Will McFarlane self released his 3rd album though his previous label Refuge Records did take care of distribution. Because it was self released it was virtually guaranteed not to have a charting single. This is too bad because the album definitely had a couple tracks that could have singled. It has a bit of an Imperials sound and feel. The album is not my preferred genre but I actually quite liked the album. If you missed this one in the 80’s you should give it a listen now.
Tracklist 1 – I Can Depend On You – 3:44 2 – Can’t Go Back – 5:07 3 – Who Can Separate Us – 3:54 4 – The End Of Me – 5:44 5 – Only The Heart – 3:45 6 – Don’t Be Fooled – 5:33 7 – Come Unto Me – 5:24 8 – Blessed Jesus – 5:35
Illustrator appears to be a new version of Eternity Express. Nathan Gaub, Dan Gaub, Mark Matthews,Kirk Allen are all from Eternity Express and this version is joined by Dawndee Gaub. I’ll be honest that there is a pretty different sound here than Eternity Express. The album is much more pop oriented and quite frankly much better than the previous Eternity Express album. One last point is that neither this version or the original Eternity Express ever had a charting single on the CCM charts. How is that even possible?
Tracklist 1 – Lonely Hearts For Sale – 4:21 2 – Love’s Not Your Enemy – 4:15 3 – Hidden Pain – 4:04 4 – Let It Go – 3:20 5 – Out Of Time – 3:28 6 – Don’t Change Your Heart – 4:46 7 – Gina – 4:37 8 – Holding On – 4:25 9 – End Of The Line – 4:53
Credits Drums, Percussion [Electronic] – Kirk Allen Engineer – Steven Ford, Wes McGuire Engineer [Additional Assistance] – Mike Buster Mixed By – Win Kutz Producer – Illustrator Vocals, Bass Guitar, Keyboards – Mark Matthews Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion – Dan Gaub Vocals, Keyboards – Dawndee Gaub Vocals, Keyboards, Programmed By [Synth & Computer] – Nathan Gaub
This is the offering from Harvest for 1987. Having now listened to a few Harvest albums at this point I think this might be one of their best. It has the best production of all I have heard so far and actually it’s one of the better produced albums I’ve heard. It was produced by band member Jerry Williams who really didn’t have any significant experience at the job but he nailed it on this day. As for the album it is a solid Easy Listening Pop album that’s actually quite good. Again this is not my preferred style of music but I’ll admit I enjoyed this album though there’s not a track that’ll go in my regular rotation.
Tracklist 1 – Rise Up – 3:12 2 – All That Is In Me – 3:40 3 – Soon That Day – 4:02 4 – His Angels Are Everywhere – 4:08 5 – You Are My Keeper – 3:58 6 – Give Them Back – 2:51 7 – What Are You Singing For – 6:02 8 – I Am Your Father – 3:52 9 – Wash Me, Lord – 3:56 10 – Great Jehovah – 3:46
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Larry Rolando Arranged By [Vocals] – Harvest Art Direction, Design – Bill Barnes Backing Vocals – Debbie Lee, Ed Kerr, Eric Tagg, Janie Cruse Stone, Jerry Williams, Karen Cruse Adams, LaDonna Johnson, Ronnie Ricks, Tim Johnson Bass – Leon Gaer Design – Deb Mahalanobis Drums – Jack Kelly Electric Guitar – Michael Thompson Graphics – Barnes & Company Keyboards, Programmed By, Arranged By [Vocals], Arranged By – John Andrew Schreiner Percussion – Charles Barnett Photography By – Matthew Barnes Piano [Acoustic] – Ed Kerr Producer – Jerry Williams Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Gary Leach Recorded By, Mixed By – Greg Hunt
After the demise of his two previous bands (Sea Stone and Intransit) Simon Law started up Fresh Claim and this is their first album. The name of the band came from a counter at the local unemployment office with the designation “Fresh Claims”. Simon has also established Plankton records which was originally just his own label to release his first band Sea Stone but developed into a full fledged record label. The album is often labelled as alternative but personally I find it to be more New Wave. At times I get a “The Keep” feel from a few tracks but I’m pretty sure this is coincidental as The Keep were only released in Canada and Fresh Claim were from the UK. This is another one I missed in the 80’s and really wish I had heard back then because I absolutely love it.
