While this album was released in 2000 the material was apparently recorded in 1992. Things were a little more complicated for Stryper in 1992 with Michael announcing his departure and the joining/not joining of Dale Thompson. Apparently they did hit the studio in 1992 and recorded these 5 tracks but with all the turmoil they never got released. Somehow Michael got the rights to these songs and self released them in 2000. Anyway let’s not get hung up on the turmoil and give the EP a listen. These are excellent tracks and are pretty well produced. Tony Palacios (Guardian) played lead guitar on the first 2 tracks. I really enjoyed these 5 tracks, they have a great arena rock feel and I’m sure would have sold well in 1992 if they could have been released. Michael rerecorded/remixed “All I Wanna Do” for his self titled album in 1994.
Tracklist 1 – Love You Crazy – 3:55 2 – Give What You’ve Got – 4:53 3 – All I Wanna Do – 3:57 4 – When I’m Lonely – 4:05 5 – I Need You Now – 4:13
Credits Bass – Baba Elephante Drums – Jamie Wollam Guitar – Tony Palacios (tracks: 1,2) Keyboards – Terry Usler Lead Guitar – Michael Sweet Lead Vocals – Michael Sweet Piano – Terry Usler Producer – Michael Sweet Rhythm Guitar – Michael Sweet
Snakes in the Playground is the fifth studio album from Bride. Strangely many of the reviews for this album say “it was their breakthrough album”. I am assuming most these reviewers actually had no idea about Christian metal. Bride was well established and already revered as one of the best Metal acts of the period. That said it was a great album and I think everyone recognized that including the Dove Awards who gave it 2 nominations for “Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year” which they won for 1992 (Rattlesnake) and 1993 (Psychedelic Super Jesus). Interestingly the album featured several guest musicians, Peter Furler and John James from the Newsboys, Rick Florian from White Heart for backing vocals, Greg Martin from the Kentucky Headhunters, Rick Elias, and Derek Jan from Novella for some solo guitar spots. As for the naming of the album Dale Thompson gave us the story “We were in the beginning stages of recording, and took a break to drive to the store. A large reptile was lying beside our car sunbathing on the pavement. In my attempts to chase the snake away, I chased it under the car. To make matters worse, the effort to move the snake from under the car drove it up into the fender wells. We spent the next hour and a half trying to get the snake to come out. We sprayed it with the water hose, poked at it with a broom handle, even shook the car, but it would not come out. Finally, when we thought we would just have to let the snake have the car, it crawled out and back into the wooded area next to the studio.” If you were living on the moon in 1992 and missed this album it is a must listen.
Tracklist 1 – Rattlesnake – 4:34 2 – Would You Die For Me – 3:35 3 – Psychedelic Super Jesus – 4:18 4 – Fallout – 4:03 5 – Saltriver Shuffle – 0:38 6 – Dust Through A Fan – 3:08 7 – I Miss The Rain – 3:52 8 – Don’t Use Me – 4:01 9 – Picture Perfect – 4:21 10 – Love, Money – 3:48 11 – Some Things Never Change – 4:09 12 – Goodbye – 5:20
Credits Art Direction – Toni Thigpen Bass – Rik Foley Design, Layout – Tufts Design Studio Drums – Jerry McBroom Edited By [Digital Editing] – Alan Douches Executive-Producer – Dez Dickerson Guitar, Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar, Cello, Viola – Troy Thompson Illustration – Todd Tufts Mastered By – Denny Purcell Photography By – Russ Harrington Producer – Salvatore Giglio Recorded By, Mixed By – Salvatore Giglio Vocals, Backing Vocals, Tambourine, Shaker – Dale Thompson
This is the second and last album for Dance House Children though the brothers would go on to work on other projects together. The album continues the dance club sound that really didn’t have that much of a market but the people who liked that style loved this album. I was pretty heavily into the secular dance club scene at the time and I will admit that this album measures right up there with any secular release of the period. My only real criticism for the album is the ugly album cover. I really wish Michael Knott would have stepped in and said no to it. As for the brothers Jason would go on to form Starflyer 59 and Ronnie would form Joy Electric which are both excellent projects by their own right. To say these brothers had great talent would be an under statement.
