Tag: 1989

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

Carman – Revival In The Land – 1989

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

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Benson Company, Inc.
Copyright © – The Benson Company, Inc.
Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
Distributed By – Mitchell Family Books, Inc.
Record Company – Word, Inc.
Glass Mastered At – DADC – DIDX-007290
Produced For – Yellow Elephant Music, Inc.
Produced For – GBT Productions
Recorded At – The Bennett House
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Recorded At – The Reflections
Recorded At – The Church Studio, Tulsa
Recorded At – Great Circle Sound
Recorded At – Nightingale Studio
Recorded At – Hummingbird Studio, Nashville, TN
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Mixed At – Emerald Sound Studios
Mixed At – Mastermix
Overdubbed At – OmniSound Studios
Overdubbed At – Great Circle Sound
Overdubbed At – Sound Stage Studios
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters
Published By – Some-O-Dat Music
Published By – Dayspring Music
Published By – Yellow Elephant Music, Inc.
Published By – Edward Grant, Inc.

Kenny Marks – Another Friday Night – 1989

Well it’s time for another fantastic Kenny Marks album. Unfortunately by the time this album came out I had already abandoned the Christian music genre. Boy did I miss a great album. The album did fairly well on the CCM charts with “I’ll Be A Friend To You” making it to #5. Strangely it also has an excellent cover of Steve Forbert’s “Running On Love” and it may actually be better than the original. The best cut on the album though is the Rock track “Nobody Else But Jesus” which is strongly in the spirit of The Boss. The album includes part 3 of the “Jeannie and Johnny” tetralogy. Unfortunately in this chapter Johnny has abandoned Jeannie and his child and as such it’s a pretty sad song but it did make it to #25. All in all another great album from Kenny.

Tracklist
1 – Running On Love – 3:41
2 – Whisperin’ A Prayer – 3:40
3 – Hope For A Broken Heart – 4:22
4 – I’ll Be A Friend To You – 3:10
5 – Next Time You See Johnny – 5:51
6 – Nobody Else But Jesus – 4:37
7 – Graduation Day – 4:53
8 – Threshold Of Regret – 3:47
9 – Somebody Loves You – 4:12
10 – You Made A Difference For Me – 3:53

Credits
Arranged By – Phil Madeira
Art Direction, Design – Jackson Design
Backing Vocals – Chris Harris, Mark Heimermann, Michael Black
Bass – David Hungate, Randy Moore
Cover [Coordination] – Amy Linde
Drums – Doug Dimmel, Larrie Londin
Electric Guitar – Kenny Greenberg
Electric Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – George Cocchini
Engineer [Assistant] – John Kunz
Executive-Producer – Lynn Keesecker
Harmonica – Buddy Greene
Keyboards – Phil Madeira, Phil Naish
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Mixed By – Marc DeSisto
Mixed By [Assistant] – Dave Parker, David Boyer
Organ [Hammond B-3] – Phil Kristianson
Percussion – Eric Darken
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Producer – Bubba Smith
Recorded By, Tracking By [Overdubs] – James Kenneth (JB) Baird
Saxophone [Saxophones], Electronic Wind Instrument [Ewi] – Mark Douthit
Tracking By [Overdubs] – Brent King, Doug Sarrett, Greg Parker
Twelve-String Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Jon Goin

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – Recording Arts
Recorded At – Downstage Studio
Recorded At – Mastermix
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Mixed At – Sound Stage Studios
Mastered At – Mastermix

Rick Crawford – Be Still My Heart – 1989

Rick was in one of the Scepter bands and I only found out about him because of this. While researching the band I discovered that he had 2 solo albums. This is the first of those albums. The cover of this album had me expecting a light rock album but, well, it’s not. He tries rock on the track Front Line but his vocals just don’t work. Get A Bible also leans rock and he does a little better on this one but still not great. That said this is a really good song that should have had a cover version by someone. To be clear I’m not saying he’s not a good vocalist in fact I think he’s a very good vocalist but Rock & Roll doesn’t work for him which is just as well because this is an easy listening album and a pretty good one. Interestingly the album was produced by Matthew Ward which probably helped out it’s easy listening quality.

Tracklist
1 – Love Is – 4:00
2 – Come, Lord Jesus – 4:19
3 – Rescue Me – 4:27
4 – There Is A Rock – 3:34
5 – Jesus Paid It All – 4:56
6 – Front Line – 3:53
7 – All Things – 3:24
8 – Does Anybody Love The Lord? – 4:10
9 – Be Still My Heart – 5:02
10 – Get A Bible – 3:52

Credits
Engineer – Greg Hunt
Producer – Matthew Ward
Written-By – Rick Crawford

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Live Oak Records
Copyright © – Live Oak Records
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word (UK) Ltd.
Distributed By – Word Records Limited

Illustrator – Somewhere In The World – 1989

For those who didn’t know Illustrator is essentially a new and improved version of Eternity Express. This is their second and last album under this name. Well actually they did release an album in 2011 to be factual. This album is a rather typical but well done late 80’s AOR album. It is said that though uncredited Dann Huff played some of the guitar tracks but I have no way to know if this is true or just rumour. As with their other album this was a much improved version of Eternity Express and this album like their other definitely deserves a listen.

