1995 – Real 80s CCM

Geoff Moore and The Distance – Home Run – 1995

Here’s the 6th album from Geoff Moore and The Distance and it’s another home run. The guys definitely had their sound perfected at this point and knew exactly what their fans wanted. There were a few baseball themed albums in the 80’s and it’s nice to see that these guys continued that theme into the 90’s. The album was pretty successful on the CCM charts with the title track making it to #24 which is pretty surprising because it’s a pretty upbeat song for those charts. “Tell Me Again” and “The Vow” also charted at #6 and #24 respectively. They also produced a music video for the title track which is fun to watch. Another great album from one of my favourite groups.

Tracklist
1 – Home Run – 4:10
2 – New Americans – 5:11
3 – Evidence Of God – 5:42
4 – Best Days – 4:30
5 – The Vow – 4:08
6 – Love Will Save The Day – 3:50
7 – Born To Be – 4:03
8 – Come Near To Me – 5:08
9 – Tell Me Again – 4:36
10 – Nothing To Hide – 4:54
11 – We Are Waiting – 4:38

Credits
Geof Barkley – Songwriter, Keyboards, Choir Vocals
Richie Biggs – Engineer
Dan Brock – Executive Producer
Ronnie Brookshire – Engineer, Mixed
Steven Curtis Chapman – Songwriter
Chuck Conner – Drums, Choir Vocals
Eric Darken – Percussion
Eddie DeGarmo – Executive Producer
Dave Dillbeck – Engineer
Michael Gleason – Keyboards
John Hampton – Engineer
Chris Harris – Bass, Announcer
Dann Huff – Guitar
Gordon Kennedy – Guitar
Ken Love – Mastered
Phil Madeira – Songwriter
Blair Masters – Keyboards
Shawn McLean – Second Engineer
Roscoe Meek – Songwriter, Acoustic and Electric Guitars
Michael Mellett – Background Vocals
Geoff Moore – Songwriter, Vocals
Gary Mullet – Bass
Phil Naish – Producer, Keyboards, Umpire
Jimmie Lee Sloas – Producer, Songwriter, Bass
Bart Stevens – Second Engineer
Randy Thomas – Guitar
Rick Will – Mixed

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Alliance Music
Marketed By – Alliance Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright © – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.

Petra – No Doubt – 1995

This is the 15th album from Petra which is rather amazing when you think about it. Many popular secular bands didn’t even put out this many albums. The album is more pop oriented than their previous album and as such a broader appeal. Strangely the guitars on the album were played by founder Bob Hartman but as he had quit touring with the band so new guitarist David Lichens played the tour and appeared on the album cover and all promotional pictures. Now my criticism. Who thought this album cover was a good idea? The colour is horrible and the artwork is incredibly dull. Looks like the cover was just mailed in if you know what I mean. A part of me feels like the whole project was mailed in. I’m not really hearing anything that jumps out at me as a great track which is really surprising as the Elefante brothers produced and engineered the album. For those of you who say I don’t know anything about music well here’s your proof that you are correct. An album I found to be bland, not bad, was Nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 1995 and actually won the Dove Award for Rock Album in 1996. So I admit my taste does not jive with the industry.

Tracklist
1 – Enter In – 5:00
2 – Think Twice – 4:19
3 – Heart Of A Hero – 4:10
4 – More Than A Thousand Words – 4:58
5 – No Doubt – 4:54
6 – Right Place – 3:38
7 – Two Are Better Than One – 3:43
8 – Sincerely Yours – 4:16
9 – Think On These Things – 4:24
10 – For All You’re Worth – 4:14
11 – We Hold Our Hearts Out To You – 4:11

Credits
A&R – Bubba Smith, Lynn Keesecker
Backing Vocals – John Schlitt
Bass – Ronny Cates
Drums – Louie Weaver
Executive Producer – Bob Hartman
Keyboards – Jim Cooper
Lead Guitar – David J. Lichens
Lead Vocals – John Schlitt
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Vocals – David J. Lichens, Jim Cooper, Ronny Cates

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Epic Records
Distributed By – Epic Records
Glass Mastered At – DADC – DIDP-087033

Guardian – Nunca Te Dire Adios – 1995

Apparently Jamie Rowe and some of the rest of the band were fluent in Spanish and decided to release a few albums in Spanish for the Mexican and South American market. One of the things I have learnt through this project is that CCM music was huge in South America. In fact Brazil has the 3rd most listeners on our YouTube channel followed by Mexico placing them above The U.K. and Australia. Most of these tracks are actually just Spanish covers of previous tracks but the went back into the studio to re-cut the music. I really like Spanish music and was delighted to discover these Spanish Guardian releases. The quality is fantastic and these tracks do not come off as just a new language cover.

