I can’t really find much info on the band which is surprising because they had 3 albums and a pretty good following. I do know they were from Olivet Nazarene University and actually started out using the name Gentle Reign. As near as I can tell the leader of the band was Tim McGuire who while not doing much work in the industry is well known and highly respected. As for the album it’s a pretty fun pop album that I would have really liked in the day. Vocals are strong and the production is great. I have a feeling many of you know this one so give it a listen again all these years later.
Tracklist 1 – Born Again (And I Love It) – 5:14 2 – Reckless – 5:15 3 – Time Out – 4:12 4 – Nothin’ I Wouldn’t Do – 4:17 5 – Search Me – 4:22 6 – Dead Ain’t Always Six Feet Under – 5:03 7 – Choices – 4:15 8 – Back Off – 3:20 9 – Don’t Keep It Inside – 4:02 10 – Are We Wastin’ Time – 5:14
This album was recorded on Martyn’s “Acoustic Tour” in May 1989 except for Contradictions, No Choices and An Aching And A Longing recorded at Blue Strike Studio, Harrogate. Apparently he paid for the entire album production himself but seeing as it was released on Myrrh with a one album deal surely he got some help. That aside this album sold fantastic and was his jump into a record deal with Epic records (Sony). This is another artist that was very well known and loved in Europe but was completely unknown in the west. Well maybe not completely unknown but we couldn’t buy his albums so he was only known by a select few. Anyway this is a great album and though it was recorded on his “Acoustic” tour that actually refers to his guitar not the entire album. He is backed up skilfully by a great travelling studio band.
Tracklist 1 – Nobody’s Fool – 4:17 2 – Contradictions – 5:08 3 – Treasure The Questions – 5:38 4 – Reminded Of Heaven – 4:33 5 – Vincent – 4:30 6 – Real World – 3:46 7 – Power Of Your Love – 4:34 8 – Candle In The Wind – 4:23 9 – Beautiful Woman – 4:05 10 – I Will Follow – 3:30 11 – Dolphin’s Make Me Cry – 6:32 12 – Sunday’s Coming – 2:15 13 – An Aching And A Longing – 4:47 14 – No Choices – 3:29
Credits Backing Vocals – Mike Haughton Design – James Kessell Engineer – Will Jackson Flute, Recorder, Backing Vocals – Mike Haughton Guitar, Vocals – Martyn Joseph Keyboards, Bass Guitar – Will Jackson Lighting – Pete Allison Photography By – Theresa Wassif Recorded By – Frank Mizon Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Mike Haughton
In 1989 Kerry took a break from AD and did this solo album and when I say solo I mean solo. He played each and every instrument on this instrumental album. It has a fairly progressive rock sound and really shows some of Kerry’s best guitar work. Personally nothing on the album jumps out at me but I am not a fan of instrumental songs. That said I am not disrespecting the album, it’s just not my genre but it is a great album. Track 10, “Tenth of Nisan”, has a footnote reading: “(The obvious debt to M.R. is acknowledged.)”. M.R. is Maurice Ravel a classical composer of the early 20th century. Kerry re-released this album in 1996 on his Numavox label and included a bonus track which we have included.
Tracklist 1 – Ancient Wing – 4:28 2 – And I Saw, As It Were… Konelrad – 4:57 3 – Colonnade Gardens – 4:10 4 – In The Sides Of The North – 4:26 5 – Alenna In The Sun – 4:23 6 – Tannin Dance – 3:37 7 – The Far Country – 3:46 8 – Diaspora – 3:36 9 – A Fistful Of Drachma – 4:11 10 – Tenth Of Nisan – 4:46 11 – Eerie Cove – 4:04
Credits Instruments (All), Recorded By, Mixed By, Producer – Kerry Livgren Mastered By – Glen Meadows
Here’s another one of those mystery 80’s cassettes. This one has a great late 80’s alternative feel and sound and is well produced and engineered. This is all we got from them and it doesn’t look like any of the members went on to do any other published projects. So this is one we have to enjoy as a standalone and wonder why we never got more.
