Tag: 1988

Prism – Green – 1988

Usually I bash Chris Harris and Mark Heimermann and their Prism projects but not this time. As I’ve been processing CCM artist’s Christmas albums this week more and more of them sounded like the record company recorded a bunch of Christmas carol arrangements and then invited a CCM artist in to sing them. None of these albums had a feel of the artist and quite frankly the arrangements sound like any album I could buy at Walmart for 99¢ in December. But not this album. Chris and Mark actually sat down and wrote some excellent arrangements for these tracks and did some great vocals. I have no idea who else was involved with this project but it is great as far as Christmas albums go. Many of these tracks will go on my Christmas playlist this year.

1 – Joy To The World – 3:41
2 – O Holy Night – 4:05
3 – Snowdrift / Silent Night – 5:09
4 – White Christmas – 4:22
5 – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – 2:01
6 – Away In A Manager – 4:33
7 – O Come All Ye Faithful – 4:52
8 – The First Noel – 3:25
9 – Angels We Have Heard On High – 3:16
10 – Only Love (Will Last Forever) – 4:09

Prism – Red – 1988

This is the final album in the Prism series. I’ll be honest I still don’t understand what the project was really all about. Again there are children on the cover of the album that have nothing to do with the album. I truly believe the original idea was Kidz Bop idea but in the end it just turned into Chris Harris and Mark Heimermann doing an album. I actually find it a bit disingenuous to have a bunch of kids on the album cover when they have nothing to do with the album. Very strange. Now that aside these were a series of very successful albums because they are very good. These guys knew how to make music and I am totally baffled at why they didn’t want to do it using their own names. Thy did have First Call do the track “If You’re Happy And You Know It”. Bottom line is I really like the whole project, the results were fantastic I’m just not sure the path they took to get there.

Tracklist
1 – Amazing Grace – 3:37
2 – Kum-Ba-Yah – 4:49
3 – He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands – 4:54
4 – If You’re Happy And You Know It/I’m Happy Today – 2:25
5 – Love Him In The Morning – 3:39
6 – Seek Ye First – 3:15
7 – Sure Shot – 3:48
8 – Count Your Many Blessings/Can You Count The Stars – 3:01
9 – Big Enough – 3:43
10 – The Lord Bless You And Keep You – 2:03

Steve Forbert – Streets Of This Town – 1988

This is an interesting album that swirled just outside the periphery of Christian music in the late 80’s. We carried it at Maranatha Village and several Christian music publications positively reviewed it and ran stories on Forbert. A brilliant singer/songwriter, Steve Forbert started his lengthy career in the late 70’s recording his only real radio hit, “Romeo Tune” on his second release in 1979, “Jackrabbit Slim.” (Highly recommend) But with “Streets of this Town,” The Christian market began to take notice. Songs like “Hope, Faith and Love,” “As We Live and Breathe” and “Search Your Heart” seemed to deal honestly with spiritual ideas and faith questions. One song from this album was covered by a pretty major CCM artist at the time (bonus points if you know the artist and song). Forberts easy going Americana Rock style is immediately likeable and would appeal to fans of John Hiatt, Jackson Browne, Julie Miller, etc.

Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Running On Love – 3:32
2 – Don’t Tell Me (I Know) – 3:33
3 – I Blinked Once – 4:45
4 – Mexico – 3:30
5 – As We Live And Breathe – 3:18
6 – On The Streets Of This Town – 3:39
7 – Hope, Faith And Love – 3:41
8 – Perfect Stranger – 3:33
9 – Wait A Little Longer – 3:45
10 – Search Your Heart – 4:38

Credits
Bass – Danny Counts
Coordinator – Tom Zutaut
Design – Jeff Morris
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Bobby Lloyd Hicks
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Paul Errico
Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals – Clay Barnes
Management – Praxis International
Mastered By – George Marino
Mixed By – Michael Frondelli
Mixed By [Assisted] – Gary Solomon
Photography By – Jeff Morris, Lee Thomas
Producer – Garry Tallent
Recorded By – Jan Topoleski
Songwriter [All Songs] – Steve Forbert
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica – Steve Forbert

