David Bruce Murray
Diana Brantley
Kyle Boreing
Phil on Southern Gospel
Steve EatonAs I ease back into blogging on a regular basis I wanted to get back to some of my regular features. Today, it is time for another retro spotlight, looking at music from albums released in 1984. While I can’t include all recordings from my collection from that specific year, I pulled out a few albums to take a look at from 1984. Enjoy.
The Florida Boys recorded what would arguably be the group’s biggest song ever on their 1984 recording Reaching Out. “When He Was On The Cross, I Was On His Mind” was a #1 hit and won song of the year at the Singing News Fan Awards two years in a row.
Gold City continued to release music that would propel them to mega group status by the end of the decade. Walk On was the group’s 1984 release and featured several big songs including “John Saw” and the song featured here “Shoutin’ Ground”.
The Greenes were also picking up steam with radio success and 1984 brought them “It Sure Sounds Like Angels To Me” from their album Greenehouse. Another great ballad featured on that album was “Calmer Of The Storm”. Take a listen.
One of the top groups in the industry during this time period was the Hemphills. With the success of “He’s Still Workin’ On Me” in 1980, the group strung together several #1 hits throughout the early part of the 1980′s. One of those #1 hits was “It Wasn’t Raining When Noah Built The Ark”. The song was recorded on the Hemphill’s 1984 recording Together.
The Game Of Life was the 1984 recording released by the Kingsmen. This album was one of the few studio albums recorded during this decade by the group. A straight ahead Kingsmen three chord and a cloud of dust type song was “You Don’t Have To Wait”.
One of the first all female groups to make a name for themselves in the Southern Gospel music industry was the Perry Sisters. They started recording in the late ’70′s, but began gaining notoriety after signing with Eddie Crook in the early ’80′s. In 1984 the trio released Gloryland Train and “In The Ark Of Safety” was one of the selections found on the album.
1984 wouldn’t be complete without mentioning one of the biggest albums released in Southern Gospel music. The Singing Americans, Live And Alive is considered among many Southern Gospel historians as one of the best albums ever recorded. Most remembered from this recording was Michael English’s feature on “I Bowed On My Knees And Cried Holy”, but I chose to include “Something New”. Take a listen.
To close out 1984 is the Talleys. The group released their debut Canaan recording, Wherever I Am. The group recorded a song on that particular album that would go on to become a Talley classic; “Thinking About Home”.
Without making any commentary on or speaking against your selection choices here, I will say this: The Cathedrals’ project this year (The Prestigious Cathedral Quartet) was brilliant overall and featured several songs that would become career hits for the group. But my favorite is actually the oft-overlooked closing track, “Next Time We Meet.” Lari Goss at his best – and ditto for Danny Funderburk.
While not intentional, when preparing the retro spotlight segment, I sometimes overlook the Cathedrals music since everyone is already so familiar with them, to maybe spotlight an artist/recording someone may not be familiar with.
Southern Gospel music has always had a wide range of artists that deserve a shout out every now and again.
But don’t fret. My next retro spotlight year will be featuring a Cathedral recording.
Nice walk down memory lane. The albums from this list that I remember my sister having (I was 8 years old in 1984 but credit my older sister for making me a SG fan) are the Florida Boys, Gold City, and the Singing Americans. All three of these are great albums.
Enjoy being reminded of these great projects. Great format and great work.
These are really helpful from a reference standpoint. Thanks for doing it!