This is one of those odd situations when a band actually put out a demo after they had already released a successful album. Maybe the album wasn’t as successful as I think it was but anyway Reunion Records didn’t sign them for a follow up so the band got together and released a demo themselves. Personally I loved their album Things Break but I wasn’t aware of this album. Because of this I was pretty excited to hear it and I wasn’t disappointed. While it follows in the footsteps of their first album it definitely had an updated more 90’s sound. I don’t understand how this album didn’t get picked up by a label. It’s got excellent production and the band had already paid for the production so this was a freebie for some label. Anyway it wasn’t so many of you probably never heard but it’s a great listen with an updated 90’s feel that you should hear.
Tracklist 1 – Terry And The Pirates – 3:53 2 – Woman – 3:39 3 – A Silent Dove In A Distant Land – 4:53 4 – You And Me – 3:02 5 – Let It Thrive – 3:19 6 – Too Much Of A Good Thing – 4:38 7 – Found My Way Again – 4:56
This is a pretty rare one. In a conversation with the guys over at Christian Underground Encyclopedia (Linked below) I asked for a suggestion for a really good unknown album and this was their suggestion and boy were they right. This is a fantastic album that should be heard. This is not some unknown bunch of guys though. There’s a track on here written by Daniel Amos guitarist Greg Flesch who also appears on the album. Obviously someone was connected to the scene here. The album was released on Victoria Ltd records which I suspect guitarist Ken Roberts owned as he is involved on every single album they released, usually as producer but we are talking about very few albums and artists. Ken also produced and mixed this album. I have reviewed a few other albums Ken produced and they have, in my opinion, not had great production but that is not the case on this album as it has absolutely excellent production. Sometimes when you’re in the studio a mix just comes together like magic, I suspect this was one of those times. “I Am The Wounded Warrior” found itself on the 1991 compilation album “Rob Woolsey Radio Singles Spring 91” which I hope I can get my hands on because it has some great unreleased material. As for this album it has a pretty pop sound which leans new wave at times. While I’m not sure 1990 was good timing for this sound as it fit better in 1985. All that said this album really has no criticism from me and I love the sound and this is probably in my personal top 10 of albums that no one every heard of and in fact may hold the number one spot. Thanks to the crew over at Christian Underground Encyclopedia for their help with this one and if you love odd and rare 80’s CCM their website is a must see.
Christian Underground Encyclopedia – https://downthelinezine.com/cue/start
Tracklist 1 – One Love – 4:01 2 – Turn Away – 3:07 3 – The Falling Reign – 3:44 4 – Pass The Torch – 4:14 5 – Waiting For You – 3:30 6 – I Am The Wounded Warrior – 5:34 7 – Ring-A-Ling – 3:45 8 – And Like The Leaves – 5:31 9 – Are We So Wise – 4:38
Credits
Band John Hall: vocals & guitar Ken Roberts: Guitar Taylo: Keyboards
Support Musicians Jeffrey Allen: Bass guitar Ralph Clayton: Bass guitar David Casanova: Drums Tim Pope: Drums Greg Flesch: Guitar Kevin Fisher: Guitar Suzie Cappetta: Backing vocals Mike Cappetta: Backing vocals Ralph Clayton: Keyboards Lorenza: Sax
Production Ken Roberts – Producer & Engineer Joan Bullin – Photography
Jeff performs some his favourite hymns and worship songs. Some of these are traditional hymns and some are more cent worship songs most of us are familiar with. This was an interesting album idea from Jeff and I think many artists wanted to try this idea bout no way a record label would touch this idea. Jeff didn’t have those impediments as he was independent and really didn’t care about record labels. These are not Rock & Roll covers but just a contemporary arrangement. I’m not a big fan of the Heavy Metal versions of hymns so I’ll be honest I was a little concerned about listening to this album. Instead I love it. These are great arrangements and nowadays you could hear any of these arrangements in a regular Sunday service. Guitar work is handled by Charles Fearing (Raydio) and all the other instruments are handled by famed producer Freddie Perren who also produced the album. Jeff’s vocals are the real focal point of the album and I don’t think he ever got the credit he deserved as a vocalist. You probably missed this one back in the day so you should give it a listen now.