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – The David Geffen Company
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The David Geffen Company
Manufactured By – Columbia House
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Recorded At – Shorefire Recording Studios
Mixed At – Power Station
Mixed At – The Hit Factory
Mixed At – Shorefire Recording Studios
Licensed To – Columbia House

The Predators – Offensive – 1988

This is the final album from The Predators (they did come back together in 2011 for a modern release). It was self released and only available on Cassette as far as I can tell. By this album all that was left from the original band was drummer Francis Johnson and of course lead vocalist Kevin Smith. This album drifts away from their new wave pop sound to pretty strait up AOR pop album. At the urging of Kevin Smith’s daughter the band came back together in Sept. 2008 and had a private night of playing their oldies. Subsequently a version of the band did come back together to record a new album which was independently released in 2011. I look forward to giving it a listen but today I’m going to give this album another listen. If you want to read a definitive interview with the band head over to https://downthelinezine.com/archives/the-predators/

Tracklist
1 – Your World – 3:57
2 – No Connection – 3:03
3 – Fallen Angel – 4:07
4 – Nothing At All – 3:05
5 – Built On Sand – 6:27
6 – Love You To Death – 3:23
7 – Dead On Arrival – 3:56
8 – Lies (The Human Jungle) – 5:05
9 – Don’t Laugh At Me Now – 4:08
10 – Rescue Me – 4:17

Credits
Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer – Andy Rayner
Drums, Percussion – Francis Johnson
Engineer – Lol Cooper
Guitar – Paul Truswell
Lead Vocals, Percussion – Kevin Smith

4•4•1 – Sacrifice – 1988

There is kind of an interesting story behind this album. The band actually split in 1987 but John McNamara and Glenn Holland continued writing material. With the blessing of the departed members they came to an agreement with Ojo Taylor and Gene Eugene at Broken Records for a third album. Gene Eugene produced (assisted), mixed, and engineered the album. The new version of the band even did a small tour with Glenn’s brother Kenny on drums and John Gaudesi on guitar. As for the album well quite frankly it just isn’t the original version of the band. I did not know about all the personnel changes in the band before I listened to the album and thought it just didn’t sound right and after some research I discovered why. Really this album should be evaluated as a stand alone group. It’s a lot darker then their previous work but is a solid new wave album. I think it should definitely be given a listen but remember your listening to a very modified version of the band.

Tracklist
1 – Judas Kisses – 4:48
2 – Oh No – 4:33
3 – Push (These Walls Down) – 3:59
4 – Sacrifice – 3:58
5 – Beautiful Places – 3:10
6 – This Is Love – 3:16
7 – Death Of Innocence – 4:31
8 – Pray For Rain – 4:50
9 – Don’t Make Me Cry – 3:40
10 – What Am I To Do? – 3:20
11 – Standing On The Edge – 4:44
12 – Push (Reprise) – 1:39
13 – Untitled Hidden Track – 0:30

Credits
Arranged By [Additional Arrangement Ideas] – Gene Eugene
Art Direction, Design – Norman Fog
Bass, Keyboards – Glenn Holland
Drums – Kenny Holland
Mastered By – John Matousek
Photography By – Brian Ray
Producer [Produced By] – Gene Eugene, Glenn Holland, John McNamara
Recorded By [Additional Recording By] – Dave Hackbarth
Recorded By, Mixed By – Gene Eugene, Glenn Holland
Songwriter [All Songs Written By], Arranged By [All Songs Arranged By] – Glenn Holland, John McNamara
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – John McNamara

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Brainstorm Artists International Inc.
Copyright © – Brainstorm Artists International Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word Records Limited
Recorded At – Neverland
Mixed At – Neverland
Mastered At – Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios
Published By – Brainstorm Artists
Published By – Leisure Boys Music
Published By – Maranatha! Music

Whitecross – Love On The Line – 1988

Whitecross released this EP shortly after releasing their first album. I’m not entirely sure what the strategy was here as 2 of the tracks from this EP are actually on that first album. If I had to guess I think they probably wanted this to be released before their first album but something went wrong along the way and it was delayed but that is strictly a guess. As I said the album contained 2 tracks from their first album the other 2 tracks wouldn’t appear on an album until much later. Anyway this must have been a treat for Whitecross fans and with 2 unreleased tracks it must have been a must own. Interestingly it was only released on vinyl and cassette with the same four tracks simply repeated on the flip side.