Tracklist 1 – Once Upon Your Lips – 4:58 2 – The Locket Maker – 4:24 3 – Old And True – 3:45 4 – Eve Leaf – 3:05 5 – Autumn Comes But Once, Dear – 4:19 6 – Homespun Is Happy – 4:19 7 – Simon Sister – 3:31 8 – Keepsake Melody – 3:54 9 – A Lull In The Fairest Maple – 4:43 10 – Uncle Art – 4:02 11 – A Cottage Song – 4:40 12 – Oleanders (Our Happy Place) – 4:02 13 – Sea Breeze – 3:25 14 – Merry – 3:49 15 – Wisteria Time – 4:47
Credits Art Direction, Design – Ed McTaggart Design Concept [Cover Art Concept] – Jason Martin, Ronnie Martin Design [Cover Logo By] – Ronnie Martin Engineer – Christopher Colbert, Dave Hackbarth, Greg Kemble Keyboards, Sampler [Samples] – Jason Martin Mastered By – Doug Doyle Mixed By – Christopher Colbert Photography By – Rob Powell Producer – Dance House Children Vocals, Keyboards, Sampler [Samples], Programmed By [Rhythm Programming] – Ronnie Martin Written-By – Ronnie Martin, Jason Martin
This is Russ’s only Christmas album and I don’t have much to say about it. It is a collection of traditional Christmas carols with very traditional arrangements. Often these albums they lay down the music track with studio musicians then the singer comes in and does the vocals and it’s off to the stores. But credit to Russ here, he used his band for the album and the engineering/production group is his usual team. That makes me respect this album a little more though it’s still not my style. This one is for people looking for traditional songs with traditional arrangements and stand out vocals.
Tracklist 1 – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – 4:34 2 – Angels We Have Heard On High – 2:57 3 – The Christmas Song – 2:19 4 – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – 4:01 5 – I’ll Be Home For Christmas – 4:01 6 – Let It Snow, Let It Snow – 2:39 7 – White Christmas – 3:51 8 – What Child Is This? – 2:41 9 – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – 4:07 10 – What A Wonderful World – 2:27
Credits Bass – Byron House Conductor [Strings Conducted By] – John Darnall Drums, Bells [Sleigh Bells] – John Hammond Executive-Producer – John Huie Mastered By – Hank Williams Piano, Vibraphone [Vibes] – Matt Rollings Producer, Arranged By, Guitar, Backing Vocals, Recorded By, Mixed By – James Hollihan, Jr. Recorded By [Strings Recorded By] – Lynn Fuston Saxophone – Mark Douthit Strings – The Nashville String Machine Trumpet – Mike Haynes
This is the one and only album using the TRB (Toni Rossi Band) moniker. After Daniel band Toni Rossi did a few projects and all of them were excellent. I’ve not heard anything from him I didn’t like and this album is no exception. While in a way it’s typical Toni on the other hand it is somewhat distinctive. I don’t really know who was involved in the project other than Frank Catrambone on drums. Frank was also involved with the obscure Canadian Christian band Ammi who had 2 singles neither of which I can find but I hear they are good. Anyway as I said, other than Frank I don’t know who was helping out with this project but they were pretty tight and the album meshed really really well. The album is the typical Rossi hard rock and is probably my favourite work from him outside of Daniel Band.
Tracklist 1 – Edge-U-Cate – 4:00 2 – Are You Listening – 3:34 3 – End Of Time – 3:42 4 – Love Survives – 4:27 5 – It’s Who You Know – 3:51 6 – Son Comes Down – 4:30 7 – The Answer – 4:05 8 – Take It – 4:27 9 – Chickens – 0:20 10 – Down By The River – 4:24 11 – Stay – 5:04
Credits Drums – Frank Catrambone Guitar, Mandolin, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Producer, Composed By – Toni Rossi
I am willing to guess that almost all fans of 80’s CCM have heard Lisa. We may not have known her name until this introductory album but her vocals were all over the industry. I’m not going to even bother with a list but she sang backup for a lot of our favourite 80’s artists. For those of you who liked the Prism albums she made an appearance on Blue and Red. Anyway this album started out her solo career but yet I don’t find many people talking about this album. I see more discussion of her later albums but quite frankly I think this is a great album. With Brown Bannister pulling the purse strings and Chris Harris and Mark Heimermann producing it I knew this would be a great album. Now I readily admit this album isn’t exactly my style but I always enjoy a great album and this album falls in that category. It has a fun 90’s hip hop pop feel and also has a great music video for the single “Chaperone”. That video also features DC Talk’s Toby Mac and was nominated Video of the Year at the 1993 Dove Awards. Regarding the “single” it seems like originally the single was “Place In The Sun” but they decided to cut a video for “Chaperone”. Now singles aside the album did produce 2 top 10 songs on the CCM charts. “My Freedom” made it to #4 and “Alone In Love” made it to #9. The album also did very well on Christian radio and I read somewhere that both “My Freedom” and “Place in the Sun” made it to #1. Hopefully Jay Whitehurst will chime in and confirm that. Anyway give the album a listen if you missed it back in the day especially if hip hop dance stuff is what you like.