Tracklist 1 – The Old Rugged Cross – 4:32 2 – The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power – 4:54 3 – Goin Up Yonder – 5:56 4 – Holy Ground – 6:05 5 – Amazing Grace – 5:19 6 – Sometimes Alleluia – 5:45 7 – He touched Me – 5:35 8 – Blessed Assurance – 4:30
Credits Art Direction, Design, Layout – Ben Bull, Walter Ebrahimzadeh Backing Vocals – Carmen Twilley, Julia Waters, Maxine Waters Engineer – Freddie Perren, Jack Rouben Guitar – Charles Fearing Instruments – Freddie Perren Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Photography – Ron Blanchard Producer, Arranged By – Freddie Perren Programmed By, Engineer – Ran Ballard Vocals – Jeff Fenholt
I have seen King’s X live on three occasions. I still have no idea how they pull off their sound live with just three guys. It is really impressive. Of course, one of the times I saw them they were the band for CCM pop artist Morgan Cryar. They played at the infamous “lighthouse” in Orange County. With their third release, Faith, Hope, Love, King’s X were positioned to become the next great rock band, and even though they have garnered a stellar track record and decent fan base, the world just some times doesn’t “get it” when it comes to great and significant rock. Possibly more “commercial” than the first two release, FHL, is still a rocking album and filled with the bands unique, creative and progressive rock music. The Beatlesque vocals married to big and heavy rock just seem to work so well, especially here. The single, “It’s Love” is a brilliant song that deserved even more radio support than it did. But like most King’s X projects it’s deeper into the album that the real gems shine though. “Fine Art of Friendship” has such a killer groove that sticks with you and a wonderful message of reconciliation. “We Were Born to Be Loved” just flat out rocks…hard! And the spoken vocal just works perfectly. Many prefer the debut because of it’s greater progressive and creative influence, but FHL delivers such a consistent and listenable sound that it bears more repeated listening.
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – We Are Finding Who We Are – 4:39 2 – Its Love – 4:34 3 – Ill Never Get Tired Of You – 3:46 4 – Fine Art Of Friendship – 4:21 5 – Mr Wilson – 3:39 6 – Moanjam – 6:05 7 – Six Broken Soldiers – 3:32 8 – I Cant Help It – 3:53 9 – Talk To You – 4:36 10 – Everywhere I Go – 3:53 11 – We Were Born To Be Loved – 4:52 12 – Faith Hope Love – 9:23 13 – Legal Kill – 4:42
Credits Art Direction – Derika Van Reenan Artwork [Back Cover Illustration] – James McDermott Artwork [Front Cover Illustration] – Randy Rogers Bass Guitar, Vocals – Doug Pinnick Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Jerry Gaskill Engineer, Recorded By – Steve Ames Guitar, Sitar, Vocals – Ty Tabor Management – Sam Taylor Mastered By – Tony Dawsey Photography By – George Craig Producer – King’s X, Sam Taylor Written-By – King’s X
The background story on the band is quite interesting actually. David actually played in an early version of Quiet Riot as a replacement for Randy Rhoads when he left to join Ozzy’s band. Kevin Dubrow (Quiet Riot) actually produced Brighton’s first demo, and the band began playing at the Whiskey A Go Go, The Troubadour, The Starwood, Madame Wongs West, The Roxy, Gazzarri’s, and many others. This led to them winning the nation wide talent search “Rock To Riches.” While the prize for this was a recording deal it never worked out and the band went another direction. That single “Take Another Look” was released on a radio station sampler which we can not find. The band went on to record “Stay With Me” which appeared on a Myrhh sampler and climbed to the top 10 on Christian radio. At this point the band recorded this demo which would eventually morph into their first and only album. Anyway that’s a brief history of the band. I have more info on the band but these reviews are supposed to be relatively short LOL.
