Torah were a 4 person Metal band out of Decatur IL and this is all we got from them. I can’t really find out much about them but they sound like a pretty good Metal band. The problem with 1988 is that there were a lot of Christian Metal bands at the time and I assume these guys got lost in the crowd. They did get the track “Pray for the Children” released on a Metal sampler “Big Rage! Volume 1” which I can not find a copy of. There are a few videos of them on YouTube and they do have an active Facebook group so good to see they are still around.
Tracklist 1 – Rock and Roll Warriors – 4:03 2 – Dreams – 3:33 3 – Don’t Reign on My Parade – 3:43 4 – Pray for the Children – 6:04
This was Greg’s second solo album and was well received but it wasn’t as strong as his first. I think Myrrh thought the same as he was dropped by the label after this album. The album did have 2 singles on the ACC charts. “Take Me To The End” and “Will You Take Me Back?”. Both only made it to #29 on the charts. That said I will make the point again that an albums representation on this chart has nothing to do with whether it was a good album or not but usually was closer connected to home many easy listening tracks the album had. All that aside I think this is a pretty good album. I like the Pop leaning Rock tracks but the slow tracks are probably the stronger part of the album.
Tracklist 1 – I Come Out Fighting – 3:34 2 – I Don’t Know Why – 4:01 3 – Take Me To The End – 4:51 4 – Let The Mountains Fall – 4:14 5 – Dream On – 5:11 6 – What Will Remain – 4:16 7 – Back Burner – 4:44 8 – Will You Take Me Back? – 4:11 9 – I Know You By Heart – 3:24 10 – Up To The Mountain – 3:34
Credits Arranged By [Track Arrangements] – George Atwell, Greg X. Volz, Michael Atwell, Mike Schmitz Arranged By [Vocal Arrangements] – Greg X. Volz Art Direction – Camille Engle Booking [Concert] – Jeff Roberts Design – Barbara Keller, Camille Engle Drums, Drum Programming – Michael Atwell Engineer – Andy de Ganhal, Dana W. Cornock, Jonathan David Brown Guitar – Kirk Henderson Keyboards – George Atwell, Michael Atwell Management [Personal] – Ron C. Volz Mastered By – Chris Bellman Other [Hair And Grooming] – Michelle Kebre Photography By, Illustration – Empire Studio Producer – George Atwell, Greg X. Volz, Michael Atwell Programmed By [Fairlight And Bass Programming] – Michael Atwell Programmed By [Synclavier Programming] – Michael Atwell, Rich Head Tape Op [Tape Transfers] – Gary Platt, Robert Knox Typography [Typesetting] – D&T Typesetting Vocals, Backing Vocals – Greg X. Volz
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc. Copyright (c) – Word, Inc. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Recorded At – Rare Form Studio Recorded At – Wolf’s Head Studios Recorded At – Parc Studios Recorded At – Starke Lake Studios Overdubbed At – OmniSound Studios Overdubbed At – The Pond Mixed At – Parc Studios Mixed At – Criteria Recording Studios Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
This was the final album from Joshua and it was probably their best. It is reported that the album took a better part of a year to record with a $700,000 budget. Strangely after RCA invested this time and money they actually dropped the band reportedly because they included the phrase “This album is dedicated to the Glory of God” in the liner notes. I have no idea how the album went over but wow is that a dumb reason to drop a band but that’s record companies for you. They do some really stupid things. Unfortunately this silliness probably played a part in the band splitting up. Rob Rock, Greg Shultz, and Emil Lech went on to form the band Driver and Joshua Perahia changed the name of the band to Jaguar. Unfortunately neither band had any commercial success. Back to the album though, it is a very good Hard Rock/Metal album and you can hear the dollars spent in the production and engineering. This album absolutely sounds as good as anything released commercially at the time and it’s a pity it was not better received in North America because it really deserved to be.
