After leaving Bash ‘n The Code Greg and Rebecca Sparks toured and recorded with Russ Taff and then in 1989 they went into the studio and recorded this fantastic pop rock album. This is another one of those albums that didn’t get the recognition it deserved. I was trying to pic my favourite track but it’s pretty tough. I guess I’ll have to go with U Tell Me but really there’s several tracks here that appeal to me. I absolutely love I Need Your Love and I think I’ve heard it before I heard this album. Did someone cover this because I know I have heard it before but I also know I have never heard this album before a few weeks ago. Anyway give this one a listen it’s a great album.
Tracklist 1 – Rock Your World – 3:34 2 – U Tell Me – 4:11 3 – I Need Your Love – 5:09 4 – One Small Voice – 3:39 5 – Angels Of Mercy – 4:09 6 – Rest – 3:10 7 – (Through) Hell And High H2O – 3:35 8 – Jesus Is Merciful – 0:18 9 – Somebody’s Reaching – 4:25 10 – Day Like Today – 3:41 11 – High Tower – 5:54
I have literally no idea how this album ended up in our collection but if you sent it to us a heartfelt thank you is in order. This is another band/album no one ever heard and everyone should have. The band is a collection of relatively unknown artists with the exception of Glenn Teeple who was the keyboard player for Elim Hall. The band was out of rural Ontario Canada as was Elim Hall and like I said even though I’m Canadian I never heard of them. The album has a similar fell as Elim Hall but updated for 1989. The exception is a straight up Rock & Roll cover of Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door which has the Darrell Mansfield Band as guests. You can easily hear Darrell’s harmonica and background vocals. It was obviously not recorded at the same time and place as the rest of the album as it has entirely different engineering. I would love to hear the story of how this track came to be. Anyway the album is fantastic and will easily land in my top 100 of all time. So if you like synth pop/rock with a new wave feel with excellent vocals this is a much listen.
Tracklist 1 – Bonds Of Trust – 2:43 2 – Take My Hand – 3:43 3 – Free Her Lord – 4:21 4 – Let It Go – 4:19 5 – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – 5:02 6 – Maybe Somehow – 4:30 7 – I Wanna See You Momma – 3:28 8 – Keep Searching – 3:51 9 – Angel – 3:10 10 – If I Had Wings – 4:24
Credits Bass, Backing Vocals – Jeff Mann Drums, Backing Vocals – Chris Mcintosh Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jm English Keyboards – Glen Teeple Lead Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica – Mark Hussey Producer – Fred Gage, Peter K. Hopper Guest On Track 5 – Darrell Mansfield Band
The Reign were/are a Christian rock band from Southern California in the late 80’s/early 90’s. They only had this one album but it was a real cult favourite. I had not heard this one as obviously it didn’t make it’s way to Canada but I wish I had. This is a great Rock Pop album that had a perfect sound for 1989. The album did get picked up for distribution by Image Records and the CD got the cover we have here. The Cassette had a much simpler and quite frankly better cover. The band recently recorded a new album which was inspired/encouraged by drummer Doug Lada’s granddaughter. It’s really good too, what a great bunch of talented musicians. If you only have time for one track I’m telling you that you need to hear “Looking For You (On Christmas Day)”, though really you should be listening to the whole album. You simply can not go wrong with Darrell Mansfield playing harp on a few tracks and Riki Michelle singing backing vocals on two tracks. I was really impressed with the production quality of this self recorded piece and then I saw that it was produced by Gene Eugene. Suddenly it all makes sense. Anyway the band is till at it and you can check out some of their work on their YouTube channel listed below.
