This was the introductory album from Jacob’s Trouble. I can’t find any info on the band before they hit the studio to record this album. The album was produced by Terry Taylor (Daniel Amos) and Gene Eugene helped out on keyboards. The album features both a Monkees cover “Door Into Summer”, and a Beatles cover “Tell Me What You See”, The rest of the album has a Beatles / Monkees feel and sound too. Their future albums were better received than this one and I can understand why. This album seemed kind of dull to me. I just can’t get excited about it. It’s not a bad album just kind of dull. That said this is an important milestone in CCM music for who the band was and what they would become.
Tracklist 1 – Wind And Wave – 5:14 2 – Tell Me What You See – 3:20 3 – She Smiles At The Future – 3:59 4 – Church Of Do What You Want To – 4:45 5 – Awfully Familiar – 4:58 6 – Waiting For The Son – 4:15 7 – Door Into Summer – 3:07 8 – If You Believe – 4:22 9 – Million Miles – 3:28 10 – All For You – 3:38 11 – Psalm 151 – 3:51
Credits Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Terry Taylor Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Backing Vocals – Jerry Chamberlain, Ric Alba, The Troubling Jacobury’s Bass [Rickenbacker], Vocals, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Steve Atwell Drums, Vocals, Tambourine, Backing Vocals – Jerry Davison Engineer – Gene Eugene Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Backing Vocals – Mark Blackburn Guitar, Keyboards, E-Bow – Greg Flesch Photography By – Michael Seeley Piano, Keyboards – Gene Eugene Producer – Terry Taylor Tambourine, Maracas, Percussion [Etc.] – Alex MacDougall Written-By – Jerry Davison, Mark Blackburn, Steve Atwell, Terry Taylor
Companies, etc. Copyright (c) – Broken Songs Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc.
This is the second and last album from D.O.X. For this album they moved over to Nikolai Pankratz’s Pan-Trax Records. This also marked the departure of the involvement of Rob Watson, Terry Taylor, and Tim Chandler. I have no idea what the story behind the first album was but it appears the band were doing their own thing for this album. They also changed drummers with Dave Fiorazo replacing Robert Foster. This album was produced by Bill Baumgart who I usually really like but I don’t think he did a great job with this album. It’s not the quality of the music that I have an issue with as the album is very well done. My small criticism is the varying styles on the album. There’s Pop, Rock, and even a metal tune (R U Runnin’). The album just doesn’t flow but it is a great album. The songs are great and the band is defiantly good. Too bad they came to an end after this album, there was a lot of talent here.
Tracklist 1 – Cutting Edge – 3:34 2 – I See A Day – 3:34 3 – Through The Fire – 4:36 4 – Don’t Look Back – 4:45 5 – Can’t You See – 3:50 6 – R U Runnin’ – 3:16 7 – Hearts On Fire – 3:16 8 – The Love That I Needed – 3:11 9 – Faces In The Wall – 3:40
Credits Art Direction, Illustration [Cover Illustration & Logo] – Jeff Foster Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Allison Beech, Bill Baumgart, Bob Carlisle Bass Guitar, Chapman Stick – Jeff Foster Booking – Frontrunner Agency, Stan Gill Drums, Percussion – Dave Fiorazo Engineer – Dan Abernathy, Dave Jahnsen Engineer [Mastering Engineer] – John Matousek Keyboards – Tim Heintz Lead Guitar – Dennis Verner, Rick Lane Lead Vocals, Words By – Mark de la Bretonne Music By – Mark de la Bretonne, Rick Lane Photography By – Bridgewater Photography Producer – Bill Baumgart Rhythm Guitar – Rick Lane Saxophone – Eric Marienthal Sound Designer [Live Sound], Tour Manager [Road Support] – Dave Wagner
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pan-Trax Records Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pan-Trax Records, Inc. Copyright (c) – Pan-Trax Records Copyright (c) – Pan-Trax Records, Inc. Manufactured By – Pan-Trax Records, Inc. Pressed By – Discovery Systems Recorded At – Asylomar Studios Recorded At – Studio West, San Diego Mastered At – Hitsville
I think the entire Huff family came together to help Kellye get her first album out. The album was released on the Huff families record label “Giant Records” and Kellye had just debuted the year earlier on the David and the Giants album “Strangers To The Night”. It only had one charting single with “In A Special Way” just making it onto the charts at #40. What we have here is a slightly poppier version of David and the Giants with Kellye doing lead vocals. I am actually pretty impressed with her vocal skills, she obviously inherited the family music gift. That said the vocals are a little thin in places but it is her first album and there was much to be learnt yet. I’m looking forward to hearing her second album and hopefully hearing that development.
