This is the second and last album from Street Angel. It is a little less U2ish than their first album but I think I preferred their first album. Strangely the band seems to consist of only one member, Bill Romansky. He had an album out in 1979 using his name but this is all I can find out about him so for this album we’re just gonna have to enjoy the music.
Tracklist 1 – Sinsad – 5:16 2 – Love Will Set You Free – 2:56 3 – Sun Don’t Shine – 5:13 4 – Better Off Today – 3:51 5 – Heart Of Hearts – 4:45 6 – Newland – 3:33 7 – King Of Rock And Roll – 2:35 8 – Breathe On Me – 2:34 9 – God Is Not – 6:46
Credits Executive-Producer – Armand Pirollo Guest – Michaux Cocoon Performer – Bill Romansky Producer – Street Angel
Companies, etc. Distributed By – Spectra Distribution, Inc.
As I tried to read up on Larry online I was a bit surprised how little I could find about his Christian years. His bio’s are focused on his time with Grinderswitch but he had a very successful CCM career also. Oh well anyway this is Larry’s second solo album and it’s even better than his first album that was great in itself. Larry turns up the big band sound for this blues oriented album. The band he put together for the album are mostly little known artists with the exception of keyboard player Kenny Smith who had a relatively successful solo career. Anyway if you love the blues you will love this album as it’s one of the best CCM blues albums ever.
Tracklist 1 – Nobody But You – 2:45 2 – Carry Your Brother – 3:54 3 – It’s Only You – 4:43 4 – Shout! – 3:19 5 – Connecting Roads – 3:18 6 – Prisoner Of The Lord – 3:08 7 – Fire – 4:15 8 – (Tell It) Goodbye – 3:55 9 – Don’t Turn Away – 3:25 10 – A Road Leading Home – 5:44
Credits Arranged By [Background Vocal Arrangements] – Donnie Harper Arranged By [Horn Arrangements] – Larry Brubaker Backing Vocals – Carlet Williams, Elnora Williams, Karen Williams Bass Guitar – Slim Powell Design [Album Graphics] – Michael Pierce Drums – Clarence V. Roddie Engineer [Assistant] – Daniel Rudin Mastered By – Benny Quinn Percussion – Emedin Riveria Photography By – Ashlin Brelin Piano, Organ, Synthesizer – Kenny Smith Producer – Gary F. Montgomery Producer, Vocals, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Larry Howard Recorded By, Mixed By, Producer – Tad Bush Tenor Saxophone – Sonny Brown Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Bill Harris Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Rob Debellis
The Queen of CCM Pop is back with her second album. Now I know a few of you are shouting that Amy Grant was the Queen but let’s face it, Amy didn’t do Pop. You can’t even classify her as AOR, she was easy listening that’s it. Kim on the other hand embraced the Female Pop sound of the 80’s and this album is proof. I will say that the album opens with a rather odd track. It’s a Pop cover of Rare earth’s “I Just Want To Celebrate” and well, it’s different. Of all the 70’s songs I would have “Popped” up I doubt I would have chosen this one. I still haven’t decided if I like it or not. I didn’t like the original song so maybe that’s causing my confusion. Strangely this track also made it to #2 on the CCM charts. Given the rather internal politics of the CCM charts I find this odd. Speaking of the charts this album also had two more top 10 hits, “You Can Be Mine” and “You’re Always There”. It had two more singles that didn’t break the top 10, “Not For Me” made it to #15 and “Lovin’ You” made it to #37. So in total the album had 5 charting singles which is pretty darn good. The added bonus is that you can listen to the album without falling asleep, pretty rare for a CCM album with this many charting singles.