Tracklist 1 – In Another Room – 3:29 2 – Cold Desert Wind – 3:52 3 – Looking For You (On Christmas Day) – 3:48 4 – Running Out Of Time – 3:27 5 – Trouble On My Mind – 3:19 6 – Weakness – 4:38 7 – Love Survive – 3:53 8 – Don’t Let It Take You Down – 4:56 9 – Dancer – 3:01
This was the fourth studio album from The Alarm and the band/label continued their Russian roulette approach to producers. Tony Visconti was chosen as the producer/engineer for this one and quite frankly wasn’t the best choice. He completely failed to capture the feel of The Alarm and instead produced a commercial sounding album that made the band sound like anything else that came out in 1989. This is not to say that the album isn’t good, in fact the songs are great, it’s the arrangements/mix that sucked. So many great songs and if you see any of them live they are fantastic but for whatever reason the label thought the band needed a mainstream sound. The Alarm were not a mainstream band, they were a band of Christians with an edge that Rock and Roll needed, especially in 1989. Some interesting trivial about the album is that it was released on vinyl even though the vinyl version had to eliminate 2 tracks because the album was 2 long. There was a version of the album released in the U.K. that had the extra 2 tracks on a 7 inch insert. If I still collected vinyl I’d love to have that version. The album’s first single, “Sold Me Down the River” is a fantastic track and if you ever hear it live you realize how good a track it really is. It reached #13 on the UK charts, #75 in the US charts and in Canada it reached # 19 so I remember it very well. My personal belief is if this had been mixed properly it would have been a top 10 hit but the label knew better than me, or at least they think they did. Anyway I urge you to listen to the album as it really is very good and I absolutely love it. BUT, if it had been produced properly it would have been huge in my opinion.
Tracklist 1 – Sold Me Down The River – 5:25 2 – The Rock – 4:39 3 – Devolution Workin’ Man Blues – 4:11 4 – Love Don’t Come Easy – 4:08 5 – Hardland – 4:09 6 – Change II – 2:52 7 – No Frontiers – 3:53 8 – Scarlet – 4:17 9 – Where A Town Once Stood – 3:48 10 – Black Sun – 4:30 11 – Prison Without Prison Bars – 3:48 12 – How The Mighty Fall – 4:19 13 – Rivers To Cross – 3:42 14 – A New South Wales – 4:46
Credits Arranged By – The Alarm Bass – Eddie MacDonald Drums – Nigel Buckle Guitar – Dave Sharp Keyboards – Mark Taylor Management – Barry Dickins, Elliot Roberts Producer, Engineer – Tony Visconti Vocals – Mike Peters
Companies, etc. Manufactured By – Cinram Record Company – I.R.S. Records Distributed By – MCA Records Phonographic Copyright ℗ – International Record Syndicate, Inc.
This is the second album from U.K. band Triumph. There is not much info out there on these guys or perhaps their is but due to their choice of names it’s impossible to find. The album was produced by Norman Barratt and because of this I couldn’t wait to listen to it. This is an excellent album. It leans new wave with hints of progressive rock think The Cult light perhaps. The unfortunate part of this 80’s CCM project is that I have to listen to many many albums that just aren’t my style or preferred genre so I get pretty excited when I find a new to me album that I like. This is one of those albums. I’m a little unclear if this album was released in North America but I don’t think it was. Feel free to correct me though.
Tracklist 1 – Run With The Wind – 3:51 2 – Son Of Man – 3:50 3 – I Am Waiting – 4:17 4 – It Is Finished – 5:09 5 – Paid On The Nail – 5:36 6 – Cry Freedom – 4:36 7 – Never Trust A Stranger – 3:21 8 – Take My Life – 4:52 9 – Liberty – 4:00 10 – I Will Rise – 5:25
Credits Jim Ritchie – Lead vocals, bass, percussion Gordon Cowan – Keyboards, backing vocals George McConnachie – Drums, percussion Murray McEwen – Guitars Andi Tooth – Drums, percussion Nia – Background Vocals Norman Barratt – Producer Ted Blakeway – Producer
Paul Clark was one of the most prolific CCM artists of the 1970’s through the 90’s. Strangely he only ever had 3 CCM singles which is absolutely absurd considering the quantity and quality of his work. I think this is my favourite album from him yet. I haven’t listened to then all yet but this one really is my kind of music. Many artists in the CCM industry get more mellow as they go along but not Paul. This is his 10th album and it is a solid pop effort with a great 80’s sound. On the mellow end “As Long As I’m Still Breathing” should have easily singled on the CCM charts especially in 1989. Somehow I missed Paul in the 80’s but I sure like him now.
