Charlie Peacock – The Secret Of Time – 1990

While managing Maranatha Village I would receive a phone call the beginning of each month from Charlie Peacock asking me if I needed anymore of the cassettes of West Coast Diaries Vol 1. That helped strike up a friendship. But there was often several years in between conversations. In fact, the most recent conversation I recall was after a Sunday Morning service in Colorado Springs where Charlie had performed the offertory for the Church I was attending. I obviously love a lot of different music and because of connections over the years with many, if not most, of the artist that fill up this countdown, I am not very starstruck. But when it comes to Charlie Peacock…I am a dumb fan! I just love what he does and will find buying albums that he produces even if I don’t care for the artist. When Exit was just starting out I was invited by label head Mary Neely to a concert in Hollywood with Steve Taylor and this new band Exit was releasing called Vector. What I remembered the most about that evening was this bouncy keyboardist that seemed to play with one hand while dancing with the other in that classic 80′s swinging of the arms sort of way. Mary gave me a copy of their album advance that night and I immediately noticed the unique vocals on the songs sung be that keyboardist. They would become my favorites. Not that much later Mary invited me out the LA one more time for a convert of Exit artists as they were looking to sign a mainstream distribution deal. The line-up included Robert Vaughan and the Shadows (discussed previously), the 77′s, a new, revamped Vector and that keyboardist, Charlie Peacock. I left that evening with a blank tape advanced copy of a record called “Lie Down in the Grass.” WOW! It was several years between the release of “Lie Down” and the Sparrow release on which we will focus, “The Secret of Time.” In between was a self titled album on Island records that still has two of my favorite Charlie Peacock songs, “Message Boy” and “Down in the Lowlands.” The latter would be covered by Russ Taff on his wonderful Russ Taff project. The “Charlie Peacock” seemed to come and go without even a notice, but the mainstream Christian debut, “Th Secret of Time” would make Charlie Peacock a mainstay in Christian music, whether the artist ever intended things to be that way. “The Secret of Time” combines reworking of several songs from the West Coast Diaries series along with new songs. It may end of being Peacocks most consistent project with jazz, funk and acoustic/alternative all performed with pop sensibilities and Charlie’s unforgettable, breathy vocals. Though the following album, Love Life, would contain Peacock’s biggest hit, “In the Light,” it was TSOT that contained his most memorable collection songs, though not his best overall effort (much later for that).

Tracklist
1 – Big Man’s Hat – 5:11
2 – The Way Of Love – 5:05
3 – One Thing – 4:18
4 – Put The Love Back Into Love – 5:11
5 – Almost Threw It All Away – 6:06
6 – The Secret Of Time – 3:39
7 – Dear Friend – 4:30
8 – Heaven Is A Real Place – 4:59
9 – Drowning Man – 3:04
10 – Experience – 5:23

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Jimmy A.
Arranged By – Charlie Peacock
Arranged By [Backing Vocals] – Annie Stocking, Vince Ebo
Art Direction – Barbara Hearn
Backing Vocals – Alexia Abegg (tracks: 7), Annie Stocking, Ellie Bannister (tracks: 7), Eric Volz (tracks: 7), Margaret Becker (tracks: 8), Molly Ashworth (tracks: 7), Sam Ashworth (tracks: 7), Vince Ebo, Wayne Kirkpatrick (tracks: 8)
Bass – Tommy Sims
Coordinator [Production] – Richard Headen
Design – Larry Vigon Studio
Drums – Chris McHugh
Electric Guitar – Jerry McPherson, Jimmy A.
Engineer [Assistant] – Graham Lewis, Mark Nevers, Roy Gamble, Shawn McLean, Steve Bishir, Todd Culros*\
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Guitar [Les Paul And Marshall] – Rick Will
Keyboards – Blair Masters, Charlie Peacock
Keyboards [Hammond B-3] – Roger Smith
Keyboards [Solo] – Roger Smith
Lead Vocals – Charlie Peacock
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Mixed By [Additional] – Rick Will (tracks: 3, 7, 8)
Percussion – Trent Dean
Percussion [Programming] – Charlie Peacock
Photography – Mark Tucker
Producer – Brown Bannister
Programmed By [Fairlight] – Byron House
Programmed By [Synclavier] – Jeff Boggs
Recorded By – Brown Bannister (tracks: 6, 7), Jeff Balding
Recorded By [Additional Overdubs] – Byron House, Daryl Zachman
Recorded By [Overdubs] – Brown Bannister
Sampler – Blair Masters
Saxophone [Solo] – Michael Butera
Trumpet [Solo] – George Tidwell

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Canadian Christian Distributors, Inc.
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

Charlie Peacock – Charlie Peacock – 1986

This was supposed to be Charlie’s breakthrough album that was supposed to solidify his secular presence. Unfortunately that didn’t work out. A&M bailed on the album and it eventually ended up on Island records. Island was unable to properly promote the album so it didn’t have any secular success. One of the stranger production ideas was to include the single from his previous album, “Lie Down In The Grass” on this album. All in all the record companies all screwed up what should have been a top 40 album. The beats and synth were perfect for the time and the album was easily as good as anything on the radio at the time. Oh well it’s left for us to enjoy, what a great album.

