Sleepy Ray has an interesting back story. His parents were only 15 years old when he was born and as a result he grew up in a relatively impoverished home. But growing up Ray says he knew he wanted to be a preacher at the age of 6. He dedicated his life to the church at age 10. He did however struggle with the usual teenager musician stuff and was actually caught with drugs in high school. He actually met Chris Lizotte in music school in California in his early 20’s and performed with him in the LA area. This is his first album and what an album it is. While for the main part it’s a blues rock album the track “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout” is a fantastic Stevie Ray Vaughan style track and easily the best track on the album. I’m looking forward to his second album as this one is definitely in my top 50 albums.
Tracklist 1 – Station To Station – 4:08 2 – Love That’s Really Real – 5:01 3 – Cloud Rollin’ In – 4:16 4 – Magi’s Lead – 4:33 5 – Greatest Of These – 4:05 6 – Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout It – 3:22 7 – Way Into The House – 4:00 8 – High Time – 3:12 9 – That You Are My Lord – 4:32 10 – Lord Rescue Me – 2:44 11 – Let It Flow – 3:13 12 – Dancin’ On A Heavenly Hill – II Samuel 6 – 5:33
I have written extensively elsewhere regarding the sad and sudden death of Michael Been of The Call. He was a brilliant, amazing, passionate, powerful artist. His work with The Call will be discussed several times throughout this countdown and his impact on CCM and the music world at large cannot be overstated. The call was simply the most underrated band in history…period! Much hyperbole? Nope. He also created an amazing solo project here that unfortunately went overlooked both in mainstream and CCM circles. The lead track, Us, is so good, so very, very good, that if it was the good song on the whole album it would still make this list! But fortunately the entire album is filled with amazing and powerful tracks. I find the album to be “heavier” than the albums by The Call, but still just as passionate, melodic and poignant. It’s also just as spiritual, introspective and authentic. Been had this amazingly uncanny ability to make deep spiritual truths sound simple and not so “preachy” while stating very blatant and undeniable truths. To list the “highlights” I would simply just cut and paste the entire track list! This is most definitely an AYSO!
Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/
Tracklist 1 – Us – 3:48 2 – When You’re With Me – 4:48 3 – Nearly Fell – 3:55 4 – This World – 4:43 5 – In My Head – 5:02 6 – This Way – 6:59 7 – Luminous – 5:37 8 – She – 4:14 9 – Worried – 4:16 10 – For Your Love – 3:18 11 – Invitation – 3:57 12 – Now I Know High (Part 2) – 7:43 13 – To Feel This Way – 4:56 14 – To Feel This Way (2006 Remix) – 6:00
Credits A&R – Hugo Burnham Bass – Robert Been Bass Guitar – Dave Allen Drums – Hugo Burnham Drums, Percussion – Scott Musick Engineer – Joel Jaffe Engineer [Additional] – Bruck Dawit Engineer [Assistant] – Alfred Brand, Larry Brewer Guitar – Tom Ferrier Guitar, Drums [Additional], Vocals – Ralph Patlan Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Keyboards – Michael Been Mastered By – Bernie Grundman Mixed By – Michael H. Brauer Producer – David Z, Michael Been Producer [Associate] – Ralph Patlan Vocals – Eli Braden
Companies, etc. Recorded At – Studio D, Sausalito, CA Mixed At – Quad Recording Studios
To say this album was not well received would be an understatement. Guardian had garnered a strong following of their Metal/Hard Rock sound. I really don’t understand what either the band or the Elefante brothers were thinking. I feel sorry for their fans thinking they were buying a hard rock album and they got this instead. Now it should be said the band were successful with this sound and had many more albums with what I assume were new fans of the band. Personally I don’t mind when a band evolves but in this case they changed not evolved. As for the album it’s actually pretty good as the band avoided the grunge sound that was becoming popular but instead went with a pop sound. As I was never a fan of either of the bands styles I can enjoy both sounds equally but wow, it really was a slap in the face to their hard rock roots.