Tracklist 1 – Strong Enough To See – 3:06 2 – There’s Someone Loving You – 2:54 3 – Sunday Morning Dawn – 4:50 4 – Yesterday’s Hero (Is Tomorrow’s Fool) – 2:51 5 – Enough Is Enough – 3:31 6 – Visions Never Sleep – 3:50
Credits Bass, Vocals – Derek Llewellyn Composed By – Derek Llewellyn, Simon Law Design, Keyboards – Mags Law Drums – Ali Byworth Engineer, Producer – Nigel “Chopper” Palmer Guitar, Vocals – Simon Law
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Scarf Studios Duplicated By – Selecta Sound
This album was presented to me as a metal album but quite frankly after listening to it about 3 ties I just don’t get a metal feeling from it. Instead what I’m hearing is a great southern Rock album. There are some ZZ Top feelings and quite frankly some Rez feelings. Bottom line what we have here is a fantastic bluesy hard Rock album that deserved a much larger audience. My only complaint is that the production is not the best. I read the album was produced on a tight budget and you can tell. The talent of the band is very high so it still balances out that this is a great album and a must have in your CCM collection.
Tracklist 1 – We Are The Saints – 3:03 2 – Saint’s Boogie – 3:53 3 – Code Name: Jesus – 3:23 4 – One In One-Hundred – 6:06 5 – Don’t Knock The Rock – 4:01 6 – Talkin’ bout Love – 5:26 7 – Jehovah Jirah – 3:26 8 – Prisoner Of Love – 2:59
Credits Backing Vocals – Kathy Jameson, Maureen Kelly Bass Guitar – Ken Kane Cover – Ken Roberts Drums – John Tinker Engineer – James Saad Keyboards – Ralph Clayton Lead Guitar – Steve Olsen Photography By – Glenn Emery Brim Producer – Ken Roberts Vocals – Steve Olsen
Recorded at The Civic Theatre, Des Moines, Iowa and The Civic Center Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia here’s probably Micheal W. Smiths best album. That said I always love live albums and Michael definitely turned it up a notch when appearing live. I don’t really care for his albums as they are a little too mellow for me but this album I have been listening to.
Tracklist 1 – Nothin’ But The Blood – 3:38 2 – Lamu – 8:27 3 – You’re Alright – 4:39 4 – Could He Be The Messiah – 5:02 5 – Rocketown – 6:13 6 – Emily – 3:45 7 – I Know – 4:23 8 – Friends – 3:59 9 – Old Enough To Know – 5:57 10 – Pursuit Of The Dream – 6:01 11 – Be Strong And Courageous – 4:15 12 – You Need A Savior – 6:24
Credits Art Direction, Design – Heather Brown Artwork By [Cover Painting] – Robert Meecham Bass – Chris Harris Drums – David Huff Edited By [Audio Sweetening] – Blaine Stewart Engineer [Claire House] – Bob Weibel Engineer [Monitor] – Keith Carroll Executive Producer – Dan Harrell, Jeff Moseley, Michael Blanton Guitar – Chris Rodriguez, Wayne Kirkpatrick Keyboards – Mark Heimermann, Michael W. Smith Mastered By – Glenn Meadows Photography – Tim Campbell Producer – Michael W. Smith Production Manager, Engineer [House Sound], Engineer – Chris Taylor Recorded By [Location Audio Reel Sound Recorders], Engineer [Additional Audio Engineered By] – Malcolm Harper
Companies, etc. Manufactured By – BMG Music Distributed By – BMG Music
Paul’s first solo album after leaving the Imperials was a big hit so Dayspring Records went for round 2 with this one. They must a thrown a lot of money at this album as the credit list is huge. Alas from what I have read this album did not do as well as his previous one. I’m kind of disappointed with that as I think this album is easily just as good but I wouldn’t say it’s better. This is solid pop album and while his last release was a little more AOR oriented I think this one should have done better with a more youthful audience. While there are a few too many ballads for my taste they are well done and are solid tracks.
Tracklist 1 – Faithful – 4:02 2 – Dancing Too Close – 4:20 3 – Walls – 5:07 4 – The Right Thing – 4:00 5 – I Will Be There For You – 4:51 6 – Something Better – 4:39 7 – Cantabile – 4:24 8 – Celebration (I Wanna Be There) – 5:20 9 – When Love Comes Home – 4:44
Credits Jeff Balding – Engineer, Mixed Deanna Cabaniss – Background Vocals Claire Cloninger – Songwriter Billy Crockett – Songwriter Bill Deaton – Engineer Mark Douthit – Sax Michael English – Background Vocals Bob Farrell – Songwriter Kim Fleming – Background Vocals Mark Hammond – Drum Programming Richard Headen – Engineer Deanna Hemby – Spoken Vocals Tom Hemby – Producer, Songwriter, Arrangements, Mandolin, Drum Programming, Guitars, Background Vocals JB Baird – Engineer, Mixed Neal Joseph – Executive Producer Wayne Kirkpatrick – Songwriter Phil Kristianson – Piano, Organ Gary Lunn – Bass, Drum Programming Phil Madeira – Additional Synthesizers David Martin – Songwriter Donna McElroy – Background Vocals Phil Naish – Synthesizers Brett Perry – Songwriter Kelly Raglin – Spoken Vocals Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals Jimmie Lee Sloas – Background Vocals Paul Smith – Songwriter, Vocals, Background Vocals Keith Thomas – Producer, Songwriter, Arrangements, Synthesizers, Drum Programming Tricia Walker – Songwriter Marcia Wells – Background Vocals Bill Whittington – Engineer, Mixed Hank Williams – Mastered Kenny Wood – Songwriter
Urgent Cry were a band out of Vandalia, Ohio. They released 2 demos but were never signed by a label. This is their first demo and it’s pretty good. It has a nice pop rock sound and is musically sound. Unfortunately the vocals are a bit weak. I think the vocal skills were there but Steven just needed a little guidance. This is a good example of the difference a good producer could have made. While the engineering was actually very good I think they needed a producer to pull it all together. One thing I really like that this band did was to release their demo cassette with all 4 tracks on each side. This means the cassette would last twice as long. Given the quality of these bulk cassettes I really liked it when bands did this.