Tracklist 1 – Chaperone – 4:43 2 – It’s Gonna Worth It – 3:47 3 – Falling Off The Face Of The Earth – 4:32 4 – Love Oughta Be – 3:56 5 – My Freedom – 4:31 6 – Place In The Sun – 4:02 7 – Second Chance – 4:41 8 – Alone In Love – 4:28 9 – I Took A Tumble – 3:32 10 – Shirley (Keep It To Yourself) – 5:31
Credits Lisa Bevill – Songwriter, Vocals Carolyn Arends – Songwriter Paula Carpenter – Songwriter John Catchings – Strings George Cocchini – Guitars David Davidson – Strings Mark Douthit – Sax Julius Drummin – Songwriter, Drums Chris Eaton – Vocals Mark Hammond – Drums Chris Harris – Producer, Songwriter, Vocals Mike Haynes – Brass Mark Heimermann – Producer, Songwriter, Keyboards, Drums, Vocals Joe Hogue – Drums, Vocals Wayne Kirkpatrick – Songwriter Sam Levine – Sax Gary Lunn – Bass, Drums Chris McDonald – Brass Toby McKeehan – Songwriter, Vocals Jerry McPherson – Guitars Tommy Sims – Songwriter, Keyboards, Bass, Drums Pam Sixfin – Strings Jackie Street – Bass Kristen Wilkinson – Strings
The North Dakota Melby brothers are back with their 3rd and last album with Frontline Records and boy did they go out with a bang. This is by far the best produced album they had. Is it the best album? That’s actually going to be a little dependent on what you like. For me this is their best because I generally don’t like Metal unless it’s well produced and leans more to arena rock which describes this album. The band also include a couple acoustic metal ballads as was the trend in the late 80’s which is the period of sound this album best fits. The guest guitarist list for this album is stunning with Lanny Cordola (Magdallan), Oz Fox (Stryper), and Tony Palacios (Guardian). Could you think of a better trio of guest guitarists for an arena metal album? They absolutely nailed this album and it is probably one of the best arena rock albums in CCM history.
Tracklist 1 – Hard Hitter – 4:48 2 – Attitude – 4:06 3 – Up At Night – 4:45 4 – Steal, Kill, And Destroy – 5:38 5 – Who Can Heal The Pain – 3:58 6 – Whatsoever U Sow – 4:07 7 – Wicked Ways – 4:35 8 – Violent Burning – 3:44 9 – As Far As The East Is From The West – 4:41 10 – My God Is A Rock – 3:08
Credits Art Direction – Brian Godawa Bass Guitar – Kelly Burns Design – Joe Potter Drums, Percussion – Gregg Bissonette Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Tim Jones* Engineer, Mixed By – Mike Mierau Guitar – Lanny Cordola, Oz Fox, Tony Palacios Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner Mastered By – Wally Traugott Music Consultant [Guitar Consultant] – Tim Ellis (5) Photography – Wayne Armstrong Producer, Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Acoustic Guitar – Lary Melby Producer, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Tim Melby
Lanny was best known as a member of Giuffria, House of Lords and Magdallan/Magdalen but he actually was in many bands. He grew up in L.A. and joined the music scene as a young man and worked as a Guitar tech for a few bands. His recording career started with Giuffria. Anyway to make long story short he eventually started the band Magdallan for which he is probably best known amongst our readers. While still in Magdallan he released this solo album. While this album is mostly instrumental tracks there are a few tracks with guest vocalists that included Jon Gibson. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting a lot from this album but I was horribly wrong. This is a fantastic album that deserved much more recognition than it got. The album really centers around Larry’s fantastic guitar work but the whole band is spot on. The band included brother Matt and Gregg Bissonette who are some of the best in thew business. We also have a guest appearance from Darrell Mansfield. So if you missed this one in 1992 be sure to give it a listen now. Full disclosure I played producer by merging a few tracks that were separated but were probably meant to be merged. This is another album that should have been listened to on vinyl and not on CD.
Tracklist 1 – Kaleidescope – 0:49 2 – Armashreddin’ – 5:39 3 – Play It Again Shem (That Funky Music) – 4:12 4 – Interlude – 0:18 5 – The Real Thing – 3:19 6 – YV – 4:58 7 – Gettysburg – 3:58 8 – Won’t Be Long Till Paradise – 4:32 9 – The Obstinate Toy Soldiers – 5:14 10 – Nan – 5:00 11 – The Revelation – 4:50 12 – For The Brothers – 5:30 13 – Donna Lee – 4:19 14 – Lo I Be With You Always – 4:02
Credits Art Direction – Robert Beeson Co-producer, Engineer – Charlie Watts Design [Production] – Michael Seeley, SP&D Mixed By – Paul Freeman Musician, Backing Vocals – Allegra Parks, Sandra Stevens Musician, Bass – Matt Bissonette, Mike Norton Musician, Drums – Greg Bissonette* Musician, Guitar – Lanny Cordola Musician, Harp – Darrell Mansfield Musician, Horns – the Martin Bros. Musician, Keyboards – Tim Heintz Musician, Percussion – Scott Breadman Musician, Vocals – Bret Taylor, James Christian, Jon Gibson, Phil Bardowell Producer, Arranged By – Lanny Cordola
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Front Page Studios Mixed At – Front Page Studios Distributed By – Brentwood Music, Inc. Glass Mastered At – U.S. Optical Disc, Inc.
