Scott Wesley Brown – SWB – 1981

Scott’s sixth studio album strongly leans to the Worship music genre. Not saying this is a bad thing it’s just where Scott positioned himself in the industry. I’ll be the first to admit I never listened to his work back in the 80’s but he was still well known to me and my circle of friends. It’s strange that wile we would never listen to artists like Scott we always had a strong respect for what he did. Let’s remember that it was guys like him that made the money for the labels so they could experiment with the artists that I liked and wanted to listen to. This album wasn’t one of his most successful with only two charting singles. “Learning To Live Like Jesus” made it to #6 and “This Little Child” made it to #20. Certainly a good album by good metrics but for Scott is wasn’t his usual dominance of the charts. Now that’s it’s years later and I am more able to recognize good music whether I like it or not I do recognize that Scott was probably one of the best artists of the period. While his vocals weren’t the best his songwriting was top notch.

Tracklist
1 – Learning To Live Like Jesus – 3:38
2 – Someone’s Got A Hold Of Me – 3:32
3 – This Little Child – 5:46
4 – The Lord’s Prayer – 2:58
5 – Your Word – 3:41
6 – Fall On Me – 3:36
7 – My Treasure – 4:51
8 – Out On A Limb – 4:09
9 – Close To You – 4:12
10 – Keep The Son In Your Eyes – 3:06

Credits
Jonathan David Brown – Engineer
Scott Wesley Brown – Guitars, Vocals
Pete Christleib – Sax
Dan Collins – Producer, Background Vocals
Keith Edwards – Drums
Leon Gaer – Bass
Bruce Hibbard – Songwriter
Hadley Hockensmith – Guitars
Alex McDougall – Percussion
Larry Muhoberac – Keyboards
Chip Orlando – Engineer
Jamie Owens-Collins – Background Vocals
Jack Joseph Puig – Engineer
Billy Walker – Guitars

Scott Wesley Brown – Kingdom of Love – 1984

This is Scott’s 8th studio album and at this point in his career he had making albums down to a fine art. While not my preferred style of music I can’t deny that Scott was good at what he did and produced some of the best albums in this style of CCM. This album has a couple upbeat tunes that are actually quite likeable for those us a little more rock oriented. As usual for Scott he did well on the charts with “Yeshua Ha Mashiach” making it to #1 and Kingdom Of Love making it to #29. Other than that I don’t have much to say about the album but I don’t mean that in a negative way I just find it difficult to talk about Easy Listening albums.

Tracklist
1 – Yeshua Ha Mashiach – 4:25
2 – Kingdom Of Love – 3:24
3 – Stronger – 3:52
4 – Give Your Life Away – 2:48
5 – Jesus I Love You – 3:21
6 – Born To Love You – 3:36
7 – The Wall – 4:04
8 – Peace By Peace – 2:47
9 – All Of Us Together – 3:24
10 – In Jesus’ Name – 3:31

Credits
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Scott Wesley Brown
Arranged By [Rhythm], Conductor – Greg Nelson
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor – Alan Moore
Arranged By [Strings], Orchestrated By – David T. Clydesdale
Engineer – Bob Clark
Engineer [Additional] – Brent King, Chris McCullom, Doug Sarrett, Gary Laney, Scott Hendricks
Engineer, Remix – Joe Neil
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Mixed By, Recorded By – Lynn Fuston
Producer – Greg Nelson, Phil Naish

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Nineteenth Street Productions
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Nye Toner / Teovision, Finngospel, Sephora Diffusion, GMI Records, Master Music, Grace Music, Leon Music A.B., Kir Music, Word (Uk) Ltd., Pila Music
Produced For – Nineteenth Street Productions
Made By – Shorewood Packaging
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging

White Heart – Vital Signs – 1984

White Heart’s second album, Vital Signs was a masterpiece of finely produced songs. The band self-produced, with executive help from Chris Christian. The album was released on Chris Christian’s Home Sweet Home Records.

The opening song, “Sing Unto The Lamb” is a big sounding song that would qualify for a modern major Broadway number. The vocals stay true to this big performance sound all the way through the album, which is one of the things that made White Heart so popular. Standout tracks include the high energy “Carried Away” and power ballad “Let Your First Thought Be Love.”

The album was recorded in Nashville and attracted a who’s who of contributing artists. The closing song, “We Are His Hands” includes a choir with (among others) Bob Farrell (of Farrell and Farrell), Scott Wesley Brown, David Meece, Amy Grant, Steve Green, Russ Taff, Chris Christian and Kathy Troccoli. We Are His Hands was their first number one radio single.

Former lead singer, Scott Douglas went to prison in 1986. White Heart continued on with a new lead singer after this album, Rick Florian who was allegedly promoted from roadie to lead singer all at once. Florian remained in the lead post throughout the rest of White Heart’s existence.

Track Listing:
1 – Sing Unto The Lamb – 3:15
2 – Draw The Line – 4:38
3 – Walking In The Light – 3:56
4 – Carried Away (Safe On The Wings Of The Lord) – 4:19
5 – Quiet Love – 3:52
6 – Following The King – 4:05
7 – Let Your First Thought Be Love – 3:51
8 – Undercover – 3:54
9 – Vital Signs – 3:50
10 – We Are His Hands – 4:13

Credits:
Arranged By – Billy Smiley, Dann Huff, Mark Gersmehl
Arranged By [String Arrangements] – Ronn Huff
Art Direction, Design – Bill Brunt
Bass Guitar – Gary Lunn
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Bill Brunt, Mark Tucker
Design Concept [Vital Signs Concept] – Kent Hunter
Drums, Percussion – David Huff*
Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Bill Deaton, Brent King, Mike Psanos
Engineer [Assistant] – Doug Sarrett
Executive-Producer – Chris Christian
Graphics [Vital Signs Logo] – Ken Wolgemuth, Ken Wolgemuth
Graphics [White Heart Logo] – Ellen Hodnett, Ellen Hodnett
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jack Joseph Puig
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Billy Smiley
Producer – White Heart
Recorded By – Jeff Balding
Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Dann Huff
Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, Craig Nelson, Dennis Molchan, Gary Vanosdale, David Boyle*, Pam Vanosdale*, Phyllis Hiltz*, Roy Christensen, The Nashville String Machine, Walt Schwede*
Synthesizer, Piano, Vocals – Mark Gersmehl
Vocals – Scott Douglas