Tracklist
1 – Love On The Line – 6:00
2 – I Believe – 3:52
3 – No Way I’m Going Down – 4:12
4 – Enough Is Enough – 4:04

Credits
Bass – Jon Sproule
Drums – Mark Hedl
Engineer – Dan Rudin
Executive Producer – Gavin Morkel
Guitar – Rex Carroll
Producer – Rex Carroll
Vocals – Scott Wenzel

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Grand Slam Studios

Bruce Carroll – Richest Man In Town – 1988

This was Bruce’s second album and wow was it a success. His first album was passed over by most people but this album got noticed. It had 4 top 40 hits with “Above And Beyond” making it to #4 and “Driving Nails” making it to #11 as well as two other hits at #24 and #31. It was produced by Bubba Smith who really nailed this album. The album is an AOR genre style but there are a few tracks that lean more towards Rock. I’m actually a little surprised how well it did. I’m not saying it’s not good, it’s just that like I said it has a couple Rock tracks and we know that the CCM chart people usually shied away from albums like this. But all that aside this is an excellent album and I really enjoyed it. There’s at least 2 tracks that will be making it into my regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Cross Your Heart – 2:24
2 – Above And Beyond – 3:13
3 – When He Reigns He Pours – 3:20
4 – Fight To Be Weak – 3:00
5 – The Richest Man In Town – 3:42
6 – Only You – 3:29
7 – Song For You – 3:41
8 – It Is Finished – 3:11
9 – He’s Always There – 4:09
10 – Forget It – 3:44
11 – Something Good Is Bound To Happen – 3:47
12 – Let Go Let God – 2:53
13 – Driving Nails – 3:36

Credits
Bruce Carroll – Songwriter, Vocals
Russ Barenburg – Guitars
Phil Barnhart – Songwriter
Eddie Bayers – Drums
Mark Casstevens – Guitars
Mark Douthit – EWI
Stuart Duncan – Fiddle
Terri Gibbs – Songwriter
Carl Gorodetzky – Strings
Lloyd Green – Steel Guitar
Buddy Greene – Songwriter, Harmonica
Chris Harris – Background Vocals
Mark Heimermann – Background Vocals
Gary Janney – Background Vocals
Bill Kenner – Mandolin
Brent King – Mixed
Barbara Kinnamon – Songwriter
Bruce Koblish – String Arranger
Bob Krusen – Engineer
Larrie Londin – Drums
Phil Madeira – B-3 Organ
Kenny Malone – Drums, Percussion, Tambourine
John Mays – Executive Producer
Jerry McPherson – Guitars
Duncan Mullins – Bass
Nashville String Machine – Strings
Maura O’Connell – Harmony Vocals
Paul Overstreet – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Don Potter – Guitars
Kelly Pribble – Engineer
Gary Prim – Keyboards
Matt Rollings – Piano
Brent Rowan – Guitars
Jerry Salley – Songwriter
Bubba Smith – Producer, Castanets, Claves, Tambourine
Paul Smith – Songwriter
Bob Souerv – Songwriter

Legacy – Legacy – 1988

This may actually be the best Metal band that never got a record deal. Hear me out on this one. They appeared on two Metal compilations, Heavy Righteous Metal,Chapter II and Brave New Music. They opened for Rez Band, Shout, Sacred Warrior, Mylon LeFevre and Allies. They also took second place in the new talent stage at Cornerstone 1989 and won the battle of the bands competition at metal club Alrosa Villa in the winter of 1989. These guys were hugely popular yet a record deal evaded them. They recorded 14 tracks for this demo but only 6 tracks made it and of course it’s almost impossible to find this demo now. That said Eonian Records stepped up in 2010 released all 14 demo tracks on CD. It took 20 years but the guys finally got their music out there.