Tracklist 1 – Promise Of Love – 3:47 2 – On Any Sunday – 3:45 3 – Love To Me – 3:49 4 – Women With Guns – 3:01 5 – Wash Me In The Rain – 4:00 6 – Boulevard – 3:16 7 – Cursing The Night – 3:48 8 – Run Through The Flames – 4:11
Credits Vocals, Guitar, Producer – David Brighton Bass, Background Vocals – Mark Robertson Drums, Vocals – Steven W. Latanation Guitar – Dave Wronski
Kind of an odd live release from The Call here. For some reason Mark Heard and the guys at Fingerprint records in conjunction with Conspiracy Music decided to release a The Call live recording from 1990. This album was recorded on the support tour for Red Moon album at The Coach House in San Juan, CA in the Fall of 1990. As the band was under contract to MCA Records in 1990 I am assuming this was a recording the band arranged. Further making this release a little stranger is the choice of tracks. Normally when you put out a live album you leave a lot of the newest tracks and concentrate on the bands singles from across their catalogue. This album actually includers 5 tracks from Red Moon so it’s actually a relatively correct album of that tour. While rarely done I think it’s kind of cool. The album itself is poorly recorded with some soft clipping and horrendous compression but we’ve done the best we could to make it sound a little better. As for the album it’s great and was sought after for one main reason in the CCM industry and that is for the live version of “I Still Believe” which is very very good. Anyway there are several great The Call albums in the 2000’s but this is probably my favourite.
Tracklist 1 – Floating Back – 4:17 2 – A Swim In The Ocean – 7:27 3 – This Is Your Life – 4:02 4 – I Don’t Wanna – 5:19 5 – You Run – 7:32 6 – Family – 4:16 7 – Same Old Story – 3:52 8 – Even Now – 5:01 9 – Red Moon – 3:15 10 – Oklahoma – 5:29 11 – You Were There – 4:29 12 – I Still Believe (Great Design) – 5:30 13 – Let The Day Begin – 4:25
Credits Bass – Ralph Patlan Drums, Vocals – Scott Musick Engineer [Live Sound Engineered By] – Kraig Black Engineer [Recording Engineered By] – Jim Scott Executive-Producer – Dan Russell, Monte J. Robison, Taylor Robison Guitar, Vocals – Tom Ferrier Keyboards, Vocals – Jim Goodwin Lead Vocals, Bass, Guitar – Michael Been Mastered By – Peter Thomas* Percussion, Backing Vocals – Dan Hallas Photography By – Dorothy Greco, Lindsay Ljungkull Producer – Michael Been, The Call
Sisters Heather & Kirsten Ostrom actually started out their music career by singing the national anthem at sports events. I can honestly say that this is probably the only CCM group that got their start that way. In 1985, they recorded a Christmas tape called “Christmas Joy” which caught the attention of artist/producer Roby Duke. Yes we looked for a copy with no luck. Anyway eventually Arcade records came calling and Roby Duke produced a track for a Arcade Records Sampler. It was well received so they headed back into the studio to record the rest of this album. Unfortunately this would be their only album and while Heather moved on to other things in life but Kirsten continued her career in music as Kirsten Wenlock and is still in the business today. As for the album it’s a dance pop album that is probably a little over produced but that was the style on almost all Pop Dance albums of the period. Not really my style but it’s a fun listen that many will like and I’m pretty sure they would have had more albums if Arcade Records hadn’t have been shut down.
Tracklist 1 – Move – 3:37 2 – Evidence – 3:38 3 – Faith Hope Love Dance – 3:50 4 – Shock 2 U – 4:30 5 – So What – 3:35 6 – Some Sweet Boy – 2:41 7 – Pourin’ Rain – 4:05 8 – The Other Side – 3:46 9 – Betcha Didn’t Know – 4:37 10 – If I Were To Say – 4:20
Scaterd-few is an interesting band. They actually formed in 1983 and recorded a demo that year with Terry Scott Taylor as producer. That demo never made its way out but we do get to hear some of the cuts on their 1991 “Out Of The Attic” album. They broke up in 1985 but reformed in 1989 and got together with Terry again for this album. The band eventually put out a total of 5 albums which given the controversy that surrounded them is pretty good. I’ll cover those controversies in future album reviews. The controversy of this album is that some said it was Rastafarian and not traditional Christian. This caused distributor Zondervan to drop the album. I listened to this album and I don’t think it spouts Rastafarian beliefs but on the other hand I don’t care, I’m here for the music. As for the album it has that angry punk feel on many tracks but some tracks are more structured and resemble a commercially viable song. There are a few tracks that have a Reggae feel which may have caused this whole silly Rastafarian thing. As I said it was produced by Terry Scott Taylor and personally I can feel and occasionally hear his influence but I could just be reading into the album. Anyway when people talk about 90’s Christian punk this album is often their number one or two favourite.