A fun 50’s themed project here from Jeff. Like most of his work this was self released and really there’s no way a record label would have touched this album anyway as many of the tracks sound very very familiar musically. That said I love all things 50’s so I love this album. It’s not Lifters level good but it is good nonetheless. I notice that the drummer is Jeff Olson. I don’t now if this is the same Jeff Olson from Trouble but if it is this is quite the style change for him. Rex Delong is on piano. He was in a great 60’s group called The Rumblers so he brings some authenticity to the project. Anyway as I said this is just a fun album that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is real easy to listen to.
Tracklist 1 – Jesus (Rocked My Soul) – 1:58 2 – Praise The Lord Tonite – 2:48 3 – Jesus The Lord – 4:16 4 – Everybody – 1:50 5 – Jesus, My Savior, My Lord – 3:37 6 – Jesus Is The Rock – 2:55 7 – I Got Saved – 2:11 8 – Jesus, You’re So Wonderful – 3:43 9 – I’m In Love – 2:16 10 – Jesus Loves Me – 1:12
Credits Jeff Fenholt – Vocals, Producer, Arrangement Larry Hernandez – Guitar Rex Delong – Piano Robert Nance – Upright Bass Jeff Olson – Drums Rick Balentine – Synthesizer, Producer, Arrangement Glen Meyercough – Sax
Companies, etc. Published By – Messiah Music Published By – Heartwarming Music Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia Recorded at – Asaph Recording Studio
Magdallan’s “Big Bang” is the audio definition of an album that was hurt by too many delays in its release. Delayed well over a year (maybe two?), the album would have been the best album in its genre in 1989, but two or so years later and the whole music world changed. but even taking that into consideration, when one considers the album exclusively on its merit it cannot be denied as truly great work. The title may also be a track on the album, but it is also an adequate description of the totality of the album. It is BIG. Really, really big! Production is over the top with literally hundred of vocals layered on top of another and blazing guitar solos that are simply unmatched in CCM. I had lunch one day with Ken Tamplin and he spent the entire time talking about Hal Lindsey and the soon coming end of the world. I was really into the topic at the time and was fascinated. My ideology has shifted drastically in the past 25 years, but even though the album comes across like a track for the Pre-Trib Rapture theory, I cannot deny the unequaled quality of the album. The theme is so interwoven throughout the project that it becomes inescapable. the lead track is called “End of the Ages” and the content lyrically should be clear without any discussion. But what shines here though is some thoroughly enjoyable late 80’s guitar god, over-the-top solos. Though Tamplin was the lead vocalist for the project and primary songwriter, it should be noticed that the band really belongs to Lanny Cordolla. The famed House of Lords guitarist enlisted the help of his former band mates to round out the rest of the band. The high level of musicianship sets the record a[part from the rest of its contemporaries. This is shown in the diversity of arrangements and some of the greatest drumming on any arena rock album. Other stand outs include the title track, Radio Bikini (about the American nuclear bomb testing around WW2) and the ballad Wounded Heart. Despite a Dove Award nomination, the album never met sales projections though it was the best selling album for Intense Records (Frontline) of all time. Radio wouldn’t touch the ballads and the musical direction of rock radio had gone toward grunge and alternative.
Tracklist 1 – End Of The Ages – 6:12 2 – Radio Bikini – 4:41 3 – Shake – 3:50 4 – Wounded Hearts – 5:34 5 – Love To The Rescue – 5:07 6 – Old Hard Line – 4:31 7 – Dome Of The Rock – 4:47 8 – Big Bang – 4:51 9 – House Of Dreams – 4:17 10 – Cry Just A Little – 4:57 11 – Heartbreak Woman – 4:08 12 – This 1’s 4U – 2:46 13 – End Of The Ages (Reprise) – 0:34
Credits Art Direction – Ed McTaggart Bass, Acoustic Bass – Brian Bromberg Co-producer, Engineer [Mixing], Engineer [Tracking] – Mick Guzouski Cover [Painting “The Last Judgement”] – Michelangelo Buonarroti Design – Brian Godawa Drums – Ken Mary Engineer [Second] – Eric Rudd, Pat Woehl Engineer [Tracking] – Kim Bullard Engineer [Tracking], Engineer [Second] – Gil Morales, Kevin Becka Keyboards – Kim Bullard Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Ken Tamplin Management – Mike Slarve, Nicki Slarve Orchestrated By – Roger Mielke Producer, Written-By – Ken Tamplin, Lanny Cordola Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Sitar, Banjo, Mandolin – Lanny Cordola