Tracklist 1 – You Don’t Know Me – 4:25 2 – Lightning – 3:50 3 – Nothin’ To You – 3:06 4 – Private 1 – 4:02 5 – Overflow – 4:16 6 – Running Out – 3:36 7 – Black And White – 4:05 8 – Nova Huta – 4:39 9 – St. Peter’s Village – 3:34 10 – Beach Tags – 4:48
Credits Bass, Vocals – T. William Gallagher Drums, Percussion – Mike Ling Guitar, Vocals – Doug Davidson
Okay just right off the bat I’m going to clarify that this album is in no way contemporary. It is 100% classical or whatever you want to call this genre. If you like Michael’s piano playing you MIGHT like this album but quite frankly it doesn’t fit in as CCM music in any way shape or form. It is Michael W. Smith so we thought we would upload it anyway but I can guarantee that after the work needed to upload this album I will likely never listen to it again.
Tracklist 1 – Overture/O Come All Ye Faithful – 5:38 2 – Lux Venit – 3:28 3 – Anthem For Christmas – 3:11 4 – First Snowfall – 2:44 5 – Christ The Messiah – 3:59 6 – No Eye Had Seen – 2:53 7 – All Is Well – 4:08 8 – Memoirs: A Trilogy – 4:28 9 – Gloria – 5:03 10 – Silent Night – 1:33
Credits Arranged By [Choral Arangements] – Ronn Huff Arranged By [Orchestra], Conductor [Orchestra] – Ronn Huff Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Brent King, Danny Garcia, Scott Macminn Engineer [Assistant] – Bryan Lenox, Joe Kraus, Steve Charles Engineer, Mixed By – Billy Whittington Executive Producer – Michael Blanton, Terry Hemmings Featuring – The Nashville Festival Orchestra, Nashville String Machine Mastered By – Ron Lewter Producer – Michael W. Smith, Ronn Huff Producer [Orchestra & Choir] – Mark Laycock Recorded By [Orchestra] – Brent King
A very very expanded version of Truth plays some Christmas tracks in medley and full length versions. They included some non traditional songs whch gives the album a very rounded appeal for a Chrsitmas album.
Tracklist 1 – Celebration Of Joy – 3:35 2 – Caroler’s Song – 3:29 3 – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas / We Wish You A Merry Christmas – 4:26 4 – Your Heart Is Where Christmas Is Found – 4:00 5 – O Come, All Ye Faithful – 5:03 6 – Silver Bells / Carol Of The Bells – 3:55 7 – The Way He Came – 4:16 8 – Sleigh Ride – 3:08 9 – Carol Medley – 4:11 10 – O Come, O Come Emmanuel / Emmanuel – 4:51
Credits Arranged By – David Maddux, David Clydesdale, Don Hart, Steven V. Taylor Art Direction – Katherine DeVault Design Bass – Gary Lunn Directed By [Director] – Roger Breland Drums – Mark Hammond Executive-Producer – Dan Cleary Guitar – Jon Goin Keyboards – David Huntsinger Orchestra – Nashville String Machine Performer [TRUTH Is] – Alicia Williamson, Amy Thomas, Andy Chrisman, Brian Smith, Christi Bovee, Cynthia Snelling, Dana Cappillino, Ellen Schoppert, Gina Walker, Glen George, Roger Breland*, Kevin Rizzo, Kirk Sullivan, Lanny Cox, Mark Bovee, Mark Childers, Mark Harris, Marty Magehee, Mike Cole, Mike Thomas, Mike Walker, Sharon Childers, Steve Schoppert, Tim Ranson Photography By – Jim DeVault Photography Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Steven V. Taylor Recorded By, Mixed By – Mike Psanos
Australian band Surprise actually started out in the early 80’s as Surprise Surprise. They actually appeared on and won an episode of the Australian version of Star Search performing Walking with a Zombie. That win actually paid for some recording sessions. When 2 members left they changed the name to just a single Surprise. They did have a demo but we haven’t found it yet. So here is their first album on label Refuge. The album is just simply fantastic. It has more a mid 80’s sound than a late 80’s sound but never mind it’s fantastic. I was actually surprised to find out that this very well produced album was actually David Simpfendorfer first attempt at production. He produced both Surprise albums and very little else. Kind of surprising because I thought he did a great job. Anyway this is definitely a must listen if you liked mid 80’s new wave.