Tracklist
1 – Que El Mundo De Su Gloria Llene – 5:02
2 – Todos Vamos Ja – 4:52
3 – Te Veo en el Cielo – 4:39
4 – El Capitán – 4:21
5 – ¿Sabes Que Es El Amor? – 4:51
6 – Nunca Te Diré Adiós – 4:54
7 – Toma Tu Cruz – 4:49
8 – Uno Para el Otro – 4:03
9 – Como el Sol – 5:24
10 – Creo en Ti – 5:10

Barebones – Barebones – 1995

After the split of Barren Cross in 1994 Mike Lee got together with Kai Reiss. I can’t find any work by Kai before this project but I suspect he was involved in the technical side of the industry at the time. On the CD cover bass and drums were credited to fake names with images of a dog. The album has several dog references both in the artwork and in the music. It doesn’t really come off that good but I have always hated albums with gimmicks. The album sound has a hard rock 90’s feel without getting to close to grunge (thank god) and Mike’s vocals are on full display. He really is a great vocalist. Anyway this would be a one off project which is too bad because it’s pretty good and I would have liked to have heard more.

Tracklist
1 – Ugly – 4:21
2 – Wanna-maker – 3:04
3 – I Got My Head Stuck In The Cupboard – 3:37
4 – Row Your Boat – 4:03
5 – Fleas Of A Thousand Camels – 3:06
6 – To Die For – 3:42
7 – Turn Back Time – 4:23
8 – Home On The Rage – 3:28
9 – Slow Melt – 5:15
10 – Icebone – 4:40
11 – Andre’s Song – 5:20
12 – Wingless Plane – 2:47
13 – Untitled Bonus Track – 2:13

Credits
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Bass, Keyboards – Kai Reiss
Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Mike Lee
Bass [Additional] – Mark Williams
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Mike Lee
Engineer [Assistant] – David Reiss, Jason S. Schusster*, Mike Lee
Graphics, Design – T Vasabhuti
Illustration – Carolyn Kunkel
Mastered By – Doug Doyle
Photography By – Darleen Dils
Producer [Produced By], Engineer [Engineered By] – Kai Reiss

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Michel-Andre Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Black Pepper Music
Copyright © – Michel-Andre Music
Copyright © – Black Pepper Music
Recorded At – Black Pepper Music Studios
Mixed At – Black Pepper Music Studios
Recorded At – Kashner Carpet Studios
Mixed At – Summit Recording
Mastered At – Digital Brothers
Glass Mastered At – Technicolor, Camarillo, CA – 104154

Holy Soldier – Promise Man – 1995

While Metal is not my preferred music style I have grown to like it a little more and I was looking forward to hearing some good anthem rock from Holy Soldier on this album. Holy cow was I in for a surprise. Eric Wayne is back on vocals and some how the band decided it was a good idea to completely change their style. They decided to turn their back on all their fans and do a grunge album. To be clear while I struggle with liking Metal sometimes I don’t struggle with grunge at all. I hate it, period. I just wonder how all the Holy Soldier diehards reacted to getting a completely different style album. I also believe this was the downfall of the band. Yes they had one more album after this but it was a self release because I kind of doubt any record company wanted anything to do with them. I am a little surprised that Eddie Degarmo was an Executive Producer for the album. I strongly respect Ed but he should have known that completely changing styles was not a good idea. Okay lets mover onto the album. As much as I dislike grunge this is a well done album. They actually nailed the sound and did a good job of it. The one exception is the cover of Larry’s “Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus” which is just horrible. So were you a Holy Soldier fan? Did you like the new sound?

Tracklist
1 – Promise Man – 4:35
2 – Mumbo Jumbo – 4:33
3 – My World – 4:02
4 – Rust – 5:45
5 – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – 4:05
6 – Break It Down – 3:55
7 – Cover Me – 4:33
8 – Grind – 3:14
9 – Love Conquers All – 5:13
10 – Sand – 4:29

Credits
Bass – Andy Robbins
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Scott Soderstrom
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin – Michael Cutting
Engineer – Doug Beiden
Engineer [Assistent Engineer] – Sean McLean
Executive-Producer – Dan R. Brock, Eddie Degarmo
Mastered By – Ken Love
Producer – David Zaffiro
Vocals – Eric Wayne
Written By – Andy Robbins, David Zaffiro, Eric Wayne, Michael Cutting, Scott Soderstrom

Companies, etc.
Marketed By – Alliance Music
Distributed By – Alliance Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright © – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.

Vector – Temptation – 1995

This was essentially the final album from Vector though they did do a reunion album in 2021. They continued their style of very light evangelical lyrics giving the album a low JPM like their previous work. It is pretty strong New Wave which was really falling out of favour by 1995 which is probably why it wasn’t a very popular album. That said I love New Wave so it was a nice treat for me in 1995. The CCM genre didn’t have very many good New Wave bands in my opinion but these guys were one of them.