Tracklist 1 – The Way Home Back – 4:31 2 – Endless Summer – 4:32 3 – C’mon Everyone – 4:48 4 – Like The Sun – 5:19 5 – Rich Man Over The Line – 4:03 6 – Your Love – 4:47 7 – Don’t Say That It’s Over – 4:47 8 – See You In Heaven – 4:39 9 – Let The Whole World – 5:02 10 – Preacher And The Bear – 3:15 11 – Still On My Mind – 3:45 12 – Why Don’t We – 1:28
Credits A&R – Mark Maxwell Arranged By, Directed By – Tom Howard Art Direction, Design – Diana Barnes Band [Guardian Is], Bass, Vocals – David Bach Band [Guardian Is], Drums, Vocals – Karl Ney Band [Guardian Is], Guitar, Vocals – Tony Palacios Band [Guardian Is], Lead Vocals – Jamie Rowe Bass [Additional], Guitar [Additional Nashville Guitar] – J.R. McNeely Clarinet – Matt Davich Design – David Bach Drums [Additional] – Jon Knox Drums [Additional], Mellotron, Keyboards [Assorted Digital Claviers] – John Elefante Engineer, Mixed By – J.R. McNeely Management – Marc Whitmore Mastered By – Ken Love Photography By – Michael Wilson Piano – Michael W. Smith Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante Strings – The Nashville String Machine Trombone – Bill Huber Trumpet – David Balph
When the band Seraiah shut down Quinton Gibson and Bradley Beckey formed the band Kid Promise. Now if you are expecting a metal album like Seraiah you’ll be disappointed because this is a pop rock album. In fact it’s a very good pop rock album. Unfortunately this was a one album project and the band went separate way with Quinton working in the industry on several more projects but Bradley appears to have retired and moved on from the industry. This is actually a great pop rock album and probably should have done much better but history said otherwise.
Tracklist 1 – Groove – 4:45 2 – Two Hearts One Love – 4:16 3 – Neverending Love – 4:54 4 – First Time We Met – 4:50 5 – This Time – 4:21 6 – My Generation – 5:36 7 – Whatever It Takes – 5:12 8 – Come Home – 4:28 9 – What Do We Call Love – 3:59 10 – Your Love Is Real – 4:26 11 – Heal Me – 5:17
Credits Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Jimmy Abegg Backing Vocals – Murray Band, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals – Quinton Gibson Band, Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Bradley Beckey Creative Director – A. Dawn Allen Executive Producer – Dez Dickerson Layout, Design – Nosegrind Creative Mastered By – Hank Williams Mixed By, Backing Vocals, Sounds, Loops, Keyboards – Dave Frank Photography – Jeff Frazier Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By, Programmed By – Steve Griffith
Companies, etc. Produced At – Gaga Productions Mastered At – Mastermix
I was considering saying that this album was the real end to Undercover but I’m pretty sure their fans will eviscerate me. That said I actually like this album so my statement is more historical that commentary. For this album Rob Gallas took over lead vocals from Sim Wilson who left the band. Though I read several reviews that did not like his vocals I thought they were okay. Not as good as Wilson but still pretty good. Anyway I can see that I liked this album much more than the critics. I really like the style and feel of the album. I think Rob’s vocals were a great sound for them. But the album didn’t do well and their label was in trouble so this would mark the end of an era. Yes I know there were more albums but I think this is the one that marked the end.
Tracklist 1 – Spill – 4:41 2 – The Moon And The Blue Around – 5:19 3 – Forum (Lullaby) – 7:32 4 – Symbol – 4:36 5 – Carmenita – 3:44 6 – Whoa Nelly – 4:09 7 – Pocket Full Of Money – 4:34 8 – The Overlook (Hosanna) – 3:45 9 – (Tell Me) Everything About You – 4:00 10 – Union – 4:55
Credits Art Direction, Design – Darin Beaman Band [Undercover], Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Gym Nicholson Band [Undercover], Bass, Organ, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Keyboards – Ojo Taylor Band [With], Vocals – Rob Gallas Executive-Producer – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor Mastered By – Chris Bellman Mixed By – Gene Eugene Photography By – Mark Takeuchi Producer [Produced By], Arranged By – Ojo Taylor Recorded By – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor
At this point Daniel Amos had album writing down to a science. Wikipedia states “The album is unusual for its loud, distorted noise pop sound, atypical of the band’s other recordings.” Really? All I hear is a typical DA album. I don’t hear any sound I haven’t heard from them before. Maybe I’m wrong though as I have a much more simple view of music and don’t get into small nuances like whomever wrote that Wikipedia entry. Anyway it’s a great album and while I may disagree with the message of the title track I don’t have to agree with Terry Taylor on everything.