Tracklist 1 – Anticipation – 3:07 2 – Who In The World – 3:32 3 – All My Days – 3:46 4 – Tailor Me – 3:34 5 – In A Special Way – 3:38 6 – Sing His Song – 3:19 7 – I Cherish Thee – 3:37 8 – Glory Hallelujah – 3:23 9 – All I Need – 3:56 10 – Little Lamb – 4:49
Credits Kellye Huff – Lead and Background Vocals Lloyd Bustard – Songwriter Rick Cooper – Songwriter Karen Harding – Background Vocals Clayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Bass David W. Huff – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Songwriter, Guitars, Mandolin, Background Vocals Lance Huff – Drums, Percussion Rayborn Huff – Engineer, Songwriter, Programming, Keyboards, Background Vocals Anthony Neal – Saxophone Terry Ostovich – Mixed Tim Pedigo – Background Vocals Larry Rust – Keyboards Donnie Sanders – Saxophone Tommy Sims – Songwriter, Keyboards Hank Williams – Mastered
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Giant Records Copyright (c) – Giant Records Distributed By – The Benson Company, Inc. Distributed By – Mitchell Family Books, Inc. Pressed By – Nimbus
This was Greg’s 3rd solo album and his first on what I suspect is his own label “River Records”. I am actually quite impressed how well he did with a new label release. You can’t argue with an album with 4 top 20 CCM chart hits with “Waitin’ On Someday” doing the best making it to #5. Now we know that CCM chart hits do not translate into sales so I would love to hear some sales numbers for this album as it did struggle with distribution. Anyway let’s get to the album itself. Greg’s excellent vocals dominate as usual. CCM chart numbers mean nothing to me so I think the best track is “Gethsemane”. Unfortunately because it is 7:40 long it will not end up in my regular rotation as quite frankly I get bored with it at about the 5 minute mark. I feel I need to address the “Feelings” track as I can’t decide if it was intentionally quirky or just a bad musical decision. But that’s the end of my criticisms because this is a great album and is a must listen to.
Tracklist 1 – Walk Toward The Light – 4:51 2 – No Room In The Middle – 3:48 3 – Love Moves In A Different Circle – 4:13 4 – The Carpenter – 4:05 5 – I’m Yours – 5:58 6 – Servants And Witnesses – 5:05 7 – Feelings – 5:18 8 – Frontline – 4:19 9 – Gethsemane – 7:38 10 – Waitin’ On Someday – 5:46
Credits Arranged By – George Atwell, Michael Atwell Bass – Gary Lunn, Matt Pierson Co-producer – Greg X. Volz Design – Camille Engel Drums – Marvin Steinberg Guitar – Kirk Henderson, Paul Brannon, Tom Hemby Keyboards [Additional] – Jonathan David Brown Keyboards, Arranged By – Carl Marsh Mastered By – Ken Love Mixed By, Producer, Recorded By – Jonathan David Brown Photography By – Russ Harrington Saxophone – Mark Douthit Synthesizer – Joe Hogue Vocals – Greg X. Volz
Freedom is the sixth studio album by White Heart and their last with Sparrow Records though Sparrow would continue distribution under an arrangement between the Sparrow Records and Star Song labels. This was also the last album for Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Chris McHugh. I guess you could say this album marked a end of a chapter for the band. I read a few reviews of this album and some reviewers thought this was one of their best if not their best album. I don’t really fall in that camp of reviewers. It’s a pretty good album and there’s a track or two that will make it into my rotation but their best? Not really. The album is a nice mix of CCM singles with 3 making it to the charts and “The River Will Flow” doing the best at #13 There’s also a couple power tracks that are more my style. So my final rating is pretty darn good and has enough different style to satisfy most listeners.
