Ron Williams - I'll Never Be The Same flac mp3 download

Ron Williams, I'LL NEVER BE THE SAME, RMR 8301. From vinyl Lp, date shows 1983.Track list:side one--Hang In There/Be My Queen/I'll Never Be the Same/The Miracle/Liferside two--I Know You're There/Latter-Day Love Song/If I Could Do It All Again/Christmas in the MTC/Dedication(C) (P) 1983 RMR Productions. Same credits as the 1984 Lp. Inner sleeve has credits on the side and B&W photo, other side is lyrics to all the songs and fan club info, based in Upland, California.While checking around on this album, I found a reference that "RMR" is an acronym for "Returned Missionary Records." I believe RMR references "Robert M. Ricks" Productions, the financial backing of this album.Playback: much the same as the 1984 LOOK OUT WORLD (which was tentatively titled, WORTHY MUSIC before its release). Lp inner sleeve features the recording credits on one side (I downloaded a photo of that information), and lyrics to all the songs on the other. Track #3, side one, is the most rock (pop, but with some decent electric guitar work) on the album. The lyrics to the songs are LDS themed, though two of them are Outsider Music standouts, side one, track four, "The Miracle," which is a kind of LDS "You're Having My Baby" (Paul Anka's late '70s ode to pregnancy), and the oddball LDS Christmas song on side two, track five, "Christmas in the MTC (Missionary Training Center)," about the Provo, Utah prep center, located by/in BYU. Overall sound of the album ranges from late Carpenters, PASSAGE and MADE IN AMERICA, to the FLASHDANCE soundtrack ("I'll Never Be The Same" reminds me of Karen Kamon's "Manhunt"?).Playback is synth pop, very professionally polished performances. And from Utah, which is decidedly strange on an indie or private press label. Lp has an inner sleeve, fairly heavy slick paper, song lyrics on one side, photos and musician credits on the other (Kurt Bestor is on this Lp, if Utah's own LDS "New Age" name artist has any serious music/record junkies looking for obscurities). At the bottom right of the inner sleeve, I caught this reference to other recordings: "Ron Williams Talk Tapes available on Covenant Recordings wherever LDS Books and Records are sold." --Covenant Records is/was a record arm of Bonneville Communications, which is an LDS Church business corp.Style is early '80s synth pop. Vocals suggest early Donny Osmond; the music style suggests mainstream CCM synth-pop, which is DECIDEDLY advanced (and downright STRANGE!) for LDS music at the time (see Ezra Taft Benson's Ensign article from the early '70s, "SATAN'S THRUST," as well as Jack R. Christianson's advice, "APPLES OR ONIONS," about guidelines for pop music for LDS youth audiences, those "rock lifestyle," "rock music kills houseplants," and "demon baskmasking" themes scaring kiddies at the time). Cover art mimics the day-glow colors on Christian pop records of the early-mid '80s, like Sandi Patti, Amy Grant, or Sheila Walsh.Although the songwriting is about on par with period CCM in the mid-'80s, the commercial sound of the album is very well done. The drums have good kick, the bass runs are well-recorded, and there's not a throwaway filler in the album. As with mid-'80s CCM music, the general feel is at best kitschy PG-13 vanilla religious pop, but I haven't heard better on any period LDS music releases from the time. The synth-pop nature of the mix does now sound dated, but this was an expertly done B+ quality album when Hall & Oates, Air Supply, Culture Club, and Huey Lewis ruled the secular charts.Apparently Ron Williams had several releases in the '80s. This album was a "hit" (however one defines a "hit" pop album in the tiny [tiny] LDS music market at the time--maybe regional bookshops in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, well below the CCM market [Word Records had 6000 accounts in their distribution pipeline for CCM] at the time.). Another album, followed, LOOK OUT WORLD, in 1984 and PURE GOLD--which I haven't yet seen. Deseret News wrote up an article about his success, "Former LDS Baseball Player Pitches Musical Strikes" with some description of his success on September 26, 1984.