Tracklist
1 – Salvation Is Law – 4:44
2 – Live It – 4:04
3 – Don’t Run Away – 3:13
4 – Change Of A Broken Heart – 2:54
5 – You Need Love – 4:22
6 – Red, White, And Blue – 5:57

Credits
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – John D. Rice
Drums, Percussion [Other Rude Noises] – “Jungle” John Jenkins
Engineer, Producer – Brian Strittenberger
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Fred Blanchard, Matt Rice
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Doug Meacham
Piano, Keyboards – Jeff Koenig

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – The Recording Workshop Studio

The Alarm – Electric Folklore Live – 1988/2000

This album was released in 1988 as a 6 song live EP recorded at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston on April 26, 1988. There had been a lag in the bands popularity so some record executive though the answer would be a live EP. I don’t quite understand why they didn’t just release a full length concert album but more on that later. The EP did not have any of their early hits and had songs that the public were probably less familiar with. Strangely a 2000 re-release had 14 tracks from the concert. Re-issues before and after this one are only the 6 original tracks. We have uploaded the full 14 track version for you to enjoy here. Live is where The Alarm really shined and while the album did not do that well I think it is some of their best work.

Tracklist
1 – Strength – 6:41
2 – Knife Edge – 4:54
3 – Newtown Jericho – 5:17
4 – Permanence In Change -5:08
5 – Dawn Chorus – 6:48
6 – Blaze Of Glory – 5:02
7 – Bound For Glory – 3:23
8 – Hallowed Ground – 3:52
9 – One Step Closer To Home – 5:34
10 – Shelter – 3:30
11 – Rain In The Summertime – 6:05
12 – Rescue Me – 8:35
13 – Spirit Of ’76 – 8:42
14 – We Are The Light – 3:44

Credits
Art Direction – Nick Egan
Bass – Eddie MacDonald
Design – Tracy Veal
Drums – Nigel Twist
Guitar – Dave Sharp
Keyboards – Mark Taylor
Mixed By, Engineer – Elliot Scheiner
Photography By – Cary Lander, Ebet Roberts
Producer – Gary Katz
Vocals – Mike Peters

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – International Record Syndicate, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – I.R.S. Records
Copyright © – I.R.S. Records
Manufactured By – Cinram
Manufactured For – MCA Records Canada
Distributed By – MCA Records Canada
Marketed By – MCA Records Canada
Recorded At – Wang Center For The Performing Arts
Mixed At – Sorcerer Sound
Mastered At – MCA Pressing Plant, Gloversville
Pressed By – Cinram

Lost & Found – Welcome To The Real World-1988

Yet again I have found an album where I can’t find any info on the band. IN this case it even stranger than usual because the album was re-released in 2009 with bonus tracks but the company that re-released it, RetroCross Records, doesn’t appear to know anything about the band either. Anyway so we know nothing about the band or any of it;s members but here’s what I do know. This is a really good album. The cover looks metal but this is actually a Pop album which leans New Wave at times and Rock and Roll at other times. It lacks a consistent sound but because it’s so well done that’s irrelevant. The albums producer doesn’t appear to have ever produced an album other than this one so kudos to him for doing such a great job. This one is a must listen to.

Tracklist
1 – Welcome To The Real World – 4:35
2 – Going All The Way – 4:38
3 – Hear Me – 4:34
4 – Make It Real – 4:35
5 – Wait Of The World – 6:04
6 – I’m So Glad – 4:23
7 – How Long? – 5:05
8 – Never Alone – 4:53
9 – Smoke Screen – 4:17
10 – All The World – 5:52

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Greg Hudson
Drums – Alison Cate
Guitar [Additional] – Butch Price
Guitar, Vocals – Larry Trainor
Guitar, Vocals, Cover, Design, Artwork By – Ted Hoehne
Lead Vocals – Scott Walters
Photography By – Jim Dalool
Producer, Arranged By, Engineer, Mixed By – Bill Pearson
Vocals, Keyboards – Brian Mercer

Companies, etc.
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia