Greg Scheelar – Run Very Fast – 2008

Greg Scheelar is an independent artist from Winnipeg Canada.

His CD, Run Very Fast, is a decidedly easy listening affair but don’t let that discourage you from giving it a listen.

If you want an upbeat track try “St. Anselms Prayer”, it should have your toes tapping. The album is very strong lyrically and very well produced.

It actually features several members from The Real 80’s CCM family (meet them in our Facebook group). Join us in supporting independent artists and give this album a listen.

Track Listing:
1 – Dancin With The Glory
2 – Prayer of Confession (Confiteor Deo)
3 – Run Very Fast
4 – My Jesus I Love Thee
5 – Gloria
6 – St. Anselms Prayer
7 – Abide With Me
8 – The Moon And The Stars

Randy Stonehill – Paradise Sky – 2008

During filming of David Di Sabatino’s Larry Norman documentary, “Fallen Angel” the producers wanted to use various Randy Stonehill songs. This was a problem however, as the rights to those recordings were still owned by Larry Norman’s record labels who needless to say weren’t interested in working with the producers.

Randy however owned the rights to the songs so it was decided to send him back into the studio to rerecord the songs they wanted to use. The result is this album which includes songs from Randy’s first few albums.

The songs are very well produced and this album is an enjoyable visit back to the early days of Randy Stonehill.

Tracklist
1 – Keep Me Runnin’ – 4:57
2 – One True Love – 4:27
3 – King Of Hearts – 4:34
4 – Norman’s Kitchen – 4:11
5 – I’ve Got News For You – 4:30
6 – Even The Best Of Friends – 4:23
7 – The Winner – 3:38
8 – Counterfeit King – 5:34
9 – Trouble Coming – 4:34
10 – First Prayer – 3:20
11 – Good News – 4:10

Credits:
Design [Art Design] – Joe Redmond, Lara Kulczycki
Engineer [Engineered By] – Mike Pachelli
Executive-Producer – Ray Ware
Liner Notes – David Di Sabatino, Randy Stonehill
Photography By [Back Cover Photo] – Susan Uston
Photography By [Cover & Digipak Inset Photo] – Wayne Armstrong
Photography By [Insert Photos] – CCM Magazine*, Duane Pederson, Jerry Hauser, Leonard Stonehill, Pamela Newman, Pauline Stonehill, Hollywood Free Paper*, Randy Stonehill
Producer [Produced By], Arranged By – Mike Pachelli, Randy Stonehill

Darrell Mansfield – Born To Be Wild – 2008

This is a collection of classic rock songs (some altered slightly) put out by Darrell Mansfield.

There is actually very little info on this album and I’m not able to find the catalogue number for it. It is however perhaps the greatest “cover” album ever put out.

Some of the covers are so good you wouldn’t even know it’s a cover. I have no idea who his backing band was for this album, but they are obviously a very strong band.

Track Listing:
1 – Born to Be Wild
2 – Just Lookin’ for a Church
3 – Spirit in the Sky
4 – Back Slider
5 – Radar Love
6 – Drift Away
7 – For the Love of Money
8 – Are You Ready?
9 – Respect Yourself
10 – Put a Little Love in Your Heart
11 – Oh Well
12 – Walking in God’s Love
13 – Get Together
14 – I’ll Be There
15 – Lean on Me
16 – Nature’s Way

Larry Norman – Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer: Anthology – 2008

This double album was released on vinyl shortly after Larry’s death in 2008. I have a lot of different anthologies that he released over the years. White Blossoms from Black Roots being one of the ones that was meant to be career-spanning at the time. This one includes his real mainstays, the songs he became known for, and probably the ones that were his favourites.

It’s pressed on heavy vinyl and I’ve only played my copy a few times. I remember discovering each one of these songs decades ago, and I think that’s the point of the collection.

This would have been the last thing Larry worked on before he died. Larry wrote short descriptions for each song on this record in September of 2007. They are included in the liner notes pictured, check out the photo.

The opening track is the version of I Love You from his time with the band People!. The recording sounds a little 1969 because it is. This was a radio single at the time and would have been released under Columbia Records. After that, Larry struggled with releasing his music on his own with complete control, and there is probably a lot that we will never hear.

True to LN fashion, the back of the jacket lists 5 tracks on each side of disc 1, but there are 4 on side A and 6 on side B. The same thing happened on disc 2. Ha Ha World is listed as the last song on side A but it is actually the first song on side B. At least the record labels are correct. Not a big deal, but the details always seemed to be a killer at SR Studio.

The lead-out etching on side 1 of disc 1 says “Death is conquered while you slumber.” This is an obvious homage to Larry’s passing. He used that phrase many years earlier in liner notes and it seemed to come up here and there. The other half of the rhyme is “Seven is the perfect number,” which is etched in side 2 of disc 1.

The 20 songs in this collection come from only 6 different albums, and 6 tracks are from Only Visiting This Planet, and 5 are from In Another Land. Larry obviously considered this to be his core work.

The etching on side 3 says “quasioxymoron: numbers don’t count.” This is a riddle we saw in the liner notes of Something New Under the Son. We have our guesses about it but no official sources ever answered any questions about Larry’s most cryptic notes.

Side 4’s etching says “Only Visiting This Planet Larry Norman (1947-2008)” Fitting. And the 7 is backwards.

Track Listing:
1 – I Love You
2 – I’ve Got To Learn To Live Without You
3 – I Am The Six O’Clock News
4 – The Great American Novel
5 – Moses: A Blues Recital And Meditation Of 40 Years On The Road
6 – Peacepollutionrevolution
7 – Pardon Me
8 – Reader’s Digest
9 – Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?
10 – Baroquen Spirits
11 – Nightmare #71
12 – Watch What You’re Doing
13 – Without Love, You Ain’t Nothing (Righteous Rocker)
14 – The Outlaw
15 – Ha Ha World
16 – U.F.O.
17 – I’ve Searched All Around The World
18 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready
19 – Rosemary’s Baby (The Omen-666)
20 – The Sun Began To Rain