboards – Michael W. Smith, Phil Naish, Shane Keister Mandolin – Mark O’Connor Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Mixed By – Brent King, Frank Filipetti, Jeff Balding Overdubbed By [Overdubs Recorded By] – Brent King, Gene Eichelberger, James Baird, Jeff Balding, Joe Scaife Percussion [Additional] – Terry McMillan Photography By – Chuck Kuhn Producer – Brown Bannister, Gary Chapman, Mark Wright Recorded By – Gene Eichelberger, Jeff Balding, Joe Scaife Stylist – Mary Beth Felts Written-By – Gary Chapman
Yet another The Lonely Now album that sounds like it was recorded on a potato. Again we have done everything we can to improve the sound and I think we did pretty good on this one. This is their second album and it pretty well picks up where their first album left off. Again we have a strong new wave album but maybe a little more goth oriented this time. Think The Cure. Here is another album that I obviously missed out on in the 80’s. Independently released albums from California never quite made their way to rural Canada. I really wish i had heard these guys because this was my favourite style of music in the mid 80’s. My favourite track is probably “The Few” which has an early U2 musical sound with an Ultravox vocal style and just hits it right. I’ll say it now, this album will likely end up being in my top 50 from the 80’s.
Tracklist 1 – Original Intentions – 3:28 2 – Fall Again – 5:00 3 – If I Could – 2:47 4 – Tomorrow Is Today – 4:30 5 – Sanctuary Lasts – 3:20 6 – The Few – 3:42 7 – Have You Seen – 3:34 8 – Make It Happen – 3:35
Credits Engineer – Fred Eichel Photography – Lee Schugar Producer – The Lonely Now Vocals, Bass Guitar – Phil Watson Vocals, Drums – Kevin Reimer Vocals, Guitar – Greg Sostrom Vocals, Guitar, Violin – Masaki Liu Written-By – Greg Sostrom
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Narrowpath Records Designed At – Klein Graphics and Communications
In 1987 Cross self released this demo album. 1987 was a big year in Christian metal and many bands appeared on the scene. Cross unfortunately was pretty short lived as they broke up the following year so this is all we got from them. The album is very Guitar heavy and borders on thrash occasionally. As far as metal goes it’s okay I guess. Nothing here really stood out to me but poor production didn’t help the situation much. However the people who enjoy this genre will likely enjoy this one. In 2006 Steel Legacy Records rereleased the album on CD and vinyl along with 3 very very poorly recorded live tracks. As they are so poor we chose not to release them.
Tracklist 1 – Sign Of The Cross (Instrumental) – 4:46 2 – Metal From Above – 8:01 3 – The Final Journey – 10:35 4 – Deliverance – 4:35 5 – The Ascension – 6:16
Credits Bass – Mike Cano Drums – Steve Cano Guitar – Henry Chavez, Tommy Salas Lead Vocals – James Sanchez
