Tag: Mark Farner

Mark Farner – Rock ‘n Roll Soul Live 1989 – 2023

Mark Farner did something really great for his fans with this one. Somehow he got the rights to the video and audio of his performance at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, California as part of the “Woodstock 20 Years After” festival in 1989. He released a DVD with the full video, a CD with all the tracks, and a very cool coloured vinyl LP with limited tracks. Okay so lets set the background. This was a music festival that unofficially celebrated the 20 year anniversary of Woodstock. While that was strange enough even stranger Grand Funk Railroad never played at Woodstock as they had conflicting tour dates. To be clear this was a secular music festival but Mark didn’t let that get in the way and sang a great mix of his classics and current Christian music. Mark really was a treasure in the industry. He often leveraged his bands early success to minister to people. Mark practised what he preached and I always felt he never got the recognition he deserved for that. Now let’s talk about the album. The original recording of this concert was obviously not intended for an album release but I have to say the mix is pretty good. Mark’s team did a pretty good job in post production because a concert mix is nothing like an album mix. I of course never being satisfied did do some post production work myself so you may notice our copy is slightly more saturated than the original. Hat’s off to Mark for an excellent release and I’ll say this too, he didn’t do a kickstarter so it is likely he didn’t make much of anything off this release. I hope I’m wrong and he made some money but if you listen to it here he’ll get a few pennies from YouTube. Be sure to visit his website if you’re a fan as he is still releasing albums and they are available there including both the vinyl and CD version of this album signed. I doubt Mark will ever read this but hats off to you Mark for an excellent release.

Tracklist
1 – Are You Ready – 4:03
2 – Rock’n Roll Soul – 3:32
3 – Footstompin’ Music – 4:06
4 – Airborne Ranger – 4:39
5 – Judgement Day Blues – 4:45
6 – Some Kind Of Wonderful – 5:27
7 – Paranoid – 10:23
8 – Come To Jesus – 4:01
9 – Mean Mistreater – 4:38
10 – Must Have Been Love – 3:11
11 – Bad Time – 2:46
12 – I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home – 6:34
13 – Heartbreaker – 7:24
14 – Isn’t It Amazing – 5:08
15 – The Loco-motion – 4:27

Credits
Art Direction – Mark Kalmus
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Lawrence Buckner
Drums, Backing Vocals – Mike Maple
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Mike Blair
Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals – Mark Farner
Mastered By – Randy Perry
Photography – Fred B. Slinger
Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals – Arnie Vilches

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Liberation Hall – Lib – 5164

Mark Farner – Some Kind Of Wonderful – 1991

This was Farner’s 3rd and final album with Frontline Records. In fact this would be his last album on a major label though he did continue getting his music out there on smaller labels/self releases. Interestingly he chose to cover his Grand Funk Railroad’s cover of “Some Kind Of Wonderful” which he rewrote as an evangelical song and it is pretty darn good. The rest of the album is an excellent selection of Rock & Roll tracks in the spirit of Grand Funk. While Mark didn’t have a regular band he did stick to the same studio musicians for his band and usually toured with them. So we have another great Rock & Roll album that is a must listen if straight up rock is your thing. Mark is another unappreciated artist of the period who could have easily made a fortune in the secular industry but chose to make almost nothing in the Christian market.

Tracklist
1 – Some Kind Of Wonderful – 4:46
2 – Love From Above – 4:10
3 – Without You – 4:50
4 – Not Yet – 4:43
5 – Attitude Of Gratitude – 3:41
6 – All The Way – 4:19
7 – With Me Anywhere – 4:13
8 – Conflict – 3:55
9 – The Vision – 4:18
10 – Well Done – 4:23

Credits
Backing Vocals – Bill Baumgart, Jean McClain, Lawrence Buckner, Mark Farner, Mike Maple
Bass – Lawrence Buckner
Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Beth Jahnsen
Drums – Mike Maple
Engineer – Bill Baumgart, Dave Jahnsen
Keyboards – Tim Heintz
Lead Guitar – Arnaldo Vilches, Glenn Pearce
Lead Vocals [Additional] – Lawrence Buckner
Mixed By – Dave Jahnsen
Photography By – Wayne Armstrong
Producer – Bill Baumgart
Saxophone [Sax], Flute – Brandon Fields

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Record Company – Frontline Music Group
Distributed By – FMG Distribution
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Produced For – Asylomar Productions
Published By – Righteous Rock
Published By – Dandelion Music

Mark Farner – Wake Up – 1989

This is Mark’s second Christian release. It’s not quite as Rock & Roll as his first but it is still pretty good. Mark handled most of the instruments on the album and also produced it. Personally I feel the sound is a little hollow in places but I’m always overly critical on production and engineering. The tracks are well written and Mark really started to shine as a song writer on this album. Other than that there’s not a lot to say about the album other than give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Wake Up… – 4:23
2 – Into The Light – 3:59
3 – New Age – 3:22
4 – Come To Me – 3:58
5 – In Your Sight – 5:23
6 – Upright Man – 3:30
7 – Rocco – 3:48
8 – If It Wasn’t For Grace – 3:53
9 – Love Power – 4:00
10 – Role Model – 5:54
11 – Like I Was Before – 3:52

Credits
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Drums, Percussion – Mike Maple
Bass, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Lawrence Buckner
Engineer – Bradley Jones
Engineer [Assistent Engineer] – Dave Jahnsen, Don Pushies
Keyboards – Mark Farner
Keyboards, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Michael Blair
Lead Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Gordon vanEkstrom
Percussion – Mark Farner
Producer – Mark Farner
Rhythm Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Vocals, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Mark Farner

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Fun House Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Recorded At – Alliance Recording Co.
Mixed At – The Mixing Lab

Larry Howard ‎– Larry Howard’s Cornerstone Blues Jam – 1992

Larry Howard was joined on stage by several other performers at the Cornerstone Festival in 1992 for this fantastic blues session. The album is actually credited to Larry but really this is a various artists album. The last 6 tracks are credited as “Tribute To Mahalia Jackson”. If your a fan of the blues this is a must listen to. I had not heard this one before we recently received it and it was an excellent addition to our collection.

Tracklist
1 – Larry Howard – Good News Blues – 3:38
2 – Larry Howard – Love Will Make You Change Your Ways – 3:35
3 – Margaret Becker – Lean On Me – 4:19
4 – Larry Howard and Darrell Mansfield – Evangelistic Blues – 5:02
5 – Larry Howard & Glenn Kaiser & Darrell Mansfield – Presence Of The Lord – 4:36
6 – Guardian – Take Up Your Cross – 4:59
7 – Mark Farner – Judgement Day Blues – 4:55
8 – Larry Howard – Trouble No More – 3:49
9 – Eddie DeGarmo & Larry Howard – Here Am I – 3:49
10 – Mark Farner & Margaret Becker – Some Kind Of Wonderful – 4:42
11 – Jessy Dixon – Operator – 5:32
12 – Elsa Harris – If We Ever Needed The Lord Before, We Sure Do Need Him Now – 2:13
13 – Jessy Dixon & Elsa Harris – Keep Your Hand On The Plow – 2:39
14 – Margaret Becker – Walk Over God’s Heaven – 1:56
15 – Mark Farner – Search Me Lord – 3:13
16 – Elsa Harris & Vernessa Mitchell – Precious Lord – 4:22
17 – Larry Howard – Nobody But You – 4:19

Credits
A&R [A&R Manager] – Lisa Stutts
Backing Vocals – Clare Ford, Phyllis Duncan
Bass Guitar – Slim Powell
Design – Franke Design Co.
Drums – Willie Smith
Engineer – Malcolm Harper, Roger Heiss
Engineer [Dyaxis Engineer] – Pat Scholes
Engineer [Live Engineer], Technician [Technical Advisor] – Doug Jones
Engineer [Monitor Engineer] – Chris Michaelessi
Engineer [Sound Production] – Phil Zeo & Zeo Brothers
Engineer [System Engineer] – Tom Wilson
Guitar – Roscoe Meek
Illustration [Cover Illustration] – Susan DeGarmo
Keyboards – Lester Snell
Mixed By – Greg Morrow
Mixed By [Assistant] – Dave Perkins, Russ Weaver
Other [Custom Tailoring] – Jane Cowan
Other [Light Contractor] – Tone Zone
Producer, Executive-Producer – Eddie DeGarmo
Saxophone – Mark Townsend
Stage Manager – Denny Keitzman
Technician [Crew Chief & Stage Technician] – Tony Capacchione
Technician [Larry’s Guitar Tech] – Tory Torstenson

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright (c) – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Distributed By – Star Song Communications
Recorded At – Cornerstone Festival

Mark Farner – Just Another Injustice – 1988

This is Mark Farner’s first solo album after the dissolution of Grand Funk Railroad though he did have 2 solo albums while the band was still together. It was released on Frontline Records and left no argument that it was a Christian album. This is a great Rock & Roll album which plays to the patriotism of it’s mainly American audience. I’m not entirely sure who to compare the album to but there are a few songs on the album that Huey Lewis could have felt right at home singing. My favourite track is Come to Jesus which took me back to Sunday School but with a huge Rock & Roll upgrade. One cool thing on the album is a guest appearance from Phil Keaggy.

Tracklist
1 – Airborne Ranger – 3:57
2 – Judgement Day Blues – 4:46
3 – Isn’t It Amazing – 4:35
4 – Come to Jesus – 3:58
5 – Give Me the Works – 3:25
6 – An Emotional Look at Love – 3:16
7 – Workin’ for the Winner – 3:40
8 – Just Another Injustice – 3:55
9 – The Writing on the Wall – 4:30
10 – Only You – 3:43

Credits
Lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass – Mark Farner
Keyboards – Tim Heintz
Drums – David Huff
Guest guitars – Phil Keaggy
Additional bass – John Patitucci
Additional bass – Kirt Shearer
Guest backing vocals – Bob Carlisle