Tracklist 1 – Kill The Sarx – 1:26 2 – While Reprobate – 1:41 3 – Beggar – 2:22 4 – Lights Out – 2:51 5 – Later (LA 1989) – 3:37 6 – Groovey – 2:56 7 – Glass God (No Freedom In Basing) – 2:08 8 – As The Story Grows – 1:28 9 – U – 1:53 10 – A Freedom Cry – 2:30 11 – Scapegoat – 1:17 12 – Wonder Why – 1:36 13 – DITC – 1:09 14 – Self – 1:13 15 – Look Into My Side – 4:09 16 – Kill The Sarx II (Apocalypse) – 7:05
Credits Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Backing Vocals [Additional BGVs] – Jav Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Omar Domkus Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Samuel West Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals – Jamie Mitchell Vocals [Vox], Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion – Rämald Domkus Graphics – Drewzig Guitar [Additional Guitars] – Ed Lover, Greg Flesch, Greg Lawless, Tools Layout – Joe Potter Mastered By – John Matousek Photography By – David Dobson Photography By [Cover Photo By] – Drew Domkus Producer [Produced By] – Rämald Domkus, Terry Taylor Producer [Produced With] – Omar Domkus Recorded By – Gene Eugene
Many people think M.C. Ge Gee (Genie Rodriguez) started her Rapping career after her brother, D-Boy Rodriguez, was murdered but after researching her a bit I found this wasn’t true. Executives at Frontline Records had already identified her as something the industry needed and she had been studying rapping with her brother before his death. When her brother was in the studio she was there often playing drums on his tracks and helping him with rhythm. As for her album Danny contributed vocals, programming and scratching as the album was recorded before his death. The album is not just Danny’s style by a female. It has a completely different sound and feel. Yes the actual rapping is similar but the backing tracks are a completely different sound. In fact what I find so fun about this album is her use of different music styles backing her backing. We have everything from Reggae to Jazz to African and I Love it. Again not my favourite genre but honestly I loved this one.
Tracklist 1 – Let’s Fight Back – 3:19 2 – Try This One – 3:19 3 – Jazzin It Up – 3:47 4 – Jesus Loves Me – 3:15 5 – Unity – 4:41 6 – Latino Style – 3:34 7 – I’m For Real – 3:36 8 – You Can Make A Difference – 3:53 9 – Loving Him In Return – 3:44 10 – Go Ge Gee – 3:28
Wikipedia annoyingly states that Crashdog were “one of the first Christian punk bands” Obviously those of us who followed the industry know that isn’t true but I do think they may have been one of the first recorded bands that did what I refer to as angry punk. Punk crossed many styles over the years but these guys were definitely one of the first to do this style successfully. There isn’t much information about how the band came to be but we do know that they were part of the Jesus People U.S.A. movement in Chicago. They must have had some connection with REZ as this album is the first on REZ album on REZ’s label Grrr Records. The band does a real mix of social commentary songs along with straight up Christian songs on this album. While I’m not the biggest fan of what I call angry punk I do quite like this album. The music is fantastic and the lyrics are good and this must have been a refreshing change of sound at the time. These guys were together for a further 4 albums which means they were doing something right.
Tracklist 1 – Progress – 2:30 2 – Brainfill – 1:18 3 – Numbered By Color – 3:13 4 – Electric Drug – 2:41 5 – Distorted View – 1:36 6 – Never Again – 3:28 7 – Bloody Lane – 3:20 8 – End Of The Rope – 3:30 9 – American Dream – 2:45 10 – Your Ugly Face – 2:44 11 – Injustice – 2:07 12 – The Cold Within – 2:36 13 – Midnight Ride – 2:42
Credits Bass – Brian Grover Drums – Greg Jacques Engineer – Ed Bialach Engineer [Assistant] – Roy Montroy Guitar – Andrew Mandell Vocals, Harp [Mouth Harp] – Spike Nard
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Tone Zone Recording Pressed By – Disctronics USA