Tracklist 1 – More Heat Than Light – 5:54 2 – Everywhere I Turn – 3:04 3 – You Can’t Accuse Me – 2:53 4 – I Can Feel Your Heartbeat – 3:02 5 – Marianna – 3:11 6 – So They Say – 4:04 7 – 1NA100 – 3:37 8 – Foxhole Confession – 3:36 9 – Don’t Let Go Of My Heart – 3:36 10 – As Long As I’m Still Breathing – 3:03
Credits Acoustic Guitar – Paul Clark Backing Vocals – Baby Lee, Donald Brown, Don Harris, Paul Clark Bass – Don Harris Drum Programming – Paul Clark, Rod Lincoln Drums – Rod Lincoln Graphics – Network Graphics, Inc Guest [Guest Appearance] – Pat Mastelotto, Steve Farris, Steve George Guitar – Don Harris, Paul Clark, Kevin Rogers Keyboards – Don Harris, Paul Clark Lead Vocals – Paul Clark Mixed By [Mixdown], Engineer – Bill Schnee Percussion, Programmed By – Paul Clark Photography – Paul Clark, Jessica Clark Producer – Paul Clark Programmed By – Don Harris Recorded By, Engineer – Craige Lindesay, Dan Garcia, Gary West, Paul Clark
This is Al’s third or fourth album. The history is a little unclear as his previous albums were all self released so there aren’t well known. This album however is what most people think of as his first album as it was the first one on a label and with proper distribution. Al was one of those people that played music his whole life wit his first public performance at age 5 where he played “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on piano. At age of 18 Al played piano for Bob Hope’s USO tour as well as Kenny Rogers. That’s some pretty good history right there. In 1981 he released a 7″ single with 2 tracks that I am completely unable to find but it appeared to be secular judging from the song titles. He provided music at Southern Baptist Youth Conventions conferences and obviously became a hit with the youth movement and in this time as I said he release 2 or 3 albums. He then signed with Benson records which brings us to this album. I would say it’s a softrock album but there’s a couple tracks that pop his sound pretty good. The album had 3 CCM charting singles with “Peace Be Still” doing the best at #12 but it was his next album that really took off. I’m looking forward to hearing that one next.
Tracklist 1 – Reckless Heart – 3:15 2 – Love Is Taking Hold – 4:57 3 – Heaven Knows My Name – 3:34 4 – Right Where You Are – 5:08 5 – On The Upbeat – 3:45 6 – Strong Love – 3:29 7 – It Takes The Strong To Surrender – 4:08 8 – Warm Place In A Cold World – 4:29 9 – Faces And Names – 3:56 10 – Peace Be Still – 4:03
Credits Backing Vocals – Chris Harris, Don Nalle, Ed Nalle, Gary Janney, Guy Penrod, Mark Heimermann, Mike Eldred, Michele Wagner, Rob Neal Bass – Jackie Street, Lee Jones Design – Joel Anderson Drums, Percussion – Mark Hammond Engineer – David Murphy, John Yandell, Keith Compton, Ronnie Brookshire Guitar – Mark Baldwin, Tim Norris Keyboards – Phil Naish Producer, Executive-Producer – Dan Cleary Trumpet, Soloist – George Tidwell
This is Scott’s first album and while it is lesser known artist this was a great album. I really don’t know much about how Scott got into CCM but I have spoken to him very briefly about his current work. Some tracks have a great blues feel that I have been told becomes more prominent on his next album. The album also has a great sense of humour and while 80’s humour doesn’t always translate to today it stands well on this album. Some times I try to point out a best track but in this case the album really works best when listened to as a whole.