Tracklist 1 – I Just Want To Celebrate – 3:35 2 – Not For Me – 4:05 3 – You Can Be Mine – 4:43 4 – Say It – 3:34 5 – Lovin’ You – 4:24 6 – Save Me – 4:42 7 – Lonely Man – 4:23 8 – Stop Fighting – 5:08 9 – You’re Always There – 4:00
Credits Susie Allenson – Songwriter Kim Boyce – Vocals, Backing Vocals, Songwriter Spencer Campbell – Bass George Cocchini – Guitar, Songwriter, Arranger Trent Dean – Songwriter, Arranger, Drum Programming Dino Fekaris – Songwriter James Hollihan – Songwriter, Arranger, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Guitar Chris Rodriguez – Backing Vocals John Andrew Schreiner – Keyboards, Bass, Arranger Jimmie Lee Sloas – Backing Vocals, Songwriter, Electric Piano, Bass, Duet Vocals, Drum Programming Brian Tankersley – Producer, Arranger, Keyboards, Bass, Drum Programming, Backing Vocals, Songwriter, Guitar Kirk Whalum – Sax Nick Zesses – Songwriter David Zycheck – Guitar
I know nothing about this band. Nothing! Except I love every single song. I have no idea when I acquired this cassette as it was never released in the United States. It was imported from the UK and what little I have been able to discover about the band is that they hailed from Glasgow, Scotland. When one things of pop/new wave from the 1980’s, the musical styling of Gogo Street is exactly what they think of. Ranging from keyboard driven soulful new wave akin to General Public and to anthemic dance grooved new wave like Men Without Hats. There is really no CCM comparison outside of maybe 441, Kaja or Crumbacher. It’s really an album with listening to to discover for yourself. The album kicks off with “Prisoner of Conscience,” sounding most like General Public of a more keyboard driven Duran Duran. Music and melody is immediately likeable with vocals reminiscent of Spandau Ballet. “Turn to Gold” follows with the most interesting musical composition on the album. Though driven by the danceable beat that flourishes on the entire album, the guitar and keyboard interplay really sets this one apart. That as well as the great vocals. The favorite on the album is “Never Ending Love” that always reminds of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Must be that Celtic riff that runs throughout the background while a more sustained driving keyboard leads the song along. It’s really one of the saddest testaments of the 1980’s CCM scene that bands like this simply disappeared and never made their way to the states. They would have immediately found an audience and would have fit nicely into the Southern California alternative/new wave scene of bands like Undercover, Crumbacher and Modern Mission.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Prisoner Of Conscience – 3:18 2 – Fools Gold – 2:53 3 – Never Ending Love – 3:18 4 – Song Of The Vineyard – 2:43 5 – Journey (To The Centre Of Your Heart) – 3:19 6 – Tale Of Two – 3:04 7 – Dreaming Of Neverland – 2:31 8 – Uncrossable Miles – 3:06 9 – Paradise Found – 3:21 10 – 2000 Years – 3:32 11 – Words From Numbers – 3:27 12 – World Without End – 3:32 13 – Cross My Heart – 3:22
This is the only true solo album from Norman Barratt which I found surprising considering how many albums he has in one form or another. The album highlights his guitar skills throughout and he also put in part time duty producing the album. Norman only signed on 2 artists to help with the album, Mark Olly on drums, and Steve Boyce on keyboards. While the album only has 8 tracks you get your money’s worth because there isn’t a track shorter that 4:30. While the album was only released in Europe in 1988 Refuge Records did a deal to release it in the U.S. in 1991.