Tracklist
1 – The Power of Love – 5:27
2 – It Comes Down to You – 5:04
3 – All I Need – 4:41
4 – When It All Stops – 4:47
5 – Watch Over Me – 4:49
6 – I Can’t Get Enough of You – 5:48
7 – Let It Slide – 4:53
8 – Mr. Color Wheel – 5:06
9 – Rhythm of Life – 4:58
10 – Temptation – 5:05
11 – Why Did We Wait So Long – 5:10
12 – 10,000 Wishes – 5:33
13 – My Own Eyes – 6:31
14 – She Won’t Say Goodbye – 4:18

Credits
Jimmy Abegg – Songwriter, Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals
Steve Brewster – Drums, Percussion, Loops
Dave Frank – Keyboards, Percussion, Background Vocals
Steve Griffith – Producer, Mixed, Songwriter, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Loops, Vocals
Phil Madeira – Hammond B3, Blues Guitar Solo
Stephen Murray – Background Vocals
Davia Vallesillo – Vocals

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Liquid Disc Records
Copyright © – Liquid Disc Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Gigantic Planet, Inc.
Copyright © – Gigantic Planet, Inc.
Distributed By – Diamante Music Group
Distributed By – CMC Distribution
Produced For – Gaga Productions (2)
Recorded At – Gaga Studios, Franklin TN
Mastered At – Mastermix
Published By – Gigantic Planet Music
Published By – Grilled Fish Music
Published By – Twin Angels Music
Pressed By – Disctronics USA – 130331

Daniel Amos – Songs Of The Heart – 1995

The story goes that the band while in their rehearsal hall saw an album hanging on the wall released in the early 1960s and entitled Songs of the Heart by Bob and Elsa Beckendorf. The album cover was a simple picture of the two artists. The concept was a trip down Route 66 with the couple they renamed as Bud & Irma Akendorf. They actually used the original album cover with their name as the artist. This is the concept of the album track;

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You – We look back to the time when Bud first fell in love with Irma

The Glory Road – Bud, now retired, takes Irma on vacation

Get Into The Bus, Aloha – The Akendorf’s witness a strange occurence at a rest stop

Evangeline – The Akendorf’s get a surprise when they visit a Faith Healer our of curiosity

Uneasy Liews The Head Of The Confidence Man – Bud and Irma discuss faith and flim-flam

The Organ Bar – Meanwhile, in L.A., we encounter a mysterious stranger

Donna Nietche And Her Super Race Of Kick Boxing Uber Parrots – The mysterious stranger offers us a questionable proposition

Our Night To Howl, Time To Go Dancing – Bud gets frisky

Sins Of The Fathers – Back home, Bud has coffee at his favorite diner and is tempted to offer some words of wisdom

Turn This Off – Bud complains about today’s music and the state of the world

Loveland – Relieved to be back home, the Akendorf’s find a better view of the world from their love seat

When Everyone Wore Hats – The Akendorf’s reminisce

My Hand To God – The mysterious stranger reappears as Bud says his last goodbye to Irma

I’m not the biggest fan of concept albums as they always seem to concentrate too hard on the concept rather than the songs but if you’re a DA fan you’re gonna like this one anyway.

Love Song – Welcome Back – 1995

In 1994 a version of Love Song came together to rerecord some of their top songs from their 3 albums in the 70’s along with a couple that were previously unreleased. The versions recorded here are updated and for the main part better I think and it’s nice to here Keaggy’s guitar work on these updated versions too. For me the highlight of the album is a fantastic blues rendition of “Take No Chances” which was previously unreleased at this point in history. Keaggy’s guitar work on that track is just awesome.

Tracklist
1 – A Love Song – 2:38
2 – Little Country Church – 2:46
3 – Let Us Be One – 3:44
4 – Little Pilgrim – 4:59
5 – Two Hands – 3:51
6 – Freedom – 3:45
7 – Take No Chances – 7:17
8 – Feel The Love – 5:14
9 – Changes – 2:21
10 – Front Seat, Back Seat – 3:04
11 – The Cossack Song – 3:43
12 – And The Wind Was Low – 3:35
13 – Welcome Back – 4:44
14 – Jesus Puts The Song In Our Hearts – 6:02

Credits
Alex Acuna – Percussion
John Barbour – Vocals
Chuck Butler – Songwriter
Tommy Coomes – Producer, Songwriter, Guitar, Vocals
Denny Correll – Songwriter
Koji Egawa – Mixed
Fred Field – Songwriter, Violin, Mandolin, Vocals
Chuck Girard – Producer, Songwriter, Vocals
John Hendrickson – Engineer, Mixed
Hadley Hockensmith – Guitar
JB Baird – Engineer
Jesse Johnston – Songwriter
Phil Keaggy – Guitar
Alan Pasqua – Engineer, Keyboard
John Patitucci – Bass
Tim Pierce – Guitar
Jim Scheffler – Engineer
Bill Schnee – Mixed
Tom Stipe – Songwriter
Chris Taylor – Engineer
Jay Truax – Vocals
Ron Tutt – Drums
Bob Wall – Vocals

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Mixed At – Bill Schnee Studios
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Recorded At – Bill Schnee Studios
Recorded At – Roman Foods Studio
Recorded At – Crossroads Studios, Santa Ana, CA
Recorded At – It’s All Music
Recorded At – The Salt Mine

Darrell Mansfield – Mansfield & Co. – 1995

I am a huge Darrell Mansfield fan so I rarely say anything negative about him. But I have heard one criticism that I have to somewhat agree with and it’s that Darrell’s albums started to become very repetitive. Darrell has tendency to go to the same songs over and over again and I understand that if you’re not a huge fan like I am it gets repetitive. Put that aside for a moment though and remember this album came out in 1995. Several of the tracks on this album would become regular tracks for him but this was the first time he released them. As such if you had heard this album for the first time in 1995 it would have been pretty amazing. Now even if you’re tired of hearing the same songs over and over again there is one track here that is a must listen. Willie Dixon’s Spoonful is a real treat and one we don’t hear Darrell do it often so it is a must listen to.

Tracklist
1 – Crossroads – 4:16
2 – Let’s Work Together – 3:19
3 – Heavy Load (Song For Jessica) – 5:36
4 – Flyin’ Free – 5:31
5 – The Mission – 4:31
6 – Boom Boom – 2:38
7 – Spoonful – 7:48
8 – Everybody’s Business – 3:45
9 – Starry Sea – 4:09
10 – He Has Overcome – 7:51

Credits
Backing Vocals – Jaymes Felix
Bass – Greg Chaisson
Engineer – Abe Senna, David Mansfield, Eric Smith, Jonathan Mansfield, Mark Uehlein
Engineer, Mixed By [Mix Down Engineering By] – Tim Lauber
Executive-Producer – Freddie Piro
Graphics – Atom Smith
Guitar – Craig Erickson, Eric Turner (tracks: 3, 5, 10)
Keyboards [Hammond B3 Keyboards] – Steve Wood
Percussion – Burleigh Drummond
Photography – Tom Ferguson
Piano – Rob Rinderer
Producer – Darrell Mansfield

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Ocean Records
Copyright © – Ocean Records
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Ocean Studios
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s

Breakfast With Amy – Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt – 1990/1995

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is the first studio album by Breakfast with Amy and was first released in 1990. I’m a little confused at the release of this album. The band claims it was an Independent release but I see it was released on Narrowpath Records which was a small but established label. Also strangely it was reissued in 1995 on Gray Dot Records which was a new label that year. Furthermore the original version was distributed by Refuge and had a Refuge catalog number assigned to it. Oh and by the way the 1995 version had 3 bonus tracks which are demo’s from their previous sessions. We have included those tracks. Breakfast with Amy is/was an alternative/punk band out of La Habra California. It’s said that the band formed as “Friends Of Amy” as an emergency fill in for a cancelled act for a church in California. You certainly wouldn’t have heard anything like this is my Church which makes me wish I grew up in these California Churches. Apparently this album sold very well and this was the reason for a reissue but the fact that the reissue is on a different label leaves me to believe there was probably more to the story.

Tracklist
1 – Icky – 4:31
2 – Power – 4:09
3 – Cavewoman – 6:04
4 – This Train – 4:18
5 – Mr. Ed – 2:46
6 – Funeral – 3:44
7 – Everything – 4:02
8 – Ferris Wheel – 3:32
9 – Abandoned Houses – 3:37
10 – Social Studies – 4:10
Bonus Tracks
11 – Ferris Wheel (Demo Version) – 9:07
12 – Love Song (Demo Version) – 4:43
13 – Funeral (Demo Version) – 5:32

Credits
Drums – Paul Pelligrin
Electric Bass – Bob Wholer, Tennesee Beans
Engineer [Engineered By] – Dan Bush
Guitar – Christopher Colbert
Guitar, Vocals – Caryn Colbert
Photography By [Cover Photo] – Jack A. Smith
Producer [Produced By] – Amy
Recorded By – Chaz Ramirez
Vocals, Guitar – David Koval
Written-By [All Songs] – Breakfast With Amy

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Narrowpath Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Gray Dot Records
Copyright (c) – Gray Dot Records
Distributed By – GDR Distribution
Distributed By – Refuge Records
Recorded At – Casbah Studio
Recorded At – Half Moon Studio
Published By – Doll Light Music, Inc.
Pressed By – American Multimedia, Inc.