Tag: Rick Cua

This was Rick’s last real Rock & Roll album. Subsequent albums to this one too a far more easy listening sound. This however is a pretty good Rock & Roll album and personally is one of my favourite album from him. Rick was joined by his usual studio musicians including Keith Thomas whose keyboard work I always enjoy. I really hate to just classify this as “another Rick Cua” album because it’s quite good but there’s just not a lot to say about this album. Rick had making an album down to an art at this point so you knew you were going to get a great album if you bought one of his albums from this era. Probably the highlight of the album for me is Young Boy Young Girl on which he is joined by Rebecca Sparks wife of Greg Sparks on vocals.

Tracklist
1 – Streetwise – 3:45
2 – I Can I Will – 4:09
3 – Young Boy Young Girl – 4:13
4 – I’ll Be Satisfied – 4:26
5 – Dedicated – 3:33
6 – Somethin’ You Got – 3:35
7 – No Man Will Know – 3:43
8 – Plenty Of Love – 4:11
9 – Tear Down The Walls – 3:17
10 – The Lost Can Still Be Found – 3:30

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Drum Programming, Percussion, Keyboards [Additional] – Tom Hemby
Arranged By – Tom Hemby
Backing Vocals – Bob Halligan Jr., Jimmy Lee, Kim Fleming, Michael Mishaw, Ron Hemby, Vickie Hampton
Drums, Percussion – Mike Mead
Engineer – Bill Deaton
Guitar – Dave Perkins
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Keith Thomas
Producer – Tom Hemby
Vocals, Bass – Rick Cua
Vocals – Rebecca Ed Sparks

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Reunion Records

This is the third album from Rick and his first with Sparrow records. We get a hint of bad things to come from Ric as he transitioned to a more Easy Listening sound. I’m not saying Easy Listening is bad, I’m just saying if you were a fan of Rick’s at this point you probably weren’t a fan of his later work. That said there are still some great Rock & Roll tunes on this album. Probably the best track on the album is “Don’t Say Suicide” as it was a bit of a touchy subject and I’ll be honest I loved songs that talked to their listeners. Maybe just maybe this song prevented a self deletion. Relatively unknown guitarist Jock Guthrie does a great job on the track. I also quite liked the title track as it had a more of a early 80’s rock feel. anyway this is a good Pop Rock album with some good guitar work. Definitely a must listen to from the era.

Tracklist
1 – Don’t Say Suicide – 3:30
2 – You’re My Road – 3:54
3 – One Child In Pain – 3:40
4 – We Are The Chosen – 3:51
5 – You’ve Only Got One Life – 3:40
6 – House Calls – 3:14
7 – Runaway – 3:33
8 – We Are Yours – 3:22
9 – The Old Man – 4:12
10 – Cant’ Stop – 3:07

Credits
Jeff Balding – Engineer
Niles Borop – Songwriter
Barbara Catanzaro – Background Vocals
Lisa Cates – Percussion
Buz Cua – Guitar
Diane Cua – Songwriter
Rick Cua – Producer, Songwriter, Bass, Vocals
Ron DeRollo – Guitar
David Dix – Drums
Rob Frazier – Background Vocals
Jock Guthrie – Guitar, Background Vocals
Bob Halligan, Jr. – Producer, Songwriter, Keyboards, Guitars, Background Vocals
Jim Horn – Saxophone
Richard Langford – Background Vocals
Dwight Liles – Songwriter
Chris McCollum – Engineer
Mike Mead – Drums, Background Vocals
Dino Pastin – Synthesizer Programming
Janna Pastin – Background Vocals
Dave Perkins – Songwriter, Engineer, Guitar, Background Vocals
Brett Perry – Assistant Engineer
Sam Tritico – Synthesizer Programming
Wendy Waldman – Duet (We Are Yours)
Peter York – Guitar

Companies, etc.
Produced For – Koo-Ah Productions
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Oak Hill Assembly