Tracklist 1 – Bye Bye Babylon – 4:06 2 – Sing Your Freedom – 4:59 3 – Let the Kingdom Come – 5:04 4 – Over Me – 5:19 5 – Eighth Wonder – 4:25 6 – Power Tools – 4:20 7 – Invitation – 4:53 8 – The River Will Flow – 6:55 9 – Set the Bridge on Fire – 4:31 10 – Let It Go – 4:15 11 – I’ll Meet You There – 4:22
Credits Art Direction – Barbara Catanzaro-Hearn, Larry Vigon Backing Vocals – White Heart Band [White Heart Is] – Billy Smiley, Chris McHugh, Gordon Kennedy, Mark Gersmehl, Rikk Florian, Tommy Sims Design – Larry Vigon Studio Engineer [Additional Engineer] – Byron House Engineer [Assistant Engineers] – Carry Summers, Kevin Twit, Mark Nevers, Paula Montondo, Shawn McLean, Steve Bishir, Todd Moore Executive-Producer – Peter York Lead Vocals – Rikk Florian (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 to 11) Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Photography By – Mark Tucker Producer [Produced By] – Brown Bannister Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Occasionally I just take a day and root through a record company library to see what I find. This is one I found while rooting through the Refuge library. I’d never heard of the artist though actually he’s relatively well known for the period. Ben claims to have grown up as a child soldier in Nigeria. These stories don’t usually end well but his does as he was able to immigrate to the U.K. He was actually a well known artist in the anti apartheid movement and shared the stage with several prominent artists at that time. He has continued on with his somewhat unique style today. As for that style I would best describe it as pop oriented folk reggae. The industry refers to it as Afrikanese reggae but I don’t care for that description so I’ll go with mine.
Tracklist 1 – Wake Up – 4:38 2 – Got Me Running – 4:56 3 – Oke Na Ngwele – 2:55 4 – Man Of Sorrow – 4:28 5 – I Need Love – 5:17 6 – Raise Your Conscience – 5:10 7 – Filippino – 3:33 8 – World Gone Crazy – 3:57 9 – No Matter What It Is – 4:27 10 – Look Out – 2:34
This is Priscilla’s second album. Her first album was on Frontline Records but this one was on tiny label Diadem Music. It appears she didn’t get a second album deal with Frontline. Now I have not listened to her first album yet but after listening to this one I am kind of surprised she couldn’t get a larger record deal. This album is very good. The jacket cover had me worried I was about to listen to a worship album but not so. This is a fun 80’s Pop album. I can’t find much out there on this album but I’m not overly surprised due to the label it was on. Diadem was owned by Benson (a much larger label) but I don’t know if they did much promotion of their Diadem label. Anyway this is a great fun pop album and is definitely a fun listen.
Tracklist 1 – Ageless Love – 3:04 2 – Nothing But Jesus – 3:34 3 – He Is Still A Father – 5:02 4 – Just Believe – 3:56 5 – No Need (Bow Down) – 4:27 6 – He’s Leading The Way – 3:55 7 – There You Are – 3:25 8 – River To The Throne – 5:00 9 – Follow You – 3:39 10 – Fire Of The Holy Spirit – 3:47 11 – To Live Is Christ – 3:28 12 – Don’t Dance – 3:11 13 – Kingdom Love – 5:00
Credits Backing Vocals – Beverly Darnall, Guy Penrod, Jimmie Lee Sloas, Kip Raines, Mark Ivey, Paul Marino, Ray Boltz, Steve Millikan Bass – Gary Lunn, Randy Melson Drums – Dane Clark, Mark Hammond Guitar – George Cocchini, Sandy Williams Keyboards – Joe Hogue, Steve Millikan Producer – Steve Millikan Saxophone – Mark Douthit
Guitarist David Zaffiro left Bloodgood to do his own thing here. The album definitely has it’s own feel and it shouldn’t be mistaken for Bloodgood. The guitar riffs sound similar in places but it looks like David had his own sound that he wanted to get out to the public. Michael Bloodgood does help out on a couple tracks so it’s nice to see that David leaving Bloodgood wasn’t in bad blood. My only fault on the album is that there should have been a few more rockin tracks and a few less ballads but that said they are very well done and I would have been hard pressed to pick ones to delete. So to sum up this is a good rockin album and I look forward to listening to David’s next album.
Tracklist 1 – Stay – 4:00 2 – I See Red – 3:22 3 – Where Are You Now – 3:36 4 – Why Me – 3:58 5 – The Other Side – 6:18 6 – Diversity – 4:42 7 – You – 3:11 8 – To The End – 4:27 9 – Only Eyes – 3:39 10 – Spirit Of The Lord – 4:50
Credits Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Assemblage – Jason Brown Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Charlene Nemieyer, David Schueler, Marlene Cochran, Paula Prince, Richard Bartholomew Bass Guitar – Bill Hale (4), Mark Mosholder (tracks: 2) Co-producer [On Lead Vocals] – Michael Bloodgood (tracks: 2, 10) Drums – Davin McLaird Engineer – Charles Meserole Keyboards – David Hubbard (tracks: 10), Kelly Carpenter Lead Vocals, Guitar, Producer, Engineer, Written-By – David Zaffiro Photography By – Mark Wilkins Rhythm Guitar – Maverick Gibson (tracks: 1) Written-By, Co-producer [On Lead Vocals] – Maverick Gibson (tracks: 1,8)
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Alarma Records Copyright (c) – Alarma Records Mastered At – Hitsville Distributed By – The Benson Company Published By – Broken Songs Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Liaison was formed by brothers Larry and Tim Melby who grew up in rural North Dakota. The brothers played just about every instrument there was and they display this talent on their first album. The album was very well received partly due to some excellent production by tech wizard Bill Baumgart. This album has an excellent arenas rock feel but leans AOR too. It even had 2 chart singles on the CCM charts. Go And Sin No More made it to #14 and The Way, The Truth, And The Life to #38. I understand it was also very very popular on Christian rock radio but I don’t currently have access to any of their charts. This is a great rock album and everyone should give it a listen. I’m pretty sure there’s at least one track that will fall in your like pile.