Tracklist 1 – The Last Night – 5:20 2 – I Know Where You Are – 4:24 3 – I Can See It In Your Eyes – 5:01 4 – How I Know – 6:16 5 – Automatic Life – 5:36 6 – Still Waitin’ – 4:32 7 – When The Night Comes – 4:48 8 – Sing A New Song – 5:23
Credits Cover [Cover Design] – Ron Bryant-Funnell Engineer [Assistant] – Bob Little, Damon Gough Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer, Lead Vocals, Mixed By, Engineer [Assistant], Programmed By [Programming], Written-By – Norman Barratt Keyboards, Producer, Mixed By, Engineer, Programmed By [Programming] – Steve Boyce-Buckley Management – Bill Hampson Percussion [Additional] – Mark Olly Photography By – Johan Van Loo Producer [Vocals Produced By] – Trevor Taylor (tracks: 4) Software Instrument [Guitar f.x. And Programs Supplied By] – Neil Costello Technician [Technical Assistant] – Stephen Naughton
This is Leslie Phillips first album using the moniker Sam Phillips. It is also her first release in the secular music stream. Much has been written of her departure from the Christian music market but I will quote her instead of offering my opinion. In an interview with Enio Chiola in 2011 this is what she stated “I found out through that whole process that I wanted to learn how to write songs and make music better than I had before, and I realized that a lot of the fundamentalist people didn’t care about that, or were judgmental about that. It seemed that they had a very utilitarian view of art. That art was only to serve one purpose, which was to get across their point of view, and I didn’t agree.” I think I can safely say there were “artistic differences” between her and Myrrh records. For her first pop album T-Bone Burnett came on board to produce and the result is probably the best cross over album of any artist. It is no surprise to my regular readers that I am a huge T-Bone fan and this album is one of those reasons. After this album came out T-Bone and Leslie/Sam confirmed they were in a relationship and they did marry a year later.
Tracklist 1 – I Don’t Want To Fall In Love – 2:50 2 – I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye To You – 3:18 3 – Flame – 2:33 4 – Remorse – 3:43 5 – What Do I Do – 3:52 6 – I Can’t Stop Crying – 3:17 7 – Holding On To The Earth – 3:00 8 – She Can’t Tell Time – 3:35 9 – What You Don’t Want To Hear – 2:59 10 – Out Of Time – 4:26
Credits Arranged By – T Bone Burnett (tracks: 5), Van Dyke Parks, Van Dyke Parks (tracks: 5) Bass – Jerry Scheff Cello, Double Bass [String Bass] – Buell Niedlinger Coordinator [Production Co-ordinator] – Tim Davis Drum Machine – Ralph Forbes Drums – Mickey Curry, Steve Jordan Engineer [Assistant] – Brian Soucy, Clif Norrel, Dave Knight Harpsichord, Harmonium, Bass – David Miner Mastered By – Howie Weinberg Mixed By – Kevin Killen Organ – Mike Utley Percussion, Drums – Alex Acuña Producer, Guitar, Mandocello, Marxophone – T-Bone Burnett Recorded By – Rik Pekkonen Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Tchad Blake Recorded By [Assistant] – Mike Ross Trumpet – Darrel Leonard Written-By – Sam Phillips (tracks: 1 to 10), T Bone Burnett (tracks: 7, 8)
This is the second of 2 children’s albums done by Terry Taylor and Greg Flesch. This one is centered on a skateboarding theme with a story line of competing in said sport. Apparently this idea didn’t get much traction but I commend them for trying. This project didn’t age very well but it may have been cool in the 80’s if I was 10 years old.
Tracklist 1 – Megamouth Theme – 3:12 2 – You’re One In A Million – 4:24 3 – We’re Bad, That’s Good, and We’re Ugly (Viper’s Theme) – 5:22 4 – Quantized (Be a Good Sport) – 4:03 5 – Practice Makes Gnarly (Spinner’s Song) – 5:47 6 – Viper’s Theme Part 2 (Megamouth’s Answer) – 7:03 7 – Ready, Steady, Go – 8:00 8 – Tubin’ It – 1:21 9 – Getting Vertical (By Trustin’ The Lord) – 22:35
Credits Art Direction, Layout – Ed McTaggart Cover – John Dickenson Engineer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Doug Doyle Illustration – June Valentine Mastered By – John Matousek Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Instruments, Written-By, Concept By – Greg Flesch Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Written-By, Concept By, Voice Actor – Terry Taylor Vocals – Amy Watson, Lisa Grimaud*, Nancy Hanson, Nancy Marquez Voice Actor, Vocals – Dan Rupple, Dennis Bowen, Diane Meador-Pemelton, Scott Rummell
Companies, etc. Recorded At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA. Mixed At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA.
