Tag: 1989

DC Talk – DC Talk – 1989

DC Talk started in 1987 by Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait, and Kevin Max Smith though the real story started the year before when Toby and Michael performed the song Heavenbound for their fellow students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The song was a huge hit and the band immediately sold out 3000 copies of their actual first demo “Christian Rhymes to a Rhythm” (Coming soon to the channel). Kevin subsequently joined the band and they recorded a 10 track demo. It was also very successful and some how Eddie DeGarmo over at ForeFront Records heard of them and decided to rerelease their demo minus 2 tracks as their first album. This is that first album. It was very popular as I guess the industry was looking for a new sound. While there were rap groups before them none of them had quite this sound.

Tracklist
1 – Heavenbound – 3:53
2 – Gah Ta Be – 3:58
3 – Final Days – 4:08
4 – The King (Allelujah) – 4:10
5 – Spinnin’ Round – 3:48
6 – Voices Praise Him – 3:51
7 – Time Ta Jam – 2:02
8 – He Loves Me – 5:11

Credits
Cover, Design – Jon Timian
Engineer, Mixed By – E. Q. Monroe, Richard Hartine, Ron W. Griffin
Executive-Producer – Dan R. Brock
Human Beatbox – Mike Valliere
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Photography By – Jon Timian, Steve Eastham
Producer – Ron W. Griffin, Toby McKeehan
Rap – Toby McKeehan
Vocals – Kevin Smith, Michael Tait

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Starsong Communications
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright © – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Recorded At – Horizon Recording Studios
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Recorded At – Crosstown Recorders
Mastered At – Mastermix
Published By – Up In The Mix Music

Recess – Recess – 1989

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

Martyn Joseph – An Aching And A Longing – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Shark Management
Copyright © – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Mixed At – Blue Strike Studios

Kerry Livgren – One Of Several Possible Musiks – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Mastered At – Masterfonics
Recorded At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Mixed At – The Peach, Covington, GA
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Copyright © – Kerry Livgren Productions,Inc.
Produced For – GrandyZine Productions Inc.
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

After Eleven – It’s About Time – 1989

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

Michael W. Smith – Christmas – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Reunion Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Reunion Records, Inc.
Made By – Discovery Systems
Published By – O’Ryan Music, Inc.
Published By – Tapestry, Inc.
Published By – Age To Age Music, Inc.
Published By – Annie Merle Music
Published By – Gaither Music Company
Published By – Emily Boothe, Inc.
Recorded At – War Memorial Auditorium
Recorded At – Martinsound
Recorded At – Sigma Sound Studios
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – Deer Valley Studio, Franklin, TN
Mixed At – Deer Valley Studio, Franklin, TN
Edited At – Digital Associates
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab

Truth – Your Heart Is Where Christmas Is Found – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Benson Company, Inc.
Copyright © – The Benson Company, Inc.
Recorded At – Great Circle Sound
Mixed At – Great Circle Sound
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Distributed By – Mitchell Family Books, Inc.
Published By – John T. Benson Publishing Co., Inc.
Published By – TRC Music
Published By – Paragon Music Corp.
Published By – EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.
Published By – Word Music, Inc.
Published By – Paramount Music
Published By – Mills Music, Inc.

Surprise – Fish!!! – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Windwood Studios

Steven Curtis Chapman – More To This Life – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Nineteenth Street Productions
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright © – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Christian Marketing Canada, Ltd.
Pressed By – Capitol Jax
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Recorded At – The Pond
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Studio 55, Los Angeles
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters
Record Company – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Designed At – Hipke, Inc.

Jeff Fenholt – Live – 1989

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