The Keep – Never Surrender – 1985

The Keep were a Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Band that self recorded and produced this album. It was picked up by Tunesmith records who were well known for finding unknown bands back then. They did achieve some success in the Canadian market but should have been far wider known in Christian music. A full U.S. release would have probably made these guys a youth group name. Excellent guitar riffs and above normal lyric quality are all over this album. While it leans to Rock it’s actually a difficult album to categorize. Not because of different track styles, but because of the very style itself being difficult to categorize. Trivia is that the bands original name was Scepter but had to be changed due to a name conflict with another Christian band. Full disclaimer these guys are a hometown band for me so I do have some bias, but it’s a deserved bias.

 

Tracklist
1 – Discovering Allies – 4:05
2 – Forgiven Again – 4:10
3 – If Your Heart Isn’t In It – 3:12
4 – Pilgrims Progress – 3:00
5 – The Star – 5:20
6 – Good Guys – 3:45
7 – Hang On – 3:30
8 – Nero – 4:25
9 – The Lord Is My Shepherd – 2:08
10 – Eye In The Sky – 4:40

Credits
Joseph Madden – Lead Guitar, Rythym Guitar, Vocals, “Radio Show Host”, Producer
Wendell Koop – Vocals, Rythym Guitar, “Radio Show Guest”, Producer
Gilbert Vielfaure – Drums
Darrell Reimer – Bass Guitar
Gord Kidder – Harp solos on “Allies”and “Shepherd”
Tamera Barkman – “Caller on line 3”
Dave Zeglinski – telephone, wind, all backwards messages, Producer

Scepter / The Keep – (self titled) – 1984

In 1984 The Keep (then Scepter) recorded this demo to sell at their concerts.

The concerts were very well received and from what I’ve heard the cassette sold well. Most of the tracks appear on their album but there are a couple previously unheard tracks.

The tracks that also appear on the album have slightly different arrangements here. I have done everything I can to improve the quality but bear in mind this is from a cassette recorded in 1984.

Track Listing:
1 – Eye In The Sky
2 – Presence
3 – Nero
4 – Hang On
5 – Physical Evidence
6 – Forgiven Again
7 – Star

Credits:
Joseph Madden – Lead Guitar, Rythym Guitar, Vocals,
Wendell Koop – Vocals, Rythym Guitar,
Gilbert Vielfaure – Drums
Darrell Reimer – Bass Guitar
Engineer – Jon Stevens, Chris McPherson
Produced by Jon Stevens, Chris McPherson, Sceptor

Real 80s CCM Podcast # 1

Episode #1 Featuring

  • Darell Mansfield
  • The Keep
  • Servant
  • Scott and Ray talking about old music
  • Guest appearance by Gena the dog

To view this episode with its original live video, see it here on Youtube:

Listen to just the audio below, or Right Click Here To Download