Tracklist 1 – Somebody Loves You – 3:58 2 – I Ain’t Clowning Around (No More With God) – 3:12 3 – I Believe In Him – 4:55 4 – Give It All You Got – 3:53 5 – I Forgot – 4:25 6 – Penny Arcade – 1:55 7 – Too Cool For Sunday School – 5:11 8 – I’m Not That Kind Of Guy – 4:56 9 – Peanut Butter And Jelly – 3:12 10 – What I’m Living For – 3:42 11 – I Belong To You – 4:45
The 9th studio album from Michael Card is another like the others. That’s not as negative as it sounds as this was the magic that Card did. He put out albums very consistently and every one had great tracks so his fans constantly had new material to listen to. This album was successful with 3 charting CCM hits. Jubilee made it to #1, Lift Up The Suffering Symbol to #5, and They Called Him Laughter to #15. You just can’t argue with the success Card had. Anyway not much more to say about the album, if you like Card you will like this album. If you’re not a fan of easy listening than this one isn’t for you.
Tracklist 1 – The Beginning – 5:03 2 – In The Wilderness – 3:11 3 – Jubilee – 2:42 4 – Lift Up The Suffering Symbol – 3:32 5 – The Word Is So Near – 2:17 6 – Meditation #3 Shema – 4:13 7 – God Will Provide A Lamb – 4:06 8 – They Called Him Laughter – 3:05 9 – Asleep On Holy Ground – 5:15 10 – A Face That Shone – 3:21 11 – Barocha – 2:43
Credits Arranged By, Orchestrated By – Alan Moore, Bergen White Art Direction – Barbara Hearn Concertmaster, Directed By [Director] – Gavyn Wright Conductor [The Ambrosian Singers And Orchestra] – Bergen White Design – Larry Vigon Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Barry Dixon, John Kunz Mastered By – Denny Purcell Musician, Acoustic Guitar – Michael Card Musician, Bass – Craig Nelson, Gary Lunn Musician, Drum Programming – Gary Lunn Musician, Drums, Percussion – Paul Leim Musician, Piano – Michael Card, Phil Naish Musician, Synthesizer – Phil Naish Photography By [Front Cover Photography] – Merlyn Rosenberg Photography By [Photography Of Michael Card] – Mark Tucker Producer – Norbert Putnam Recorded By, Mixed By – JB , Norbert Putnam, Willie Pevear Vocals [Vocalists] – Ashley Cleveland, Bergen White, Michael Card, The Ambrosian Singers
This is Paul’s 3rd solo album after leaving the Imperials and his 5th solo album over all. While he had tons of success I think this might be his most successful album as far as chart positioning goes. The album had 4 charting singles, “Back To Who I Am”, “It’s Alright”, “Bigger Than Life”, and “Beat Of A Different Heart”, all of which singled at #2 or #3. To have 4 singles in the top 3 is absolutely stunning. He also had a great studio band for this album including Paul Brannon (Joe English Band) and Gary Lunn (White Heart). As for the album well it’s a rather light Pop album in the similar vein as the Imperials at the time. When I see an album titled “Back To Who I Am” I always wonder what the artist was thinking at the time. This was well after he left the Imperials and he had a good relationship with them so I don’t think it referred to that so I’m just left to wonder. So this is a pretty good album, not really my style but I appreciate a good album in any style.
Tracklist 1 – Back To Who I Am – 5:36 2 – Beat Of A Different Heart – 5:17 3 – Bigger Than Life – 5:31 4 – Silence Isn’t Golden Anymore – 6:08 5 – Homesick For Eden – 4:47 6 – The Lion Roars – 5:15 7 – It’s Alright – 5:21 8 – Comforter – 4:44 9 – Hunger And Thirst – 5:01 10 – So Satisfied – 4:44
Credits Arranged By – Joe Hogue Art Direction – Terri Short Backing Vocals – Joe Hogue, Marabeth Jordan, Marsha Wells, Michelle Wagner, Paul Smith Bass – Gary Lunn Design – Bill Brunt Designs Drums – Jonathan David Brown Executive-Producer – Lynn Keesecker Guitar – Paul Brannon, Tom Hemby Keyboards – Joe Hogue Mastered By – Hank Williams Percussion – Eric Darken Photography By – Russ Harrington Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Jonathan David Brown