Tracklist 1 – Waits For Me – 3:44 2 – Captains Of Industry – 3:33 3 – Take This Hand – 2:53 4 – Wastin’ Time – 3:31 5 – Do You Believe? – 2:57 6 – Omo Bob – 3:07 7 – This Generation – 2:53 8 – Head In The Clouds – 2:09 9 – Better Days – 3:58 10 – Ignorance – 2:55 11 – Freedom – 2:10 12 – Think About That – 1:34
Credits Backing Vocals – Allan Dowthwaite, David Welch, Malcolm Kiely Bass – Malcolm Kiely Drums – Allan Dowthwaite Engineer – Dave Simpfendorfer Guitar – Alexander MacDonald Keyboards – David Welch Mixed By – Jeff Todd Photography By – Brad Sutcliffe Producer – Dave Simpfendorfer, Surprise Vocals – Alexander MacDonald, Catherine Ryan, Lisa Parsons
Well I’m definitely going to piss some people off with this review. This is Steven’s third album and it was wildly successful. It had four number one hits, “More To This Life”, “I Will Be Here”, “Love You With My Life”, “Treasure Island”, as well as a number 6 track, “Waiting For Lightning”. This is all according to CCM magazine. I think it was about this time in history that CCM magazine completely lost the plot. I was never particularly happy with their chart decisions but really this album was ridiculous. If you listen to all of the singles on this album they sound like they were written by AI. This is the same drivel that is coming out of the Christian music scene today. In fact you could release this album today and it would sound like everything else on Christian radio. I can imagine that Sparrow records is still rolling in the royalties from thousands of worship services that use these songs. I’m sorry Steven, you are a fantastic artist but this kind of music is what ruined CCM music for everyone. Now I know plenty of you love this album and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean Steven is a great artist and in fact a couple tracks on this album that didn’t single are pretty good but they don’t follow the worship style that the industry was turning to. I quite liked his previous albums but this one just sounded too industry oriented for me.
Tracklist 1 – More To This Life – 5:11 2 – Love You With My Life – 3:23 3 – Waiting For Lightning – 3:40 4 – Living For The Moment – 4:47 5 – I Will Be Here – 4:24 6 – Who Makes The Rules – 3:33 7 – Treasure Island – 4:46 8 – Way Beyond The Blue – 5:43 9 – In This Little Room – 3:36 10 – More Than Words – 4:28 11 – Out In The Highways – 4:54
Credits Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Jon Goin Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals, Arranged By [Rhythm] – Steven Curtis Chapman Arranged By [Strings], Conductor – Don Wyrtzen Art Direction – Barbara Hearn Backing Vocals – Chris Harris, Chris Rodriguez, Herb Chapman, Mark Heimermann Bass – Jackie Street Design – Brenda Whitehill Drums – Mark Hammond Engineer [Additional] – Ronnie Brookshire Engineer [Assistant] – Barry Ray Dixon, Carry Summers, Howard Levy, Steve Bishir Mandolin – Mark O’Connor Mastered By – Denny Purcell Photography By – Mark Tucker Producer, Keyboards, Arranged By [Rhythm] – Phil Naish Production Manager – Cindy Wilt Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding Slide Guitar [Acoustic] – Don Potter Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, The Nashville String Machine Violin – Mark O’Connor
If you know of Jeff you know of his claim to have sung with Black Sabbath. There is a lot of disagreement over this claim but quite frankly I’m not going to repeat the back and forth between Jeff and Joe Siegler (Black Sabbath Historian). After reading both sides of the story this is my take away. Yes Jeff did some studio work with Tony Iommi (BS guitarist). This is a fact as the tracks are out there floating around the internet. The Jeff version of these tracks were not released on any album. What really happened is lost in Rock & Roll history. I think both versions are somewhat correct and the absolute truth lays somewhere in the middle. Did Jeff embellish his role with Black Sabbath? Probably. Is Jeff one hell of a vocalist? Absolutely. I heard of Jeff’s ministry through the grapevine but quite frankly I never had any interest in it. I have listened to a few of his albums and I’m still not much interested except for this album. This is a very good album. Jeff’s vocals are spot on and the choice of tracks is excellent. I am a bit mystified as to why called a studio album “Live:” however. Anyway this album was released through his ministry and several pressings were done. Not all these pressings are the same. At some point the track order was changed and the track “I Exalt Thee” was added or removed. That track is a cover of Phil Driscoll so there may have been licensing issues. All in all I think this is a great album and regardless of your opinions of Jeff you can not deny that he is a fantastic vocalist.