Tracklist
1 – New Way to Love – 3:53
2 – Dying to Meet You – 3:57
3 – Hold My Heart – 4:58
4 – Cryin’ Time – 4:44
5 – I Surrender – 4:21
6 – Help is on It’s Way – 3:40
7 – Listen – 4:00
8 – Should’A Been Love – 4:30
9 – Feels Like – 4:32
10 – Carry the Cross – 3:44

Credits
Art Direction – Loren Johnson
Backing Vocals [Additional] – Angie Alan, Cindy Cruse, David Ebensberger, Tim Miner
Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals – Mark Matthews
Design, Layout – Teresa Pratt
Drums, Vocals – Kirk Allen
Executive-Producer – Freddie Piro
Guitar, Vocals – Dan Gaub
Keyboards, Lead Vocals – Nathan Gaub
Keyboards, Vocals – Dawndee Gaub
Producer, Engineer – Win Kutz
Saxophone – Randy Lee

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Ocean Records
Copyright © – Ocean Records
Recorded At – Nick’s Place Recording Studio
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Mixed At – Eagle Mountain Studios
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Pressed By – Wakefield Manufacturing – 47497

Crystal Lewis – Joy – 1989

This is Crystal’s second solo album. It solidified her new more worship oriented style though “Come Together” is still a pretty rockin tune and probably the best example of what Crystal can do vocally on the album. As for the rest of the album I found it a little dull. But to tell the truth I was a huge fan of her previous work so this change in style didn’t work for me personally. That said the album is excellent for this style and no one can ever argue that Crystal’s voice is one of the best in the industry.

Tracklist
1 – Leave It Up To Him – 3:13
2 – God Is Somebody – 4:17
3 – You Didn’t Have To Do It – 4:56
4 – Monday Comes – 4:13
5 – It’s Real – 3:51
6 – Come Together – 4:56
7 – Better Day – 3:53
8 – Bloodstained Pages – 3:51
9 – There’s Always Time For You – 3:32
10 – Bring Peace Today – 5:20
11 – Monday Comes (Alternative Mix) – 3:48

Credits
Arranged By [Vocals] – Crystal Lewis
Backing Vocals – Alfie Silas, Debbie McClendon, Fred White, Howard McCrary, Jackie Gouche, Maxie Anderson, Phyllis St. James
Bass – Andrew Gouche, Larry “Clyde” Simpson
Engineer – Dave Jahnsen
Guitar – James Harrah, Marty Walsh
Guitar [Lead] – Tony Palacios
Guitar [Rhythm], Drums [Overdubs] – Brian Ray
Keyboards, Technician [Technical Support] – James Werning
Mastered By – John Matousek
Mixed By – Doug Rider
Percussion – Alex MacDougall, Crystal Lewis
Producer, Arranged By, Keyboards – Gene Eugene
Producer, Arranged By, Sequenced By [Synth] – Scott V. Smith
Programmed By [Synth] – Bill Pearson, Rhett Lawrence
Saxophone – Dan Michaels
Synthesizer [Overdubs] – Michael Ruff
Vocals – Crystal Lewis

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Distributed By – Frontline Records
Recorded At – “Rhett’s Place” Studio
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B

Mark Farner – Wake Up – 1989

This is Mark’s second Christian release. It’s not quite as Rock & Roll as his first but it is still pretty good. Mark handled most of the instruments on the album and also produced it. Personally I feel the sound is a little hollow in places but I’m always overly critical on production and engineering. The tracks are well written and Mark really started to shine as a song writer on this album. Other than that there’s not a lot to say about the album other than give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Wake Up… – 4:23
2 – Into The Light – 3:59
3 – New Age – 3:22
4 – Come To Me – 3:58
5 – In Your Sight – 5:23
6 – Upright Man – 3:30
7 – Rocco – 3:48
8 – If It Wasn’t For Grace – 3:53
9 – Love Power – 4:00
10 – Role Model – 5:54
11 – Like I Was Before – 3:52

Credits
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Drums, Percussion – Mike Maple
Bass, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Lawrence Buckner
Engineer – Bradley Jones
Engineer [Assistent Engineer] – Dave Jahnsen, Don Pushies
Keyboards – Mark Farner
Keyboards, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Michael Blair
Lead Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Gordon vanEkstrom
Percussion – Mark Farner
Producer – Mark Farner
Rhythm Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Vocals, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Mark Farner

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Fun House Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Recorded At – Alliance Recording Co.
Mixed At – The Mixing Lab