On this day (May 15) in 1985, Amy Grant's "Unguarded" album was released

I like how Sparrow/Universal and Amy's management used all 4 covers as part of this Special Edition.

 

Just used sox to remove pre-emphasis from the USA CD: much improved.

 

The Top 4
#1. Find a Way
#2. Love of Another Kind
#3. Sharayah / Everywhere I Go / Wise Up - tie
#4. The Prodigal (I'll Be Waiting)

 

Top 5:
1. Find a Way
2. Love of Another Kind
3. Everywhere I Go
4. Sharayah / Wise Up - tie
5. The Prodigal (I'll Be Waiting)

 

Are any of you planning on buying the new vinyl reissue of this album or sticking with tracking down the 4 covers of the Myrrh and/or A&M issues or both?

 

Also,

Also, I am sure a bunch of you in the digital world will be content with those great sounding A&M and Myrrh CDs.

 

Will they use the old vinyl master? I understand that music is mastered differently if it’s on vinyl vs. physical CD. If they use the (new) re-mastered version from 2007, would it sound different than the original pressed vinyl?

Also, Amy’s management wrote they are including 4 live tracks, commentary, “and more”.... So I was hoping that the “and more” would include a demo or two, and/or songs that never made the cut the first time around. I love the “rarities” from BTE, and was thinking that there most likely would be some from the Unguarded era. After all, she did include Come into my world on the SDTR CD 14 years later.

 

If they (Amy's management and Sparrow Records/Universal) use the 2007 remaster, it will have the loudness war effect, but only turned down.

 

Top 5:
1. Find a Way
2. Love of Another Kind
3. Everywhere I Go / Sharayah - tie
4. Wise Up
5. The Prodigal (I'll Be Waiting)

 

Top 6:
1. Find a Way
2. Love of Another Kind
3. Everywhere I Go
4. Sharayah
5. Wise Up
6. The Prodigal (I'll Be Waiting)

 

I hope they will either go back to the analog tapes or use the old vinyl master of the songs on the album.

 

I am hoping they go back to the old vinyl master or the original analog tapes, as I only have this album on CD (purchased in ‘86), and would love a vinyl copy.

Last summer I read the NYT article about the Universal fire in 2008. I was really surprised to see Amy’s name among the list of artists who lost their tapes in the fire, as I read earlier that she always owned her music outright. I assumed that meant she would have physical possession of all originals. So perhaps the fire only destroyed copies or obscure videos.

 

She does have the original masters in her Nashville vault. Some of the publicity stuff from the A&M years didn't get returned to her.

 

Original vinyl issues are very common in used record stores, eBay, Discogs, etc. of everything from about Lead Me On on back while vinyl LPs of Heart In Motion are not very common and there is a very limited vinyl LP of How Mercy Looks From Here and also Tennessee Christmas is on vinyl plus that limited boxed set of the first 3 Christmas albums.

 

I just recently came across several Amy Grant Vinyl LP's (in a local store--tucked way back in covered box of mixed vinyl!)
I picked up the following copies:
Amy Grant—The Collection(A&M label..gorgeous brown translucent) in very nice condition
Amy Grant—Lead Me On (1988) (hype sticker) brown translucent in excellent shape
Amy Grant—Unguarded (1st copy) Myrrh label on gorgeous brown translucent in excellent condition
Amy Grant—Unguarded (2nd copy) A&M label (green/grey translucent) superb condition
Amy Grant—Straight Ahead (1984) Myrrh with poster (brown translucent vinyl) in excellent condition!

I also have her first Christmas album (2 copies) on Myrrh label..one is brown translucent vinyl..one is not
plus her Amy Grant in Concert Vol 1 (1981) and vol. 2 (1981) both with posters)
All these copies sound superb and are good listens (if you like her voice, her music, genre, etc!)

 

Which many people on this forum actually do.

 

Top 5:
1. Find a Way
2. Love of Another Kind
3. Everywhere I Go
4. Sharayah
5. Wise Up / The Prodigal (I'll Be Waiting) (tie)

I agree that Find a Way is definitely a classic.

 

Just saw this thread. I was a huge Amy Grant fan back in high school and college, and a friend of mine showed up at my door with this album the day it was released. He wasn't a huge Amy Grant fan, but he knew I'd want it. Such a nice, unexpected gesture. It was the middle of finals and I had no time whatsoever for listening to a new album, but I stopped everything I was doing and played the whole album that night. I made a tape of it to take with me for my walk to class the next morning. I don't think I listened to anything else for several weeks.

I played the whole album through just a few weeks ago, actually. I hadn't listened to it for quite a long time, but I've been revisiting favorite albums from my high school and college years recently, and this one came to mind. It still holds up surprisingly well. I don't like it quite as much as I like Straight Ahead or Lead Me On, but it's a good album nonetheless.

As I have both the original vinyl and CD issues, I don't think I'd have any interest in getting a reissue unless it came with bonus tracks of some sort. (I actually have three copies on vinyl, with three of the four album covers. Not sure why I didn't ever complete the set.)

 

The new reissue will have bonus content.

 

BTW, if it weren't for this album, we wouldn't have had "Heart In Motion" either stylistically or become the commercial success it became.

 

As an album songwriter Amy surpassed herself with Behind the Eyes but this LP, Lead Me On and Heart in Motion and even House of Love are lovely pieces of work. As an individual song I still think Lead Me On is probably her best individual composition.

 

This is why the hits comps alone do not tell the whole story by themselves but provide a start, as she's an album artist overall as they are very carefully thought out albums.

 

That's very good news. I'll be picking up the reissue for sure, then.

I just looked on my music shelf, and I still have the book of sheet music for the album. I remember sitting in the practice rooms at the university and playing those songs instead of practicing the music for my music courses...