After the demise of AD Kerry Livgren and Warren Ham came back together to record and release this album using the AD name. It is said that this album was put together to fulfill contractual obligations and raise some funds. I’m not really sure if I believe this but it is said that Kerry said this but I can not find the actual quote. Kerry supplied all of the instruments with the exception of harp and sax supplied by Ham and this gives the album a rather unique sound and I really like it. I’m not disrespecting the rest of the band I’m just saying I really like this sound. The track “Portrait II” is actually a re-write of Portrait (He Knew), from the 1977 Kansas album Point of Know Return. Kerry rewrote it to be about Christ rather than Albert Einstein. Strangely the entire album was re-recorded and re-released in 1998 as Prime Mover II with 5 additional tracks. One last point of trivia of this album is that the UK vinyl version stated the title as “Prime Cuts” on the vinyl label. Rather odd error but errors on vinyl labels are actually quite common.
Tracklist 1 – Don’t Pass Me By – 4:24 2 – Fathers And Sons – 3:56 3 – Portrait II – 5:35 4 – Children Of The Shadows – 4:49 5 – Wandering Spirit – 4:04 6 – I’ll Follow You – 3:55 7 – New Kind Of Love – 3:37 8 – One More Song – 4:09 9 – T.G.B. – 5:58
Credits Design – Nick Newton Illustration [Photo Illustration] – Mark Fokol Instrumentation By [All Instruments By] – Kerry Livgren Lead Vocals – Warren Ham Mastered By – Glen Meadows Producer [Produced By] – Steve Walsh Recorded By, Mixed By – Kerry Livgren Vocals – Kerry Livgren, Steve Walsh, Dean Heitkamp, Michael Gleason
Companies, etc. Produced For – GrandyZine Productions Inc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc. Copyright (c) – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc. Recorded At – The Peach, Covington, GA Mixed At – The Peach, Covington, GA Mastered At – Masterfonics
I was very excited to listen to this album as I had not heard it before and wow was I surprised. Surprised being a synonym for disappointed in this case. On their/his previous album “Thunder Beach” we had a hint of what was coming but I wasn’t prepared for this album. Quite frankly it’s just another AOR album. Albums like this were a dime a dozen and it is hard to believe this even was Crumbächer. There are only a few tracks where we get to hear the synth genius that made Stephen Crumbächer famous. Instead most the tracks are run of the mill worship tracks. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Now if I had never heard of Stephen Crumbächer I would likely have said this was a pretty good AOR album. Stephen’s voice is strong and even a little surprisingly good. I don’t think I ever gave him credit for the quality of his vocals. It even had 2 CCM singles with “Rainy Season” making it to #15 and “Waiting For You” to #13. While I was unhappy with the album it is not a bad album. It is quite good in its own right, just not what I expected or wanted.