Tracklist 1 – Living Sacrifice – 3:33 2 – He Will Carry You – 4:22 3 – Make Us One – 3:24 4 – Oh, Happy Day – 4:23 5 – The Anointing – 6:29 6 – Standing In the Shadow of The Almighty – 3:40 7 – I Need To Be Still – 2:41 8 – Hosanna – 4:35 9 – I Exalt Thee – 6:06
I know I’m going to get some hate for this review but it’s my opinion and I welcome yours. I’m not really too sure what Carman was trying to achieve with this album. We have spoken tracks, conceptual tracks, theatrical tracks, a rap track, and a couple just regular song tracks. Quite frankly Carman could have done an album of nursery rhymes and it would have singled on the CCM charts. Actually I’m not so sure he didn’t do that. Anyway I truly believe that Carman was trying a little of everything in his quest to appeal to youth but the simple fact is that he was liked by our parents not us. At least that was what was happening in my circle. Carman also released a VHS of himself performing the album and I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and quite frankly it’s just bizarre. On a positive note the album did have 3 singles on the CCM charts and also won the Dove award for the Long Form Music Video of the Year for the aforementioned VHS release. Anyway that’s my take on this very bizarre album.
Tracklist 1 – God’s Got An Army – 4:24 2 – I Got The Joy – 4:30 3 – A Witch’s Invitation – 6:45 4 – Get Your Business Straight With God – 3:58 5 – This Blood – 5:29 6 – Saved, Delivered And Healed – 5:40 7 – Jesus Is The Light – 4:53 8 – The Resurrection Rap – 4:05 9 – Shine Through Me – 4:34 10 – Revival In The Land – 6:30
Credits Carman – Songwriter, Vocals Susan Ashton – Background Vocals Kym Barger – Gang Vocals Shirley Bereal – Background Vocals Ronnie Brookshire – Engineer Curt Butler – Gang Vocals Jacquetta Carr – Background Vocals Steve Charles – Assistant Engineer Christ Church Choir – Choir Vocals Tina Clark – Background Vocals Dan Cleary – Executive Producer Ashley Cleveland – Background Vocals Ed Crippen – Platoon Vocals Eric Darken – Percussion Willie Davis – Choir Director, Hammond B-3, Gang Vocals Wendell DePrang – Platoon Vocals John Destito – Gang Vocals Barry Dixon – Assistant Engineer Mark Douthit – Saxophone Dave Ecrement – Platoon Vocals David Felty – Platoon Vocals Kim Fleming – Background Vocals Nick Froome – Engineer Roy Gamble – Assistant Engineer Steve Gannon – Platoon Vocals Landy Gardner – Choir Director and Conductor Andrae Hammond – Gang Vocals Mark Hammond – Drums, Percussion Programming Vicki Hampton – Background Vocals Chris Harris – Background Vocals Mike Haynes – Trumpets Mark Heimermann – Background Vocals Tom Hemby – Guitars Higher Dimensions Sanctuary Choir – Choir Vocals Sgt. Penny Hollenbeck – Platoon Vocals Ron Huff – Orchestra Conductor Bobby Jones – Gang Vocals Dan Keen – Platoon Vocals Brent King – Engineer Pamela Lee – Background Vocals Paul Leim – Drums Stephen L. Lyman – Gang Vocals David McCune – Platoon Vocals Chris McDonald – Horn Arranger, Trombone Donna McElroy – Background Vocals Shawn McLean – Assistant Engineer Jerry McPherson – Guitars James Michael – Bass Marvin Moore – Gang Vocals Todd Moore – Production Assistance, Assistant Engineer, Platoon Vocals Farrell Morris – Percussion Dave Murphy – Assistant Engineer Phil Naish – Producer, Arranger, Keyboards Nashville String Machine – Strings Gary Paczosa – Assistant Engineer Carlton Pearson – Guest Vocals Monica Pearson – Background Vocals Mary Ann Peterson – Background Vocals Denny Purcell – Mastered John Ricroft – Platoon Vocals Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals Maurice Carlton Scott – Gang Vocals Jimmie Lee Sloas – Bass Carry Summers – Assistant Engineer Brian Tankersley – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Programming Keith Thomas – Producer, Arranger, Songwriter, Synthesizers, Synclavier and Drum Programming, Percussion George Tidwell – Trumpets Jo-Nathan Watkins – Gang Vocals Bill Whittington – Engineer, Mixed Daire Winston – Assistant Engineer Don Wyrtzen – Choir and Strings Arranger