Halo – Real 80s CCM

Various – Portrait Of A Spirit – 1991

This is a rather odd sampler from Pakaderm Records. I’m not entirely sure but I think the point of this sampler was to hear these artists doing sort of an acoustic track. This is a little weird because there are a few artists here that usually only do this style of music so like I say I’m a little confused at what the Elefante brothers were trying to achieve here. I’m even further confused as most of the tracks seem to be newly written and the recordings are only with the performer as the vocalist and the album appears to utilize a studio band. I honestly don’t think most of the artists understood what was going on either because most of the tracks just don’t work in my opinion. There are 3 tracks that in my opinion did get it. The 2 tracks form Richie Furay are absolutely excellent and include an appearance form Darrell Mansfield on harmonica. The other track that “got it” is the one from Guardian where they absolutely nail the vocals. Anyway it is what it is and I’d suggest a listen even if it’s just for the 3 tracks I mentioned.

Tracklist
1 – David Robertson – The House Of The Lord – 3:17
2 – Richie Furay – Man Of Many Sorrows – 4:23
3 – Brighton – Taking Back The Land (Jericho) – 4:20
4 – Sara Tennison – What Did I Ever Do – 4:57
5 – X-Sinner – Shelter Me – 3:12
6 – Mark Pogue – Thou Shalt Love – 3:49
7 – Richie Furay – Song Of The Lamb – 3:06
8 – Guardian – Take Up Your Cross – 4:50
9 – Halo – Real Life Conversation – 3:47
10 – The Heard – We Need Jesus – 5:05

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Terry DeGraff
Backing Vocals [Additional] – Doug Beiden, Sara Tennison
Bass – W.C. Jr
Cover – David Del Sesto, Terry DeGraff
Engineer – Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, J.R. McNeely, John Elefante
Guitar [Additional] – Rock Lobster, Tex Mex
Keyboards, Drums – Mack Jack
Mandolin, Violin – Matt Brislawn
Mastered By – Chris
Mixed By – Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, John Elefante
Percussion – “Chi Chi” Allison
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Made By – JVC
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering

Scott Springer – Hello Forever – 1993

This album is often called the 3 album from Halo but it is not. Scott Springer is indeed joined by Halo drummer Mike Graham but the rest of the band is absent. Furthermore I don’t feel it has the same sound as Halo. It is much more AOR oriented. As with the Halo albums this one is produed by the Elefante brothers and as usual the production is top notch and as is common on their albums they pitched in on instruments and song writing. Personally I preferred the Halo albums but this album stands strong on it’s own. This album will go down as one of the poorest album covers of 1993 as it almost insinuates this is a swing album or something The cover was done by David Bach (Guardian) and I’ve seen his other work and it all seemed good, but I feel he missed on this one.

Tracklist
1 – Anytime – 3:55
2 – Hello Forever – 4:31
3 – Behold The Lamb – 4:40
4 – Psycho Babble – 4:05
5 – The Victory – 4:29
6 – His Name Is Jesus – 4:56
7 – Stand Up – 4:14
8 – On My Knees – 4:17
9 – Promises – 4:39
10 – Wounded Soldier – 4:10

Credits
Art Direction, Design – David Bach
Backing Vocals – Dave Amato, Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, John Elefante, Sarah Tennison, Scott Springer
Bass – E.L. McNeely, Jack Mack, John Pierce
Drums – David Raven, Mike Graham
Engineer – Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, J.R. McNeely, John Elefante
Guitar – Dino Elefante, E.L. McNeely, Glenn Pearce
Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner, John Elefante
Mastered By – Chris Bellman
Mixed By – Neil Kernon
Photography By – Ben Pearson
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Written-By – Dino Elefante, Doug Beiden, John Elefante, Mike Graham, Scott Springer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pakaderm Records, bWord, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Nelson Word Ltd.
Made By – Nimbus
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering

Halo – Heaven Calling – 1991

This was the second and final studio album from Halo though there would be a release in 2020. The album was again produced by the Elefante brothers but they did turn it back a notch on the Rock & Roll meter and slightly towards the Pop meter. As with almost all Elefante projects the production is excellent and this is one of the best albums of 1991. Personnel changes had Barry Graul replacing Keith Mims on guitar which sounds like an even trade to me. There was another album being recorded after this one but it waited until 2020 with some effort by Girder Records to get it released. Lead singer Scott Springer did go on to release an album in 1993 though I will admit I haven’t listened to it yet. Anyway if you missed this one in the 90’s give it a listen now, it really was and is a great album.

Tracklist
1 – Jacob’s Dream – 4:36
2 – It’s Your Decision – 4:20
3 – Saved By Grace – 4:19
4 – Heaven Calling – 4:40
5 – Thy Will Be Done – 4:03
6 – Secret To Love – 4:38
7 – Climb The Mountain – 3:59
8 – Eye Of The Storm – 4:48
9 – Man From Galilee – 4:03
10 – My Buddy – 4:16

Credits
Backing Vocals, Engineer, Mixed By – Doug Beiden
Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals – Scott Springer
Drums, Keyboards, Vocals – Mike Graham
Engineer [Assistant] – J.R. McNeely
Guitar [Additional] – Glen Pearce
Guitar, Vocals – Barry Graul
Lap Steel Guitar – Ron Eglett
Mandolin – Larry Meyers
Mastered By – Chris Bellman
Producer, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Engineer, Mixed By – John Elefante
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Dino Elefante
Voice [“My Buddy” Prayer] – Wesley Springer (tracks: 10)

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word Music, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word Music, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word Music, Inc.
Distributed By – Word Music, Inc.
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Published By – Dayspring Music
Published By – Uncle Pitts Publishing
Published By – Nimbus Music

Halo – Halo – 1990

Halo, which apparently stands for “Heavenly Angelic Light Orchestra”, were a great hard rock/metal band out of Alabama. They formed in 1980 and strangely had a non Christian drummer, Mike Graham, who was also only 14 years old while the rest of the band was in the area of 21 years old. He did come to Christ in a couple years but I find it odd someone would ask a 14 year old non Christian drummer to join their adult Christian band. But whatever, it all seemed to work out. The band played for the next 9 years without a record deal. A demo tape got to Bob Hartman (Petra) and he started to mentor the band. Bob finally got them a record deal in 1989 with the Elefante brothers over at Pakaderm Records. This album was then recorded with much involvement of the Elefante’s and released in 1990. Best description of the sound would be a power Rock & Roll band which some (including me) might consider to be light metal. This is one that definitely deserves a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Jesus Music – 4:20
2 – Lord Of All – 4:39
3 – Good Feeling – 4:13
4 – Soul Searcher – 4:35
5 – Skyrocket – 3:45
6 – Lose To Live – 4:33
7 – Sing (Of His Glory) – 4:21
8 – Language Barrier – 5:09
9 – Time To Run – 4:01
10 – Timeless – 1:07

Credits
Arranged By [Additional] – Bob Hartman (tracks: 3, 4, 8)
Backing Vocals – John Elefante
Band [Halo], Drums, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Mike Graham
Band [Halo], Guitar, Backing Vocals – Keith Mims
Band [Halo], Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar – Scott Springer
Cover, Illustration, Layout – Robert Fischer
Drums – David Raven (tracks: 5)
Engineer, Mixed By – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Mike Mierau
Guitar – Dino Elefante, Glen Pierce, Tony Palacios (tracks: 5)
Keyboards – John Elefante
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Piano – John Schreiner (tracks: 4, 8)
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Vocals [Duet] – John Elefante (tracks: 5), Scott Springer (tracks: 5)

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Pakaderm Records
Copyright (c) – Pakaderm Records
Published By – Benefante Music
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab