…This Year’s Model

Description

…This Year’s Model is an album by the American pop quartet The Imperials, released on Myrrh Records in 1987, a division of Word. Also manufactured and distributed by A&M Records. The rhythm tracks were recorded by Steve MacMillan at Ocean Way Recording (except the rhythm track on track A3 recorded by Jeff Balding at Omni Sound), with Brown Bannister producing. Mixed by Nicholas Froome at Blue Jay Recording Studio in Boston, Massachusetts. Fairlight programming by Carl Marsh, Peter Kaye, Rhett Lawrence, and Shane Keister. According to CCM Magazine, This Year’s Model was the 6th best selling album of 1987 in the Christian music market.

The Imperials is Jimmie Lee Sloas and Ron Hemby, both on tenor and co-lead vocals, as well as long time members David Will on baritone vocals and Armond Morales on bass vocals.

I know we’ve said this before… but wait ’til you’ve heard the new one from the Imps! There was, of course, a similar reaction when Michael Omartian produced ‘One More Song for You‘ in 1979. And a ray of hope glimmered through much of their last album, ‘Let the Wind Blow‘, which was their first encounter with producer Brown Bannister. Nevertheless, ‘This Years Model’ does indeed bring the Imperials back into the fracas of Christian pop music in 1987.

So what accounts for this hype? To begin with, their new lead singers, Jimmie Lee and Ron Hemby, are quite possible the best they’ve ever had. Yeah, we know. It’s just our opinion. These boys share a clear savvy of pop/rock vocal chop uncommon in this biz. As has been the case once already, one of them (Jimmie Lee, I think) is prone to the occasional lapse of R. Taff Syndrome. Thankfully, these lapses are few and his own style is distinctive enough to avoid many comparisons.

This is a smart, high-tech album to be sure, but it also boasts many well-written songs, excellent musical arrangements, and Brown Bannister’s capable production sense. As this issue is being written, «Wings of Love» is a #1 song in The MusicLine Update, but there are other potential hits here as well, such as «Holding On (First Love)», «Fallin’», «Outlander» and others.

If you didn’t get the message from our article in the February issue of CCM, take ‘This Years Model’ out for a test drive. We don’t think you’ll be disappointed. [Thom Granger, CCM, April 1987]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-years-model/1167816189)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Holding On (First Love)” – 5:22
A2. “Fallin'” – 4:03
A3. “Warriors” – 4:54
A4. “How Do I Get You?” – 5:38

Side Two
B1. “Wings Of Love” – 4:38
B2. “Power Of God” – 4:07
B3. “Outlander” – 6:47
B4. “Get Ready” – 4:38
B5. “Devoted To You” – 3:44

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Myrrh Records.