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It's Christmas Time/ The Bells Are Ringing Out
Rapture Records 101
Recorded in 1977 at the same time as Rapture Records 100, both cuts were written and produced
by Bobby Emmons. Both tunes were later rerecorded for the "It's Christmas Time" album which was released three years
later.
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I Remember Phydeaux Records (a division of Solid Rock Records,
Hollywood, CA) Bone-002
The "I Remember" album was recorded in the month of June, 1979. The Last Generation
opened up two concerts for artist/producer Larry Norman in '77 & '78. Larry loved the group but not the name.
So...when Bobby Emmons went out to California in 1978, Larry asked the band to change its name to the Crosstones...and the
rest they say is history.
Bobby and Fred wrote the opening track (Malt Shop In The Sky) together.
Fred has stated that "Bobby came to me with this song. He was stuck on the middle section. He said that he wanted
to use a lot of falsetto and a lot of bass in the bridge, so I said why not use those actual words as the bridge.
And it worked!" Usually when Bobby and Fred wrote together Bobby came up with the melody and Fred wrote the majority
of the lyrics (ie If God Didn't Care). But on Malt Shop In The Sky it was the opposite.
Bobby has stated that "I wasn't crazy about the melody that I had for the verses but I really liked the words. So when
I asked to Fred to help out with the lyrics to the bridge I also asked him for help with the melody. What we came up
with together worked great. It was the perfect opening song." Larry Norman and Bobby wrote two songs together
for this project, I Saw You & You. The remaining songs were written individually
by Bobby or Fred.
Vocally, the group at this point consisted of Bobby Emmons, Fred Pope, Terri DeLorenzo, Mary
Grace Shar and Josh Shar. Additional musicians included Tom Pope, Mike Nicolose, Peggy Andreev and Richie Malfitano.
Tom and Mike were a major part of the group at this time and performed with the band regularly.
"I Remember" was also the first time that the band had recorded together in a real recording
studio. The tracks were recorded and mixed at Emmaus Sound in Point Pleasant, New Jersey with Joe Saint and Jimmy Scott
engineering. Three of the songs, What Are You Doing, I Remember and Sometimes
I Run were later remixed by Mark Heard in Los Angeles.
Malt Shop In The Sky (Crosstones)
(I've Got A) Crush On You, Dream Girl, Joanne, Since Love's Been Knockin' On My Door Clifton Records 1982
The Crosstones released their first E.P. (extended play) 45rpm on the Clifton record label in
1982. Production wise, this recording is light years ahead of the "I Remember" album. Emmaus Sound, where the group was
recording , had just gone from 8 tracks to 16 tracks.
The four songs included in this project were (I've Got A) Crush On You
(Emmons), Dream Girl (Fox), Joanne (Arminio) & Since Love's Been Knockin' On
My Door (Emmons). The Crosstones at this point consisted of Terri DeLorenzo-percussion, Janet Ferraro-keyboards,
Fred Pope-bass & Bobby Emmons-guitar. Additional musicians included future Crosstone Rich Venore on sax, Tom Cook
on the Prophet 5 and John Allen on drums. This release was a mix of traditional doo wop (Joanne, Dream Girl) and contemporary
doo wop (Crush, Since) complete with some pretty wild synth.
(I've Got A) Crush On You
Dream Girl
Joanne
Since Love's Been Knockin'
Bye Bye Baby/ Look My Way Empo 100
1982 was an exciting year for the band. The Crosstones were working alot at this point,
often 6 or 7 nights per week. The owner of the White Elephant, where the group performed on most Wednesday and Thursday
nights, Wally Frank loved one of the songs that the Crosstones performed in their live set. So he along with White Elephant
bartender Murph decided to produce the Crosstones next recording project, Bye Bye Baby.
Bye Bye Baby was written by Mark Winter whose group
also performed at the White Elephant. Fred Pope had seen his group perform the song and asked Mark if the Crosstones
could record it. It was the perfect vehicle for Freds tenor and the groups standout background harmonies. With a stellar
group of session musicians (Ronnie Mallioux-drums, John Drymon-piano, Dennis Grove-bass, Tom Howard-string arrangements) and
the NJ Orchestra, Bye Bye Baby/Look My Way was released in the fall of 1982.
Bye Bye Baby
Look My Way
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