The Stonehill Puzzle

From the first time I heard the album Welcome to Paradise in 1976, I have been a big Randy Stonehill fan. His music was always a cut above whatever else was going on at the time in contemporary Christian music. His guitar parts were challenging enough to make me learn them (although I could never sing as high or as well as he did).

A discussion with a friend today over the relative merits of a couple of albums got me thinking about something that I noticed years ago. From 1976 to 1993, Randy always used producers for two straight albums and then went to another producer for the next two. It has always seemed to me that in each pair of albums the first is much better than the second. I have some thoughts on this, but let me first demonstrate.

His debut album Welcome to Paradise (the 1971 Born Twice is a glorified demo) is still one of the great classic Christian rock albums. Produced in 1975 by Larry Norman, the songs are still among the best he has written. Though the production values seem a little primitive, the performance is tight and consistent. The follow-up, The Sky Is Falling (recorded in 1977 but not released until 1980) has much better production values--definitely easier on the ears. However, the songs are nowhere near as strong and the silly side of Randy comes out in two songs ("The Great American Cure" and "Bad Fruit"). It's not a bad album at all (I love "Venezuela" and "Jamie's Got the Blues") but it just doesn't compare to its predecessor.

Terry Taylor filled the producer's chair for the next two albums utilizing Tom Howard and the members of Daniel Amos. Between the Glory and the Flame (1981) was uneven but very strong. The new-wavish styling that DA was using at the time really invigorated his songs, especially the opening three numbers. 1982's Equator was more consistent, but without the high spots. Good production, some decent songs, but not the same spark as previously. Also the silly side comes out in 4 songs ("Big Ideas," "American Fast Food," "Cosmetic Fixation," and the Star-Trek vocal on "World Without Pain").

David Edwards' producer Barry Kaye changed Randy's sound again on his two albums. Not only that, but the two albums were incredibly different from even each other. As with many of his albums the first, Celebrate This Heartbeat (1984) is noted for its unevenness--very strong songs matched by really weak ones. The production is good, simple, and clean. The next album, 1985's Love Beyond Reason, though very popular, is to my mind a disaster. No silly songs this time, just awful over-production including heavy reliance of the Fairlight synthesizer and the exploding snare drum sound so popular in bad 80s music. No fewer than 19 singers, musicians, and synthesizer programmers are listed. No terrible songs but no real great ones either (although I have always been partial to the underrated "Hymn"). He even included his first recording of his classic "Your Love Broke Through" (co-written by Keith Green and Todd Fishkind). We had been waiting for this for years and this 24-track train wreck was quite disappointing.

Dave Perkins managed to produce two consecutive disappointing albums, although once again, the second is better than the first, if only marginally. I will give them credit for trying something different with The Wild Frontier. Here Randy tries to rock out on his Fender Telecaster and put some grit in his vocals. There are even some good songs ("The Wild Frontier," "The Dying Breed," and "The Hope of Glory"). It's not just that the gentle folk-rocker cranks up the amp, it's that he just doesn't do it very well. The follow-up, Can't Buy a Miracle, like most second albums from each producer, suffers from weak material. The production is better but the songs are not memorable.

Randy turned to his friend and sometime engineer Mark Heard for what I consider his comeback 1989 album Return to Paradise. Though more somber than the album to which they were trying to hearken back, Welcome to Paradise, it contains his strongest songs in quite a while and has clean, simple production values. Though Randy had co-written songs in the past, this album is notable for containing 3 songs which he had no song-writing credit at all. Once again the follow-up was disappointing by comparison. Until We Have Wings was one-half studio (so only 7 new songs) and one-half live. The new songs were so-so and the live part did not have the same life that Randy had exhibited in earlier years. As one who had a couple of live bootlegs, I can attest that the 1990 live Randy Stonehill concert (if this recording in any indication) was inferior to the late 70s to early 80s version.

Surprisingly Randy brought back Terry Taylor for 1991's Wonderama. This is probably in my top three of his albums (along with Welcome to Paradise and Between the Glory and the Flame). The songs are very strong, the production consistent, the playing wonderful. Just one silly song ("Great Big Stupid World" which would have been better if the last minute had been cut). The album ends somberly with the ponderously slow "The Lost Parade" and "Lantern In the Snow" but is a fine album overall. I can listen to it again and again. Next, someone decided it was time for a quasi-greatest hits album called Stories. Eleven oddly picked previously-released tracks and two new songs produced by Terry Taylor, neither particularly memorable (though one was a hit).

After this, Randy recorded less frequently and with different producers on each album.

Some will disagree with my assessment (my friend Eric Stancliff, for instance, hates Glory and the Flame but loves Equator), but I will stand by it. I wasn't in the studio so I have no idea what went on there, but I wonder if a new producer energized Randy in a way that was different when he returned with the previous producer. In a couple of cases (The Sky Is Falling and Equator), too many silly songs were part of the reason. On another, the horrible production values of the day (Love Beyond Reason) was the culprit. However, I think that the most common factor was that the songs on these second albums were just not as strong as the first.

If you stumble onto this post and are a Randy Stonehill fan, let me hear from you. I would like to see if anyone else sees what I do or has a different take.