Tag: Mastedon

Various – California Metal Volume II – 1988

This 1988 Regency Records sampler featured some of the best California Metal bands of the time and some very exclusive tunes. I have listed below where you can find the albums with the songs. Note that the CD and the cassette have one more track than the vinyl version.

Tracklist
1 – Vision – Runaway – Unreleased
2 – Emerald – Traitor – Unreleased until 2001 then bonus track on Armed For Battle re-release CD
3 – Recon – Light The Fire – Only released on a 1989 Demo
4 – Soldier – Borderline – On 1988 album Babylon
5 – Judea – Heart Of Stone – Unreleased Band
6 – Mastedon – Get Up – On 1989 album It’s A Jungle Out There
7 – Ransom – Sin Killer – Unreleased
8 – Emerald – Born To Die – Unreleased until 2001 then bonus track on Armed For Battle re-release CD
9 – Judea – Knock – Unreleased Band
10 – Soldier – Tears – Unreleased until 2002 then bonus track on The Definitive Collection 1985-1989 CD
11 – Recon – Dreams – On 1990 album Behind Enemy Lines

Tracklist
1 – Vision – Runaway – 4:56
2 – Emerald – Traitor – 2:39
3 – Recon – Light The Fire – 3:25
4 – Soldier – Borderline – 3:33
5 – Judea – Heart Of Stone – 4:32
6 – Mastedon – Get Up – 3:58
7 – Ransom – Sin Killer – 4:34
8 – Emerald – Born To Die – 4:17
9 – Judea – Knock – 4:24
10 – Soldier – Tears – 3:57
11 – Recon – Dreams – 4:59

Mastedon – Lofcaudio – 1990

Brothers Dino and John Elefante returned with the other members of Mastedon to give us their second album in 1990. It was released on their own brand new label, Pakaderm Records. I’m a little unclear on their fascination with the elephant species but it’s kind of cute. The album actually has 4 lead vocalists, Dave Amato, Tom Bowes, John Elefante, and Dean Longacre. I don’t think I’ve seen 4 lead vocalists on an album before. As for the album it is somewhere in between metal and rock but I think it leans more metal so I’m categorizing it that way. You can actually hear Dino and John’s Kansas influence on a few tracks which is a nice bit of throwback.

Tracklist
1 – Holiest One – 4:50
2 – Life On The Line – 4:25
3 – Run To The Water – 4:30
4 – When It All Comes Down – 4:30
5 – Taken Down Below – 4:33
6 – Stampede – 2:27
7 – Living For You – 4:16
8 – Thief In The Night – 2:47
9 – People Of This Time – 4:54
10 – It Is Done – 3:43

Credits
Arranged By – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Backing Vocals – Bob Carlisle, Dave Amato, John Elefante
Bass – Dino Elefante, John Pierce
Cover, Design, Illustration, Layout – Robert Fischer
Drums – David Raven, Mac Jack, Phil Rowland
Engineer – John Elefante, Mike Mireau
Engineer [Additional] – Jeff Simmons
Guitar – Dave Amato, Dino Elefante, Michael Thompson, Steph Burns, Tony Palacios
Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner, John Elefante
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Vocals – Dave Amato, Dean Longacre, John Elefante, Tom Bowes

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios

Mastedon – It’s a Jungle Out There – 1989

Mastedon was a studio project by John & Dino Elefante. The fact that they were dabbling in heavy metal right at the end of the 80’s kind of surprises me but then again it shows their versatility and their love of all styles of music. The “Band” were basically a bunch of high quality studio musicians. John & Dino Elefante both played on the album but left lead vocals to David Robbins who was also the vocalist on the 1989 X-Sinner album “Get It”, another Elefante project. John & Dino Elefante also wrote all of the tracks with the exception of the lyrics on “Shine On” written by Petra’s Bob Hartman. The album is a pretty high quality metal album but some tracks lean more Hard Rock. Most of the Metal songs have a commercial Metal Pop song. My final thought on this album is that it’s pretty good and I look forward to listening their album from 1990.

Tracklist
1 – It’s A Jungle Out There – 3:54
2 – Glory Bound – 4:17
3 – This Is The Day – 4:14
4 – Love Inhalation – 4:39
5 – Islands In The Sky – 3:42
6 – Get Up – 4:00
7 – Love That Will Survive – 4:02
8 – Innocent Girl – 3:42
9 – Shine On – 4:24
10 – Right Hand – 6:05

Credits
Backing Vocals – Dave Amato, Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Bass – Dino Elefante, Jimmy “Flim” Johnson, John Pierce
Drums – David Raven, John Elefante, Phil Rowland
Engineer [Additional] – Ben Rodgers
Engineer [Assistant] – Jeff Simmons
Engineer, Mixed By – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Mike Mierau
Fretless Bass – John Patitucci (tracks: 9)
Illustration – Robert Fischer
Keyboards – John Elefante
Lead Guitar – Dave “Pittsy” Amato
Lead Vocals – Dave Amato (tracks: 2, 4, 10), Dave Robbins (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 6), Perry Lee (tracks: 4, 8)
Lyrics By – Bob Hartman (tracks: 9)
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Music By – Dino Elefante (tracks: 9), John Elefante (tracks: 9)
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Rhythm Guitar – Dino Elefante
Vocals – Dave Robbins
Written-By – Dino Elefante (tracks: 1-8, 10), John Elefante (tracks: 1-8, 10)

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – R.E.X. Music Inc.
Copyright (c) – Regency Music
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Regency Music
Mastered At – Future Disc
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Recorded At – Pack’s Place
Pressed By – Disc Manufacturing, Inc., Huntsville – 27581