Tracklist 1 – Reach Up – 4:43 2 – I’ve Been Waiting – 4:27 3 – Only Yesterday – 3:38 4 – Crying Out For Love – 4:16 5 – Living On The Edge – 4:10 6 – Tearing At My Heart – 3:47 7 – Remembering You – 5:06 8 – Look To The Sky – 4:21 9 – Don’t You Know – 4:09 10 – Stand Alone – 5:02
Credits Arranged By – Frank Mono, Joshua Perahia Bass – Emil Lech Cover [Illustration] – Norbert Lösche Drums – Tim Gehrt Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Uli Baronowsky Guitar, Backing Vocals – Joshua Perahia Keyboards [Programming] – Jimmy Waldo Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Greg Shultz Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Rob Rock (tracks: 3 to 10) Mixed By – Pete Woodroffe Mixed By [Mix Assited By] – Uwe Sabirowsky Producer, Engineer – Frank Mono Programmed By – Al Topo, Uwe Sabirowsky Vocals [Uncredited] – Ken Tamplin (tracks: 1, 2)
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – BMG Ariola Hamburg GmbH Copyright (c) – BMG Ariola Hamburg GmbH Produced For – Breeze Music GmbH Recorded At – Dierks Studios Mixed At – Dierks Studios Mastered At – Townhouse 3 Pressed By – Sonopress – C-4181 Published By – Breeze Music GmbH
This was Larry’s second and last album. He turned it way up for this album from his previous AOR release. This is a solid Pop/Rock album and is very well done. It was produced by Joe Huffman and this may be the most Rock & Roll album he ever produced as he regularly produced Jimmy Swaggart albums. The memorable track on this album is “Frog In A Box” and while a very quirky name it’s actually a pretty good song. I kind of wonder why I hadn’t heard it before listening to this album just recently. This is another one I missed in the 80’s but I’m very happy I discovered it now.
Tracklist 1 – Frog In A Box – 5:42 2 – Once You Give Your Heart Away – 4:11 3 – Mighty Love – 4:09 4 – Silent Movies – 5:22 5 – Life Goes On – 3:55 6 – Won By One – 3:14 7 – Let The Praise Begin – 3:10 8 – Sometimes I’m Samson – 3:40 9 – East and West – 3:53 10 – My Soul Waits In Silence – 5:05
Credits Reed Arvin – Synclavier/Extra Keyboards, String and Horn Arrangements Larry Bryant – Songwriter, Vocals, Piano, Background Vocals John Bryant – Background Vocals Kimber D. Cherry – Songwriter Jon Goin – Guitars Mark Hammond – Drums Joe Huffman – Producer Gary Lunn – Bass Marty McCall – Background Vocals Niki Mikals – Engineer Phil Naish – Keyboards Mike Psanos – Re-mix Engineer Lisa Whitford – Songwriter
This was the first studio album from The Newsboys. They had got a deal from Refuge records but it would end up being a one album deal as this album was not well received. Lucky for the band Star Song picked them up so their career could continue. I’m actually quite surprised this album didn’t do better. It’s a pretty good pop album and certainly as good as most of the CCM stuff at the time. I suspect this may have been more of a problem with distribution and/or promotion. Like I say the talent was there and these guys went on to be one of the top CCM bands of all times as far as sold albums is concerned and they are still going strong today. This album included 4 tracks from their demo so if you had their demo this album wasn’t really a good deal but the songs were reworked.
Tracklist 1 – I Got Your Number – 4:45 2 – Listen For The Shout – 3:20 3 – Lighthouse – 3:16 4 – It’s Joy – 3:48 5 – You’re Still There – 3:06 6 – Read All About It – 4:46 7 – Hold On Tight – 3:57 8 – Never Surrender – 4:09 9 – The Big Time – 3:56 10 – He’s Coming Back – 3:48
Credits Bass Guitar – Sean Taylor Drums – Peter Furler Guitar – Phil Yates Lead Vocals – John James Producer – Tommy Sims
I really can’t find much on Hope but I will summarize what I did find but with no claim of it’s accuracy. Hope was a Canadian artist who went into the studio in 1987 or 1988 to record this excellent album. It has a great female pop sound and quite frankly I am surprised I can’t find out more about it. The album was produced by Roy Salmond who produced some of the best Canadian artists at the time and had some good albums of his own. Apparently Hope toured with Sheila Walsh in on Walsh’s Canadian tour as well as African Sonrise and Connie Scott on various dates. That’s about all I can find but this is an excellent album so give it the love it deserved in 1988 when it came out.
Tracklist 1 – Love Comes Along – 3:52 2 – Can’t Give It (If You Don’t Have It) – 3:59 3 – Standing In The Shadows – 3:59 4 – You Will Not Leave Me – 3:08 5 – I Remember – 6:37 6 – Oh The Distance – 3:10 7 – The Way Things Are – 4:12 8 – Arms Up – 5:17 9 – Don’t Keep On Running – 4:37 10 – Never Let Us Go – 4:28
Credits Backing Vocals – Hope, Roy Backing Vocals [Additional] – Donny Hackett (tracks: 6), Gayle Salmond (tracks: 6) Bass – Miles Hill (tracks: 7) Design, Layout – Nancy Yeasting Drums, Percussion – Daryl Bennett Engineer – Gary Tole Engineer, Mixed By – Dave Slagter Executive-Producer – Bill Sterling, Mark Sterling Guitar – Dane DeViller Keyboards, Bass, Drum Programming [Drum And Percussion Programming], Guitar – Roy Salmond Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Photography By – Francis Cheng Producer, Arranged By – Roy Salmond
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Inside Trak Studios Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Paradox were a relatively unknown Metal band out of San Antonio Texas. They released 2 demo’s in the 80’s and got a song released on the Underground Metal sampler in 1988. This is another band that I wonder why they didn’t get a full ride record deal. This band was performing right at the perfect time but for some reason were overlooked. I don’t think they were the best metal band of the era but they were good and there was some real talent here. They did finally get a “Record Deal” in 2011 with Demon Doll Records, a relatively small Indy metal label. The album was all old material as the band hadn’t recorded in years. I’m guessing if you’re not from Texas you are probably not familiar with their work but give it a listen so you are. If you’re still on the fence at least give their version of Amazing Grace, “God’s Amazing Grace” a listen. I kinda liked it.
Tracklist 1 – Power And Glory – 4:39 2 – I Just Want To Love You – 5:05 3 – Meet The King – 3:23 4 – Sweet Reunion – 5:22 5 – God’s Amazing Grace – 2:09
Credits Bass, Keyboards, Vocals – Phil Garcia Drums – Efrain Galicia Guitar – Fernando Hernandez Lead Vocals – Manuel Castillo
By this point 2nd Chapter Of Acts was all done with studio work so Ward could concentrate on his solo career. Annie Herring from 2nd Chapter however does join Ward on the album. The album continues his more upbeat style and really several tracks on this album could easily be classified as Pop. The album had 3 singles. Far Behind made it to #10, Perfect Union to #3, and You Alone to #21. All in all a pretty successful album though it seems to get lost sometimes as his previous album, Armed & Dangerous, made quite a splash but this one didn’t seem as good of an album.