Tracklist 1 – Broken Ladders To Glory – 4:05 2 – Bibleland – 2:56 3 – Theo’s Logic – 3:21 4 – Low Crawls And High Times – 3:41 5 – Bakersfield – 6:20 6 – Out In The Cold – 5:03 7 – The Bubble Bursts – 4:16 8 – Pete And Repeat – 4:11 9 – Constance Of The Universe – 4:09 10 – I’ll Get Over It – 4:39 11 – She’s Working Here – 4:16 12 – Stone Away – 4:48
Credits Art Direction, Design, Photography By, Computer [Digital Chicanery, etc.] – Court Patton, Tom Gulotta Bass – Tim Chandler Drums – Ed McTaggart Engineer [Engineered By] – Gene Eugene, Terry Taylor Executive-Producer – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor Film Technician [Scanning, Color Proofing & Film Output] – Ed McTaggart Guitar – Greg Flesch, Jerry Chamberlain Illustration – Douglas TenNapel Mastered By – Doug Doyle Mixed By – Gene Eugene Photography By [Band Photo] – Trisha Kluck Producer [Produced By] – Terry Taylor Vocals, Guitar – Terry Taylor
So The Strawmen are/were a version of The 77s or at least that’s the traditional view. Whether you consider them that way or not is up to you. The band is/was Mark Harmon and Dave Leonhardt, the bass player and rhythm guitarist for The 77s. They were joined by Mark’s brother Bill on Guitar. It has been reported that this album gave a spark to Mike Roe and Aaron Smith to get the band back together with Mark and Dave. As such this album is kind of held out as a 77s album by a lot of people. Several of the tracks were subsequently re-recorded for the 77s album “Pray Naked”. Bottom line is that you are a 77s fan then this album is a must listen to as it was pivotal in the 77s history in the mid 90’s. The original CD Release had 13 tracks. The 1996 re-release only had 11 of those original tracks but had 4 bonus tracks. Our release here has all of the tracks for a total of 17.
Tracklist 1 – Sometimes – 3:53 2 – Phony Eyes – 4:55 3 – Deep End – 3:49 4 – Come Back – 3:31 5 – Rattles – 3:42 6 – Hard To Say – 4:21 7 – Rant & Rave – 4:11 8 – Hate’m – 4:01 9 – Sometimes (Vocal Mix) – 3:10 10 – Let Love Live – 3:24 11 – The Chop – 3:24 12 – Holy Hold – 3:45 13 – Raging Tomb – 6:23 14 – Talk To Me – 3:48 15 – Ray Of Hope – 3:49 16 – Pick Up The Pieces – 4:26 17 – If We’re So Innocent – 4:00
Credits Artwork [Cover Art By] – Jimmy Abegg Bass, Programmed By [Programming], Backing Vocals – Mark Harmon Guitar [Guitars], Backing Vocals – David Leonhardt Lead Vocals, Guitar [Guitars], Backing Vocals – Bill Harmon Liner Notes – Bill Harmon Written-By [All Songs By] – Strawmen
Slow Revival is the seventh album from Bryan Duncan. This one made it to #5 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Christian chart and had 3 #1 CCM chart hits. “Traces Of Heaven”, “Things Are Gonna Change”, and “United We Stand”. “Don’t Look Away” also made it to #3. 4 top 10 singles on one album is quite the achievement. It was also nominated in the Best Contemporary Album category at the 26th GMA Dove Awards but bizarrely lost out to Take 6. Having listened to both albums now I have no idea how the Dove’s came to that conclusion but whatever. Brian followed up the album with a tour and several people have written that this may have been his best tour.
Tracklist 1 – A Heavenly Light – 4:28 2 – United We Stand – 4:13 3 – Don’t Look Away – 4:32 4 – Your Love, My Saving Grace – 5:17 5 – Traces Of Heaven – 4:53 6 – My House – 4:17 7 – Lonely Tonight – 4:33 8 – Things Are Gonna Change – 5:43 9 – Wheels Of A Good Thing – 3:35 10 – Safe Harbor – 5:08
Credits Arranged By – Michael Omartian, Peter Wolf, Robbie Buchanan Arranged By [Strings] – John Darnall Art Direction – Diana Barnes Backing Vocals – Ann Bailey, Carol Perry, Dan Posthuma, Darrell Brown, David Pack, Lori Perry, Sharon Perry, Shawn Murphy, Tony Gillis Bass – Cedric Lee, John Peano, Neil Stubenhaus Co-producer – Michael Omartian Design – Franke Design Company Drums, Percussion – Carlos Vega, Curt Bisquera, Eric Darken, John Robinson, Steve Latanation Engineer – Mike Mierau Engineer [Additional] – Aaron Swihart, Anthony Thomas, Bert Stevens, Bryan Davis, Dan Garcia, Doug Bieden, Doug Sarrett, Paul Erickson, Ross Pallone, S. Husky Hoskulds, Terry Christian Executive-Producer – Ray Ware Guest, Vocals – Anointed Guitar – Dann Huff, Gary Chapman Keyboards [Additional] – Alan Pasqua, Randy Lee Mastered By – Bob Ludwig Mixed By – Bill Schnee Organ [Hammond B-3] – Alan Pasqua Photography By – F. Scott Schafer Producer – Dan Posthuma Saxophone – David Lhebo Strings – The Nashville String Machine Technician – Eric Slaughter Trombone – Dennis Good
This was the first solo album from Michael after leaving Stryper in 1992. He actually had a demo in 1992 and a few tracks from it made it onto this album. I was really surprised when I first listened to this album. I was expecting something much heavier but this is a rock/pop album and a damn good one. I have criticized Stryper in the past as I think they rode the “we’re heavy metal” horse a little too much. But after listening to this album I think I might have been wrong. This album shows some real talent by Michael and quite frankly the songwriting is excellent. The album was produced by Gregg Fulkerson (Blue Tears) and he also wrote 4 of the tracks. He also provided some guitar and keyboard work. All in all this is a really good album and while I shied away from it at first I’m really happy I took the time to listen to it. There’s a few tracks here that are going into my regular rotation.