Tracklist 1 – Once More (With Feeling) – 4:26 2 – Speechless – 3:51 3 – Waiting For You – 3:58 4 – Release Me – 4:27 5 – Reckless Boys & Bad, Bad Girls – 4:55 6 – Tame The Volcano – 4:17 7 – Lava Rock – 2:46 8 – Rainy Season – 3:58 9 – Somebody’s Arms – 3:58 10 – Every Now And Then – 5:06 11 – Once More (For The Band) – 4:24
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Christopher Duke Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Backing Vocals – Christopher Duke, Dawn Wisner-Johnson, Jimmy Wisner, Stephen Crumbächer Bass – Tim Chandler Design – Ed McTaggart Drums – Jimmy Wisner Electric Guitar – Christopher Duke Engineer – Dave Jahnsen Engineer [Second] – Beth Wisner, Eric Kibbe Illustration – Marilee T. Niehaus Keyboards – Dawn Wisner-Johnson, Stephen Crumbächer, Tim Heintz Lead Vocals – Dawn Wisner-Johnson, Stephen Crumbächer Music By – Christopher Duke (tracks: 4,7,9,10), Stephen Crumbächer (tracks: 1 to 11) Percussion – Kurt Rasmussen Photography – R. Michael Seeley Piano [Acoustic] – Stephen Crumbächer Producer – Bill Baumgart, Stephen Crumbächer Saxophone – Eric Marienthal Words By – Stephen Crumbächer (tracks: 1 to 11)
Companies, etc. Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc. Recorded At – Asylomar
Sometime around 1987 I was working at a very large and popular christian Bookstore in Southern California when a copy of Billboard Magazine came across my desk. Along the bottom of the front page was an ad for an artist on A&M Records. The slogan on the ad was something like, “There’s Nothing Funny About the End of the World.” I was intrigued. I immediately called my local one-stop mainstream distributor and asked about the project. He hadn’t heard about but did make a couple calls for me. It would be released a few weeks later, but he did call the next day and said he got an advanced copy of the album for my to review before ordering. I drove over right away and put the CD in my car. The content seemed “Christian” to me but i had no real proof the artist was a Christian. Songs were about faith and the title track mentioned Babylon and Armageddon. I ordered some for the store despite the “hell” word being present and not receiving any confirmation about the faith of the artist. It sold well. In fact, it sold extremely well. My staff loved it and pushed and I don’t think a customer came in that didn’t hear something about it one way or the other. It charted in CCM Magazine just because of our sales alone. About a month later i received a phone call. On the other end of the line was a man with a very low voice and calm demeanor. He introduced himself as Michael Anderson and asked why in the world was i selling his record at a Christian Bookstore. I was a bit stunned and taken aback. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said, “I just wanted to know how you knew I was a Christian?” As I found out later his manager told him the album charted in CCM Magazine and that was because of the sales from one store. He tracked down the store and called. That started a friendship that would last for several years. My wife and I would travel to Hollywood regularly to hang out with Michael and his wife. In fact, we were invited by Michael his wife’s birthday party at an amazing gourmet Japanese restaurant in Bel Air and were seated at a table with Michael and Stormie Omartian. Michael’s debut project on A&M Records is a powerful, straight ahead Americana rock and roll in the same vein as the best from John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen but with a more blues and country influenced sound. Anderson’s voice will huff, puff, spit, scream and squeal with an edge that pierces as it communicates with passion few have reviled. On higher notes he is known to have his voice crack in trademark fashion. But on the mellower tunes he can bring it down to soft, almost Barry White-like smooth growl. Anderson would record two releases for the mainstream market on A&M and then two projects for the Christian market on Forefront. He made his way there after I gave a copy of this album to Eddie DeGarmo at a Benson records sales conference.
Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Sound Alarm – 5:31 2 – I Know That You Can Stand – 5:14 3 – I Need You – 4:51 4 – Until You Loved Me – 3:49 5 – Sanctuary – 5:43 6 – Little Bit O’ Love – 4:24 7 – Memphis Radio – 4:47 8 – Soweto Soul – 4:03 9 – Shine A Light – 4:49 10 – Time To Go Home – 5:10
Credits Backing Vocals – Toni Anderson Bass, Backing Vocals – Buck Silvertone Drums – Chad Cromwell Guitar – Josh Sklair Harmonica – Jimmy Z Producer, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Terry Manning Vocals, Guitar – Michael Anderson
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – A&M Records, Inc. Copyright (c) – A&M Records, Inc. Distributed By – PolyGram Made By – PolyGram Recorded At – Ardent Studios Recorded At – Alpha Sound Mixed At – Ardent Studios Mixed At – Alpha Sound Mastered At – Masterdisk Published By – Atlantic Recording Corporation Published By – Cadillac Pink Music