Tracklist
1 – Message Boy – 4:11
2 – Counting The Cost – 4:12
3 – Down In The Lowlands – 5:02
4 – Lie Down In The Grass – 3:22
5 – It’s No Surprise – 4:16
6 – Dizzy Dean Movie – 3:37
7 – Forever Strangers – 3:25
8 – I Will Need Your Help – 3:21
9 – My People – 3:25
10 – Conversing With Mercy – 5:09

Credits
Artwork, Design, Layout – Marty Gessler
Co-producer – Brent Bourgeois (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B1 to B4), Charlie Peacock (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B1 to B4)
Coordinator [Executive Coordinator] – Jan Volz
Engineer – Daryl Zachman, Nigel Gray
Engineer [Assisted By In Leatherhead] – Jim Ebdon, Martin Heyes
Executive-Producer – Mary Neely
Mastered By [Digitally] – Brian Gardner
Mixed By – Nigel Gray
Orchestrated By, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Brent Bourgeois, Charlie Peacock
Photography By – Michael Jang
Photography By [Assistance] – Steve Holsapple
Photography By [Collage] – Ken Friedman, Michael Jang, Rich Pedroncelli
Producer – Charlie Peacock (tracks: A1, A4, B5), Nigel Gray (tracks: A2, A3, A5, B1 to B4)
Songwriter [All Songs Written By], Performer [Performed By] – Charlie Peacock

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – ATCO Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Exit Records (6)
Copyright (c) – Exit Records (6)
Recorded At – Exit Studios (2)
Recorded At – Surrey Sound Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Edited At – Digital Magnetics
Pressed By – Specialty Records Corporation
Published By – Blackwood Music Inc.
Published By – Western Sierra Music
Published By – Andi Beat Goes On Music
Published By – Dayspring Music

Vector – Mannequin Virtue – 1983

This was the introductory album from Vector.

The band was packed with talent including Charlie Peacock, who would go on to a solo career as well as producing many albums. He was only on this release from Vector and wrote some of the songs on this album.

The rest of the band were famous in their own rights, including members of The 77’s. The album is very heavily new wave with influences from Genesis to Bowie.

It was just what secular radio was looking for at the time, but alas, it would be relegated to Christian radio only which happened to far too many quality bands of the time.

Track Listing:
1 – Mannequin Virtue – 2:44
2 – Substitute – 2:32
3 – Running From The Light – 3:25
4 – Lost Without Love – 3:16
5 – The Shore – 3:50
6 – The Hunger And The Thirst – 3:48
7 – Desperately – 3:45
8 – All Around The World – 3:25
9 – Only To Fail Again – 3:21
10 – I Love Them All – 3:50

Credits:
Coordinator [Executive Coordinator] – Jan Eric Volz
Design – Jim Abegg, Mark Swanson
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Jim Abegg, Michelle Abegg, Steve Griffith
Drums [Drum Kit] – Aaron Smith
Engineer [Assistant] – Steve Griffith
Engineer [Engineered By] – Daryl Zachman
Executive-Producer – Mary Neely
Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer, Backing Vocals – Jim Abegg
Illustration – Mark Swanson
Lead Vocals, Bass, Backing Vocals – Steve Griffith
Mastered By – John Golden
Mixed By – Larry Hirsch
Photography By – Jim Abegg, Sandi Robinson
Producer [Produced By] – Steven Soles
Synthesizer [Memorymoog], Backing Vocals – Charlie Peacock

Charlie Peacock – Lie Down In The Grass – 1984

This is Charlie Peacock’s introductory album. Up until this he was best known as being a producer, having produced the Seventy Sevens amongst others.

This album is strongly new wave with very strong synth influence. It is highly produced which I guess is to be expected when a producer produces their own album.

As an aside, in my opinion this album has one of the worst album covers in the 80’s.

Tracklist
1 – Lie Down In The Grass – 3:29
2 – Watching Eternity – 2:58
3 – It’s Gone, It’s Over – 3:47
4 – Human Condition – 3:00
5 – Lost In Translation – 3:47
6 – One, Two, Three (That’s Okay) – 3:45
7 – Whole Lot Different (Whole Lot The Same) – 3:32
8 – Till You Caught My Eye – 3:30
9 – Turned On An Attitude – 2:57
10 – Who Is Not Afraid? – 3:00

Credits
Artwork By – Jim Abegg
Bass – Eric Heilman, Erik Kleven
Bass, Tom Tom, Vocals – Steve Griffith
Design – Jim Abegg
Engineer – Daryl Zachman
Executive Producer – Mary Neely
Guitar – Jim Abegg
Guitar, Vocals – Mike Roe
Mastered By – John Golden
Mixed By – Larry Hirsch
Other [Executive Coodinator] – Jan Eric Volz
Percussion [Additional] – Jim Caselli
Percussion [Ethnic & Orchestral] – Bongo Bob Smith
Photography – Kent Lacin
Producer – Charlie Peacock
Saxophone – Michael Butera
Trumpet – Larry Lunetta
Vocals, Keyboards, Drums – Charlie Peacock
Written By – Charlie Peacock