Tracklist 1 – Together – 4:10 2 – Take Me Home – 4:40 3 – Tomorrow, Tonight – 4:37 4 – All This And Heaven Too – 4:07 5 – Someday – 4:52 6 – J.E.S.U.S. – 4:27 7 – All I Wanna Do (Is Love You) – 4:06 8 – Forever Yours – 4:24 9 – I Think You Hear Me Knockin’ – 3:56 10 – Ain’t No Safe Way – 3:14
Credits Art Direction – Connie Harrington Artwork By [Hair] – Debbie Frayer Artwork By [Make-up] – Kyle Sweet Backing Vocals, Organ [Additional], Keyboards, Programmed By – Doug Beiden Bass Guitar – Michael Spears Co-producer – Doug Beiden Design – The Riordon Design Group Inc. Drums, Percussion – Jamie Wollam Engineer, Mixed By – Doug Beiden Executive-Producer – Troy J. VanLiere Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Programmed By – Michael Sweet Management – Rendy Lovelady Artist Management Mastered By – Chris Bellman Photography By – Mark Tucker Producer – Gregg Fulkerson, Michael Sweet Rhythm Guitar, Organ, Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Programmed By [Additional Programming] – Gregg Fulkerson Written-By – Gregg Fulkerson, Michael Sweet
Deliverance returns with their 6th album and it continues their more commercial thrash sound. Actually there are several tracks that aren’t thrash at all and are better described as Grunge. Though Deliverance had been developing this sound for a couple of albums they perfected it on this one. This is probably due in part to the all-star team helping behind the mixing board. Gene Eugene mixed the album and also produced it along with Ojo Taylor and Terry Taylor . There was certainly no shortage of talent both in front of and behind the mixer. It was reissued in 2007 by Retroactive Records with 4 bonus tracks (included in our playlist) and a different cover. Track 10 “I Thought” was a previously unreleased track. Track 11 “On The Fritz” is their cover of a Steve Taylor song that was released on the Steve Taylor tribute album “I Predict A Clone”. Track 12 is a rather odd remix of “Belltown” which I’m betting people either love or hate, I doubt there’s much wiggle room on an opinion. Finally they added a track of founding member Jimmy P. Brown talking about the album. Interestingly the album name comes from a C.S. Lewis quote “how the believer is able to find peace within the river disturbance”. Deliverance was bringing something new to CCM music and though it’s not my preferred style it is well done and worth listening to.
Tracklist 1 – Belltown – 4:39 2 – After I Fell – 4:22 3 – River Disturbance – 6:36 4 – Now & Then – 4:33 5 – Speed Of Light – 4:54 6 – A Little Sleep – 3:44 7 – Map – 4:52 8 – You Still Smile – 7:06 9 – Breathing Still – 8:01 Bonus Tracks 10 – I Thought – 3:33 11 – On The Fritz – 3:35 12 – Belltown (Hyper Remix) – 5:04 13 – A Word From Jimmy P. Brown (Spoken) – 12:08
Credits Arranged By [All Songs] – Jimmy P. Brown II, Terry Taylor Bass [5-String & Fretless] – Manny Morales Design, Layout – Court Patton, Tom Patton Drums, Percussion – Jeff Mason, Jon Knox Edited By – Dave Hackbarth Engineer [2nd] – Mark Rodriguez Executive-Producer – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Guitar [Treatments], Guitar [Noise Guitar] – Jonathan Maddux Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar [Where Noted], Keyboards, Twelve-String Guitar – Jimmy P. Brown II Mastered By – Chris Bellman Mixed By – Gene Eugene Photography By – Lia Lavaggi Piano – Gene Eugene Producer [Produced By] – Jimmy P. Brown II, Terry Taylor Recorded By – Gene Eugene, Terry Taylor
