Mark Heard – Mosaics – 1985

Mosaics is another folk-rock sounding album from Mark, a style he settled solidly into after releasing some softer, almost country albums and a few rock albums. This blend suited his creativity well. After this album he had a five year gap before putting out another one. Mark recorded few songs that were not his own writing, so this album stands out with a version of T Bone Burnett’s “Power Of Love.” It’s a pretty close cover of the original on T Bone’s 1980 album “Truth Decay.” An interesting coincidence with the T Bone cover is the appearance of David Mansfield playing lead guitar on four of the tracks on this album. However, David is not credited on “Power of Love” despite having played with T Bone on his albums, as well as their work together in Alpha Band and on Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue. As always, Mark was able to attract top level musicians to his project. It seems like everyone wanted to work with him and the results suggest the reason why. Leslie Phillips (aka Sam Phillips) appears on backing vocals on a few tracks, Tom Howard plays keys on several tracks, and John Mehler adds his drumming to make this another all-star cast project.

Tracklist
1 – With Broken Wings – 4:23
2 – Schizophrenia – 3:48
3 – All Is Not Lost – 3:05
4 – Heart On The Line – 4:08
5 – He Plays The Game – 3:20
6 – The Golden Age – 4:08
7 – The Power Of Love – 3:42
8 – I Want You – 4:04
9 – It Will Not Be Like This Forever – 4:18
10 – Miracle – 4:58

Credits
Arranged By – Mark Heard
Backing Vocals – Dave de Coup-Crank (tracks: 2), Dori Howard (tracks: 10), Leslie Phillips (tracks: 1, 3, 4), Mark Heard
Bass – Bill Batstone (tracks: 4)
Cover [Front Cover Concept] – Tim Alderson
Design, Illustration [Computer Art] – Mark Heard
Drums – John Mehler (tracks: 1-6, 8, 9)
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Guitar, Bass, Lead Vocals – Mark Heard
Electronic Drums [Simmons Drums] – David McSparran (tracks: 7, 9)
Engineer, Mixed By – Mark Heard
Harmonica – Buddy Rufus Greene (tracks: 3, 6)
Lead Guitar – David Mansfield (tracks: 2, 4, 8, 9)
Organ – Barry Kaye (tracks: 9)
Percussion, Electronic Drums [Simmons Drums] – Harry Stinson
Photography By – Stewart Ivester
Producer – Mark Heard
Synthesizer – Tom Howard (tracks: 2, 3, 6)

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word Ltd.
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging Co. Ltd.
Recorded At – Fingerprint Recorders
Mixed At – Fingerprint Recorders

Jacket Front
Jacket Back
Sleeve Front
Sleeve Back

Tonio K. – Romeo Unchained – 1986

This was Tonio K’s 4th solo album and many believe it to be his best. It was his first on What? Records which was an short lived experiment by both A&M Records and Word Records. It has a solid 80’s Pop sound but not the cheesy radio sound. Instead it was original and very well written. The album was packed with talent including, Charlie Sexton, T-Bone Burnett, David Mansfield, and Tim Chandler among others. It had 2 singles, “I Handle Snakes” and “Romeo Loves Jane. Unfortunately neither did overly well on the charts.

Tracklist
1 – True Confessions – 3:40
2 – Perfect World – 4:12
3 – Romeo And Jane – 3:46
4 – You Belong With Me – 4:50
5 – Impressed – 4:24
6 – I Handle Snakes – 3:36
7 – Emotional War Games – 3:53
8 – Living Doll – 3:44
9 – You Don’t Belong Here – 5:51
10 – You Will Go Free – 6:37

Credits
Art Direction, Layout – Tim Alderson
Backing Vocals – Rick Neigher, T-Bone Burnett
Bass – David Miner, Eric Gotthelf, Phil Chen, Rick Neigher, Tim Chandler
Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Penny Payne
Design Concept [Visual Concepts], Photography By – Linda Myers
Drum Programming – Rick Neigher, T-Bone Burnett
Drums – Burleigh Drummond, Freddy Alwag, Ron Aston
Engineer – Billy Taylor, Joe Chiccarelli, Larold Rebhun, Mark Heard, Nick Van Maarth, Rick Neigher
Engineer [Assistant Engineering] – Carolyn Collins, Joe Borja, Judy Clapp, Peter Doell, Steve Himelfarb
Guitar – Billy Steele, Charlie Sexton, Daryl Caraco, Nick Van Maarth, Peter Banks, Rick Neigher, T-Bone Burnett, Tonio K.
Horns – Little Effort, Phil Kenzie
Management – Gary Heaton Management
Mandocello, Violin – David Mansfield
Mandolin [Mandocello], Violin – David Mansfield
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Mixed By – Ed Thacker (tracks: A5, B3, B4), Joe Chiccarelli (tracks: A1 to A4, B1, B2)
Other [Assistant Engineering] – Milton
Other [Cover Girl] – Lisa Taylor
Percussion – Burleigh Drummond, Efrain Toro
Synthesizer – Bob Rose, Dave Aston, David Lewis, Rick Neigher
Technician [Productive Trouble-Shooting] – T-Bone Burnett
Vocals [Featured Vocalist] – Tonio K.

Companies, etc.
Produced For – Vogue Productions (2)
Recorded At – Lawrence Welk’s Champagne Recorders, Hollywood, CA.
Recorded At – Baby’O Recorders
Recorded At – Eldorado Recording Studios
Recorded At – Cherokee Studios
Recorded At – Hitman Studios
Recorded At – Fingerprint Recorders
Recorded At – Redwing Studios
Mixed At – Capitol Studios
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Pressed By – Electrosound Group Midwest, Inc.
Record Company – What? Records
Manufactured By – A&M Records, Inc.
Distributed By – A&M Records, Inc.

Randy Stonehill – Welcome To Paradise – 1976

This album was Randy’s third and at this point Randy was a very accomplished musician.

His song writing had always been very strong but now his guitar work was catching up. For many this album was their first exposure to Randy Stonehill and it had strong sales numbers.

Larry Norman both produced and played guitar on the album.

Point of trivia is that T-Bone Burnett joined the album as a bass player.

Track Listing
1 – King Of Hearts – 4:53
2 – Keep Me Runnin’ – 5:57
3 – The Winner (High Card) – 3:43
4 – Lung Cancer – 3:31
5 – Puppet Strings – 4:25
6 – First Prayer – 3:08
7 – I’ve Got News For You – 3:49
8 – Song For Sarah – 3:28
9 – Christmas Song For All Year ‘Round – 3:56
10 – Good News – 2:54

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Randy Stonehill
Bass – The Mighty T-Bone
Conductor [Charts And Baton] – Anthony Harris
Drums – Mark Walker
Electric Guitar, Piano, Harmony Vocals – Larry Norman
Engineer – Andy Johns
Engineer [Co-Engineer] – Tom Trefethen
Lead Guitar – Jon “Wonderfingers” Linn
Management – Street Level Artists Agency
Producer, Arranged By, Photography By, Design [Album Design] – Larry Norman
Typography [Lettering] – Joe Taylor
Written-By, Performer [Performed By] – Randy Stonehill