Tracklist 1 – Cry In The Wilderness – 3:57 2 – Unexpected – 3:48 3 – Christ Is The Answer – 3:51 4 – No Pantomime – 4:06
Credits Darryl Gibson – Drums, acoustic guitar Kevin Landon – Bass, keyboards Bill Kuhn – Lead Guitar Steven Mikel – Lead vocals, flute
This is Crystal’s first solo album. She had previously appeared on albums with the Lifters/Wild Blue Yonder. She was offered this album deal at only 17 years old. It’s a pretty good album though I think it’s a little heavy on the keyboards on a few tracks. That synth pop sound doesn’t really work with her voice in my opinion. The track “Breakdown” best suits her vocals in my opinion. That said her vocals are so good she overcomes some questionable music to make a pretty darn good album. Crystal was one of CCM’s greatest vocalists but never got the recognition she deserved from the industry.
Tracklist 1 – Frustrated – 3:34 2 – Precious Lord – 3:37 3 – Without You – 4:21 4 – Runnin’ – 4:34 5 – Turn Your Heart Around – 3:33 6 – Breakdown – 3:53 7 – One More Heart – 3:46 8 – Special Love – 3:57 9 – Let Them Know – 4:15 10 – Tonight – 4:06
Credits Backing Vocals – Brian Tong, Dave Jahnsen, Michael Campion, Mike Mac Lane, Paul Daldwell Drums – Pete Pfiefer Engineer [Mixing] – Dave Jahnsen Guitar – Bob Somm, Terence Elliot Keyboards – Tim Heintz Producer, Vocals, Backing Vocals, Engineer – Bill Baumgart Saxophone – Eric Marienthal Vocals – Billy Hufsey Vocals, Backing Vocals – Crystal Lewis
You may be familiar with the Compassion All Star Band album 1 By 1 Live! released in 1989 but somewhere on the interwebs is this 1987 recording using the same name. To be clear the “Compassion All-Star Band” wasn’t a set group. It was the name used when several artists would come together to raise funds for Compassion International. I have no idea where this was released but it was recorded in 1987 at Cornerstone. This album mostly consisted of secular tracks which is what made it very appealing to me. My favourite track is Rick Cua & Randy Stonehill’s version of I Still Believe which features some excellent guitar work by Phil Keaggy. Also cool is the Phil Madeira & Randy Stonehill cover of Dylan’s “Forever Young”.
Tracklist 1 – October (Glen Kaiser) – 1:14 2 – Eminence Front (Phil Madeira) – 7:14 3 – We Can Work It Out (Phil Keaggy/Randy Stonehill) – 2:51 4 – Presence Of The Lord (Glen Kaiser) – 4:46 5 – Rick Cua Rap – 2:14 6 – I Still Believe (Rick Cua/Randy Stonehill) – 6:07 7 – Randy Stonehill Rap – 10:25 8 – Who Will Save The Children (Randy Stonehill/Phil Keaggy) – 6:45 9 – Help (Randy Stonehill/Phil Keaggy) – 2:20 10 – Phil Madeira Rap – 2:19 11 – Forever Young (Phil Madeira/Randy Stonehill) – 6:03 12 – Darrell Mansfield Intro – 1:31 13 – Walkin’ Chicago Blues (Darrell Mansfield) – 9:43
Credits Phil Keaggy- Guitar, Vocals Randy Stonehill- Guitar, Vocals Glen Kaiser- Guitar, Vocals Joe English- Drums, Vocals Rick Cua- Bass, Vocals Phil Madeira- Keys, Vocals Darrell Mansfield- harmonica, Vocals