Tracklist 1 – When The Kingdom Comes Down – 4:21 2 – You Are His Main Concern – 3:51 3 – Go And Sin No More – 3:31 4 – Man With A Mission – 5:02 5 – The Way, The Truth, And The Life – 4:23 6 – Kick It Down – 3:21 7 – The Light Is On – 4:11 8 – He Lives – 4:15 9 – Give Me One Day At A Time – 3:29 10 – You’ve Got My Heart In Your Hands – 3:42
Credits Arranged By [Arrangements By] – Tim Heintz Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Bass – Kelly Burns Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Beth Wisner, Eric Kibby Engineer [Engineered By] – Dave Jahnsen Illustration – Jeff Foster Mastered By – John Matousek Music By, Lyrics By – Lary, Tim Melby Musician, Backing Vocals – Bill Baumgart Musician, Drums – Jeff Porcaro Musician, Guitar [Additional Guitars] – Gawain Reifsnyder, Glenn Pearce, Vince Mendoza Musician, Guitar [Guitars] – Michael Landau Musician, Keyboards – Bill Baumgart, Tim Heintz Musician, Saxophone – Dave Koz Performer [Liaison Is], Guitar [Guitars], Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Tim Melby Performer [Liaison Is], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar [Guitars], Bass – Lary Melby Photography By – Ralph Bizik Producer [Produced By], Arranged By [Arrangements By] – Bill Baumgart
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Frontline Records Copyright (c) – Frontline Records Distributed By – The Benson Company Produced For – Asylomar Productions Recorded At – The Mixing Lab Mixed At – The Mixing Lab Mastered At – Sound Works West Copyright (c) – Broken Songs
Kim was that “girl next door” artist CCM was looking for. That is, if you lived next door to a really attractive girl who appeared to live on a farm and possessed nothing but jeans and an acoustic guitar who drove a 1950’s era puck up truck. Yeah…that next door. After a decent debut that showed glimmers of hope for originality and artistic merit, Kim Hill’s sophomore release, Talk About Life, revealed those possibilities. Less Nashville pop and more female singer-songwriter. Less AC pop and more rock, country and folk. Hill was Christian music answer to the Melissa Etheridge/Meredith Brooks. jean wearing female rocker/songwriter. Hill’s husky alto voice (think Chistine McVie, KT Tunstall)) was great fit to the earthy, acoustic rock on the album. What also worked is a strong lyrical content that went beyond the normal CCM categories, even if the themes remained similar. There is a passion in the content as well as in the performance. “Snakes in the Grass” is one of the great songs in the history of CCM female artists. Her vocal flexibility and range mixed with a stark and edgy production makes this a stand out on so many levels. It’s a song Maria McKee would do, but with no guarantee of better results. The acoustic guitar accentuated by an incredible “rock” string arrangement is pure studio magic. Brown Bannister, more noted for his AC pop, outdid himself on this album. The title track and Closer to a Broken Heart continue the great rock sound in the vein of The Pretenders and Tom Petty. In fact, there are really no weak moments on the albums and has remained her strongest effort, though her follow up also contained similar quality work. Hill would later move in a more worship direction and an involvement with Women of faith type ministries. She has yet to return to this type of music and that is true loss for Christian Music. But even some 20 years later this album sound fantastic and not dated in any way.
Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Inside Of You – 4:22 2 – Stop, Watch And Listen – 5:14 3 – Secret Place – 4:45 4 – Snake In The Grass – 4:08 5 – Let’s Talk About Life – 2:01 6 – Closer To A Broken Heart – 3:37 7 – Turning – 3:50 8 – Testimony – 3:33 9 – Charm Is Deceitful – 2:21
Credits Art Direction, Design – Jackson Design Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Richard Headen Cover [Cover Coordinator] – D.L. Rhodes Executive-Producer – Michael Blanton, Terry Hemmings Mastered By – Doug Sax Mixed By – Jeff Balding Photography By – Russ Harrington Producer [Associate Producer] – Wayne Kirkpatrick Producer [Produced By] – Brown Bannister Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Splash Headen, Smash Kirkpatrick Recorded By [Assisted By] – Carry Summers, Steve Bishir Recorded By [Overdubs Recorded By] – Slash Bannister Recorded By [Tracks Recorded By] – Jeff Balding
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Reunion Records Copyright (c) – Reunion Records Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word Records Limited Copyright (c) – Word Records Limited Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word (Uk) Ltd. Copyright (c) – Word (Uk) Ltd. Manufactured By – Word, Inc. Distributed By – Word, Inc. Recorded At – OmniSound Studios Overdubbed At – Home Groan Studio Mastered At – The Mastering Lab Published By – Pupfish Music Published By – Knightsville Music Published By – Edward Grant, Inc. Published By – Birdwing Music Published By – Songs Of PolyGram International, Inc. Published By – Yellow Jacket Music, Inc. Published By – Emily Boothe, Inc. Published By – Word Music (2) Published By – Riverstone Music, Inc. Pressed By – DADC – DIDX-006789