Tracklist 1 – Then I Realized – 4:32 2 – Racing For The Goal – 4:21 3 – You Alone – 3:42 4 – Show Them – 3:53 5 – Heart – 3:25 6 – So Many Are Lookin’ – 3:10 7 – Time Will Tell – 4:25 8 – Far Behind – 3:30 9 – Perfect Union – 4:38 10 – Fade To White – 4:26
Credits Arranged By [Musical Arrangements] – John Andrew Schreiner Art Direction, Design – Bradley Grose Backing Vocals – Annie Herring, Interdenominational Youth Choir Of Nachodoches, Kelly Willard (tracks: 5), Nelly Greisen Bass – Leon Gaer Classical Guitar – Frank Kimlico Drums – Mike Baird Engineer [Engineered By] – Greg Hunt Guitar – Michael Thompson Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner Lyrics By – Matthew Ward Mastered By – Doug Saax Music By – Jim Tenneboe (tracks: 5, 6), John Andrew Schreiner (tracks: 1 to 10), Matthew Ward (tracks: 1 to 4, 6 to 10) Other [Make Up] – Ken Gonzales Photography By – Aaron Rapoport Photography By [Assistant] – Tracy Lamonica Producer [Produced By] – John Andrew Schreiner Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Gary Leach, John Andrew Schreiner
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Live Oak Records Copyright (c) – Live Oak Records Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Recorded At – Rosewood Studio Mixed At – Rosewood Studio Mastered At – The Mastering Lab Published By – Megin’s College Fund Music Published By – JAS Music Published By – MIDI Mouse Music
I actually read a few reviews of this album before I listened to it and they weren’t that great. In fact they were all bad. Most of you are aware that metal is not my chosen style of music but I buckled down, got a soda and started listening. My first surprise was that all the songs were mislabeled. Turns out the album and the CD had different track orders but the CD used the back of the vinyl jacket for it’s track listings meaning they were all in the wrong order. As a result the software I use immediately mislabeled all of the tracks. On the upside I actually had to listen to the album to pick out the tracks properly. I really don’t know why this album was disliked as much as it was. Yea the vocals aren’t stunning but I don’t expect every metal singer to have a 5 octave range. I found the vocals to be adequate and the guitar was very very good. Bass was…. well it was bass and the drums sounded pretty good to me. Now I do agree that the album could have had better production quality. It was produced by Randy Thomas (Sweet Comfort Band) and maybe production isn’t his strong suit or maybe he just wasn’t familiar enough with this style of music. Personally I found the album to be OK but again this is not my favored style of music so my opinion might be completely wrong.
Tracklist 1 – Free Indeed – 4:03 2 – Fighting The Good Fight – 4:09 3 – Backslider – 4:15 4 – Building On The Rock – 4:46 5 – The Provider – 2:56 6 – Hebrews 13:8 – 3:33 7 – Turn – 3:11 8 – To The King – 3:03 9 – Children Of The Father – 5:18
Credits Backing Vocals – Thomas Mitchell III Bass [Fretless] – Mark Lewis (tracks: 8) Drums, Backing Vocals – Ryan Crampton Executive-Producer – Contagious Keyboards – Mark Lewis (tracks: 3), Ryan Crampton (tracks: 8) Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Scott Sifton Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Bass – Mark Lewis Producer – Randy Thomas
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Allies Recording Studio Mixed At – Allies Recording Studio
This was Margaret’s third album and probably her most Rock oriented one. Sparrow gave her some latitude on this album and she took full advantage of it. We knew she had a good voice but here we learn she can do Rock also. To say the album was a success is an understatement. It had 4 singles, “Find Me”, “Who Am I”, “Streets Of Innocence”, and “Come Quickly Lord”. “Find Me” made it to #3, “Streets Of Innocence” to #4, “Who Am I” to # 5, and “Come Quickly Lord” to # 23. Three top 10 hits on one album is no easy feat. Oh and guess who appears as a guest on the album? Dann Huff, I think he was on 90% of the best albums of the era.
Tracklist 1 – Light In The Darkness – 3:28 2 – You Can’t Take It With You – 3:49 3 – Find Me – 3:42 4 – Take Me Away – 3:23 5 – Pico Boulevard – 4:22 6 – Who Am I – 4:52 7 – Start The Fire – 4:20 8 – ‘Til My Feet Don’t Move – 4:05 9 – I Don’t Want To Be Without You – 4:19 10 – Come Quickly Lord – 4:43 11 – Streets Of Innocence – 3:40
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Dann Huff, Margaret Becker, Tim Pierce Art Direction – Barbara Catanzaro-Hearn Backing Vocals – Andrea Robinson, Bob Carlisle (track 10), Kurt Howell, Margaret Becker, Tommy Funderburk Bass – John Pierce Cello – Kevin Toufec Design – 5 Penguins Design, Inc. Drums – Mike Baird Electric Guitar – Dann Huff, Tim Pierce Executive Producer – Peter York Keyboards – Alan Pasqua, Smitty Price Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Percussion [Additional] – David Huff Photography By – Mark Tucker Producer – Dan Posthuma Recorded By [Rhythm Tracks], Mixed By – Csaba Petocz Recorded By [Vocals And Overdubs] – Dan Garcia
