Justus – Someone’s Waiting – 1986

The Pahl brothers and Donny Hackett are back with Justus’s second album. For this album they switched over to Star Song records but it appears to me that the album suffered the same fate as their first album which was a lack of promotion. This album is fantastic and I just don’t understand how it wasn’t a big success. The first album being with Tunesmith I wasn’t surprised but this album was with a much larger label and should have been much better promoted. I still can’t find out too much about this Canadian band but I continue to love their work and fully recommend this album.

Tracklist
1 – Won’t Let You Go – 3:09
2 – To Find A Way – 3:09
3 – Rumours – 2:51
4 – That’s Not For Me – 3:07
5 – Give Us A Burden – 4:34
6 – Surrender – 3:05
7 – No One Cares – 4:08
8 – Someone’s Waiting – 2:32
9 – Take Me Home – 4:38

Credits
Drums, Vocals, Keyboards – Kevin Pahl
Engineer [Assistant] – Gary Tole
Executive-Producer – Darrell Harris
Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards – Rod Pahl
Lead Vocals, Bass, Keyboards – Donny Hackett
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Producer – Dave Slagter, Justus, Roy Salmond
Recorded By, Mixed By – Dave Slagter

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Star Song Records
Copyright (c) – Star Song Records
Copyright (c) – Ariose Music
Published By – Ariose Music
Recorded At – Inside Trak Studios
Mixed At – Inside Trak Studios
Mastered At – Future Disc

Justus – Don’t Turn Away – 1984

This was the first of two albums from Justus. Justice were brothers Rod and Kevin Pahl and Donny Hackett.

Other than that I know very little about the band. The album was on Tunesmith records and to the best of my knowledge only released in Canada.

The album is a new wave rock mix and is very good. The band was tight and the production quality is quite high which is surprising as Tunesmith was not really known for having high quality production.

Note: although I always had thought that “Justus” was just a play on the words “Just Us” there’s more to it. It’s a reference to a person named “Jesus Justus” who the Apostle Paul gives a shoutout to in the greeting section of his letter to the Colossians.

Track Listing:
1 – Face The Music – 4:00
2 – Never Let You Down – 3:52
3 – What Are We Doing Here – 2:53
4 – Quarter To Two – 3:15
5 – Just Keep Running – 4:25
6 – Don’t Turn Away – 3:17
7 – Won’t Let Go – 2:30
8 – Surrender – 4:15
9 – Take Me Home – 3:45
10 – Suicidal Teens – 3:05

Credits:
Songwriter, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – Rod Pahl
Songwriter, Drums, Keyboards, Vocals – Kevin Pahl
Songwriter, Bass, Keyboards, Lead Vocals – Donny Hackett
Co-producer – Brian Campbell
Engineer – Brian Campbell
Mixed By – Brian Campbell
Producer – Pahl Hackett
Album Photography – Joshua Berson