This was Rick’s first album after the formation of his new label “United Christian Alliance”. Well technically he did release a compilation album first but I generally don’t classify compilation albums the same. Unfortunately the label didn’t appear to have been a success having only ever signed one artist, Morgan Cryar, and only to a one album deal. I am assuming Rick was seeing the decline of the CCM market and thought he could step in and help but alas the industry was in a decline that was not within artists reach to fix. Rick also produced this album and did a real good job. If the industry hadn’t been tailing off I think he could have done some real good production work. The album itself is pretty good but suffered from lack of distribution. I hadn’t heard any of Rick’s later work and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a good pop rock album and had the industry been healthier it likely would have had a few singles. “Build A Bridge” definitely would have been a fan favorite and a top 40 single.

Tracklist
1 – Italo Americano – 4:17
2 – Never Give Up – 4:07
3 – High Country – 3:57
4 – Slow Salin’ – 4:32
5 – Build A Bridge – 3:26
6 – Brothers & Sisters – 3:52
7 – Whenever I – 2:59
8 – Can’t Come Down – 3:28
9 – I Know You’ll Be There – 4:08
10 – Bull By The Horns – 4:05
11 – Italo Americano (Reprise) – 0:49

Credits
Leonard Ahlstrom – Songwriter
Larry Arlotta – Piano
Mike Caputy – Drums
Chris Carmichael – Violin, Cello
George Cocchini – Guitars
Rick Cua – Producer, Songwriter, Bass, Vocals
Tony DeCrescenzo – Translation
Bob Halligan, Jr. – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Robert White Johnson – Background Vocals
Andreas Krause – Technical Assistance
Tom Lane – Acoustic Guitar
Randy Leroy – Mastered
Russ Long – Engineer, Mixed
Phil Madeira – B3
Will McFarlane – Guitars
Terry McMillan – Harmonica
Mike Mead – Drums
Dino Pastin – Accordion
Dave Perkins – Engineer, Guitars
Emedin Rivera – Percussion
Pino Squillace – Translation

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Salt Incorporated Music, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Salt Incorporated Music, Inc.
Recorded At – Dave’s Garden Of Eden
Recorded At – The Carport
Mixed At – The Carport
Mastered At – Final Stage Mastering

This was Rick’s 5th album and his first with Reunion records. It is rumoured that Rick was a very diligent negotiator with his record deals so I think we can assume this album was a good earner for him. That said this album unfortunately falls into “that Cua album with that song” category. I don’t feel that way as I think this is a very good album. Furthermore this album introduced Rick to the CCM magazine charts. “Forever Yours” made it to #5 and “For The Love Of God” to #25. Now it almost goes without saying that these are not the best tracks on the album. My personal favourite is Hard Times which was written with Dino and John Elefante. Personally I love the female vocal (scream) at 22 seconds, it feels like we’re about to hear a metal song but alas it’s a good Rock & Roll tune in which you can definitely feel the Elefante brothers influence. To sum it up a great album, perhaps not his best but I still think it’s great.

Tracklist
1 – Hard Times – 4:43
2 – Can’t Stand Too Tall – 3:45
3 – Tunnel Vision – 4:08
4 – For The Love Of God – 5:31
5 – Reckless Faith – 4:43
6 – Crash The Party – 3:42
7 – We Are All The Same – 3:56
8 – Shakedown – 4:07
9 – Forever Yours – 4:01

Credits
Joey Cigainero – Programming
Rick Cua – Songwriter, Bass, Vocals
Bill Deaton – Engineer, Mixed
Nick Distefano – Songwriter
Dino Elefante – Songwriter
John Elefante – Songwriter
Michael English – Background Vocals
Rob Frazier – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Bob Halligan, Jr. – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Vicki Hampton – Background Vocals
Chris Harris – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Mark Heimermann – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Ron Hemby – Duet Vocals (For the Love of God)
Tom Hemby – Producer, Songwriter, Arrangements, Programming, Guitar
Terry Hemmings – Executive Producer
Wayne Kirkpatrick – Songwriter
Mary Lee Kortes – Songwriter
Carl Marsh – Fairlight
Donna McElroy – Background Vocals
Mike Mead – Drums, Percussion
Jeff Moseley – Executive Producer
Denny Purcell – Mastered
Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals
Ron Sorbo – Percussion
Keith Thomas – Songwriter, Synthesizers

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Reunion Records
Copyright (c) – Reunion Records
Manufactured By – A&M Records
Distributed By – A&M Records
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – 16th Avenue Sound
Recorded By – Down Stage
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – Reflections
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios

Another great production by Dave Perkins makes this a great Rock & Roll album. Excellent guitar riffs and shout along choruses make you want to turn this album up to 12. This was (in my opinion) the peak of Ric’s Rock & Roll style. His stuff after this is good but he started to turn the dial down after this album. The first single and title track is a fantastic arena rock song that will have you singing along. Point of trivia is that Rob Frazier did some background vocals on the album.

Tracklist
1 – Wear Your Colors – 3:53
2 – Flex – 3:27
3 – This Raging Fire – 3:50
4 – Hungry – 3:22
5 – Lemme At ‘Em – 3:36
6 – Got The Rock – 3:03
7 – Unchained – 3:41
8 – Nightfall – 4:02
9 – Hats Off To You – 3:06
10 – Line Of Fire – 4:10

Credits
Larry Arlotta – Keyboards
George Cocchini – Songwriter, Guitars
Rick Cua – Songwriter, Bass, Vocals
Ron DeRollo – Additional Engineer, Guitars
Rob Frazier – Background Vocals
Lynn Fuston – Engineer
Tommy Greer – Keyboards
Bob Halligan, Jr. – Songwriter, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Dave Hanlon – Percussion
Malcolm Harper – Engineer
JB Baird – Additional Engineer
Glen Marchese – Additional Engineer
Don Martell – Additional Engineer
Chris McCollum – Additional Engineer
Mike Mead – Drums, Percussion
Dino Pastin – Keyboards
Dave Perkins – Producer, Songwriter, Engineer, Guitars, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Background Vocals
Marc Ribler – Songwriter, Guitars
David Schober – Engineer
Dave Shirley – Additional Engineer
John Sinclair – Keyboards
Chad Welling – Synthesizers
Shawn Welling – Background Vocals

No Mystery is the second solo album from Rick after his departure from the Outlaws. His first solo album was very well received and received pretty good airplay on Christian radio. While nothing on this album singled on the CCM charts apparently there were a couple charting singles on the more rock oriented charts which unfortunately I can’t find an archive of. Guest guitarist on this album was Ian Bairnson from Alan Parsons Project. My personal picks from the album are High School Reunion and A.S.S.E.F.

Tracklist
1 – He Lives In Me – 3:55
2 – One Way Out – 4:37
3 – Changed – 3:54
4 – Just Visiting – 4:10
5 – The Power – 3:10
6 – High School Reunion – 3:22
7 – Create In Me A Heart – 4:18
8 – A.S.S.E.F. – 2:52
9 – Bright Light – 3:17
10 – Help Me Out – 4:14

Credits
Backing Vocals – Bob Halligan, Jr., Diana Cua (tracks: A3), Rick Cua
Cover – Buddy Jackson
Drums – David Dix
Engineer, Mixed By – Don Martell, Johnnie Schinas
Executive-Producer – Ray Nenow
Guitar – Freddie Salem, Ian Bairnson, Ron DeRollo
Illustration – Buddy Jackson
Lead Guitar – Buz Cua (tracks: B5)
Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar, Producer – Rick Cua
Mastered By – John Skinner
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Piano – Bob Halligan, Jr.
Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Don Martell, Ed Vivenzio
Synthesizer – Andy Richards (tracks: A5), Bob Halligan, Jr.