Various – Our Hymns – 1989

This is another “Our favorite artists do their favourite hymns” projects. I certainly wasn’t the target audience for these projects but they did sell well as some people really enjoyed these albums. For those of you looking for anything vaguely rock The Petra track is pretty good but for the main part this is a pretty easy listening affair. Good, but easy listening.

Tracklist
1 – Michael W. Smith – Holy, Holy, Holy – 4:57
2 – Amy Grant – ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus – 4:05
3 – Bruce Carroll – More Love To Thee – 3:22
4 – Kim Boyce – I Must Tell Jesus – 3:52
5 – Russ Taff – Near The Cross / My Jesus I Love Thee / Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus – 5:04
6 – Phil Keaggy – Prelude: Bach’s Bourrée / O God, Our Help In Ages Past – 7:02
7 – First Call – O Sacred Head, Now Wounded – 5:12
8 – Wayne Watson – It Is Well With My Soul – 4:37
9 – Take 6 – The Saviour Is Waiting – 4:09
10 – Petra – Onward, Christian Soldiers – 3:48

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Buddy Jackson
Coordinator [Album Coordination] – Mary Gross
Executive-Producer – Loren Balman, Michael Blanton
Photography By – Mark Tucker

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd., 3XM, Emmaus Ministries, Filadelfia Forlag, Finngospel, GMI Records, Grace Music, Kir Music, La Sorgente Music, Master Music, Master-Vision-S.A., Pila Music, Sephora Diffusion, Viva Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Made By – Sleeveprint Ltd
Printed By – Sleeveprint Ltd

Bruce Carroll – The Great Exchange – 1990

I have to say that this is a bit of a confusing album. It has some country tracks, a rock tracks and some AOR tracks. Now normally this would doom an album as changing styles on an album is not good for sales normally. But in this case it just works. This is a great album and I just loved it. Even with the differing styles they are so well done that I don’t care. The album is well produced and the order of the tracks makes the transition from style to style enjoyable. The album had 4 CCM top 10 singles which must make it one of the best CCM albums historically. “Who Will Be Jesus” made it to #1, “The Great Exchange” #2, “Living In The Pages” #5, and “Elm Street” made it to #9. “Average Joe”, my favourite track, also sneaked into the top 40 at #38. Also “Who Will Be Jesus” won The Dove award for “Inspirational recorded song of the year”. Now that’s a successful album.

Tracklist
1 – Living In The Pages – 4:34
2 – Lay It On Down – 2:47
3 – Elm Street – 4:08
4 – Who Will Be Jesus – 3:51
5 – Average Joe – 4:07
6 – The Great Exchange – 3:51
7 – Wake The Dead – 3:05
8 – I Can’t Love Without You – 2:55
9 – Moment Of Truth – 4:47
10 – You Never Know – 3:16

Credits
Bruce Carroll – Vocals
Eddie Bayers – Drums
Michael Black – Background Vocals
Sam Bush – Mandolin, Background Vocals
John Cowan – Bass, Background Vocals
Eric Darken – Percussion, Tambourine
Bela Fleck – Banjo
Pat Flynn – Acoustic Guitar
Kenny Greenberg – Guitars
Buddy Greene – Harmonica
Chris Harris – Background Vocals
David Hungate – Bass
Phil Keaggy – Electric Guitar Solo
Brent King – Mixed
Wayne Kirkpatrick – Background Vocals
Bruce Koblish – String Arranger
Paul Leim – Drums, Percussion
Dwight Liles – Songwriter
Phil Madeira – B-3 Organ
Kenny Malone – Drums
John Mays – Executive Producer
Jerry McPherson – Guitars
Duncan Mullins – Bass
Phil Naish – Keyboards
Nashville String Machine – Strings
Mark O’Connor – Fiddle
Don Potter – Guitars
Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals
Brent Rowan – Guitars
Bubba Smith – Producer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Overdubbed At – Quad Studios
Overdubbed At – Nightingale Studio
Overdubbed At – Stargem Studios
Mixed At – Digital Recorders
Mastered At – Mastermix

Bruce Carroll – Richest Man In Town – 1988

This was Bruce’s second album and wow was it a success. His first album was passed over by most people but this album got noticed. It had 4 top 40 hits with “Above And Beyond” making it to #4 and “Driving Nails” making it to #11 as well as two other hits at #24 and #31. It was produced by Bubba Smith who really nailed this album. The album is an AOR genre style but there are a few tracks that lean more towards Rock. I’m actually a little surprised how well it did. I’m not saying it’s not good, it’s just that like I said it has a couple Rock tracks and we know that the CCM chart people usually shied away from albums like this. But all that aside this is an excellent album and I really enjoyed it. There’s at least 2 tracks that will be making it into my regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Cross Your Heart – 2:24
2 – Above And Beyond – 3:13
3 – When He Reigns He Pours – 3:20
4 – Fight To Be Weak – 3:00
5 – The Richest Man In Town – 3:42
6 – Only You – 3:29
7 – Song For You – 3:41
8 – It Is Finished – 3:11
9 – He’s Always There – 4:09
10 – Forget It – 3:44
11 – Something Good Is Bound To Happen – 3:47
12 – Let Go Let God – 2:53
13 – Driving Nails – 3:36

Credits
Bruce Carroll – Songwriter, Vocals
Russ Barenburg – Guitars
Phil Barnhart – Songwriter
Eddie Bayers – Drums
Mark Casstevens – Guitars
Mark Douthit – EWI
Stuart Duncan – Fiddle
Terri Gibbs – Songwriter
Carl Gorodetzky – Strings
Lloyd Green – Steel Guitar
Buddy Greene – Songwriter, Harmonica
Chris Harris – Background Vocals
Mark Heimermann – Background Vocals
Gary Janney – Background Vocals
Bill Kenner – Mandolin
Brent King – Mixed
Barbara Kinnamon – Songwriter
Bruce Koblish – String Arranger
Bob Krusen – Engineer
Larrie Londin – Drums
Phil Madeira – B-3 Organ
Kenny Malone – Drums, Percussion, Tambourine
John Mays – Executive Producer
Jerry McPherson – Guitars
Duncan Mullins – Bass
Nashville String Machine – Strings
Maura O’Connell – Harmony Vocals
Paul Overstreet – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Don Potter – Guitars
Kelly Pribble – Engineer
Gary Prim – Keyboards
Matt Rollings – Piano
Brent Rowan – Guitars
Jerry Salley – Songwriter
Bubba Smith – Producer, Castanets, Claves, Tambourine
Paul Smith – Songwriter
Bob Souerv – Songwriter