SWEET COMFORT BAND - CUTTING EDGE (*NEW-CD, 2009, Retroactive Records)

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💿 Release Details

Artist: Sweet Comfort Band  
Title: Cutting Edge  
Label: Retroactive Records  
Catalog Number: RAR7889  
UPC: 845121012095  
Format: CD  
Style: Melodic Rock / AOR  
Packaging: 4-Panel Full-Color Digipak  
Tracks: 10  
Original Release: 1982  
Retroactive Records Reissue: 2009  
This Pressing: 2015  
Remastered By: J. Powell at Steinhaus

🔥 Key Collector Details

• Classic 1982 Sweet Comfort Band album featuring a full transition into polished melodic rock and AOR  
• Features CCM legend Bryan Duncan on vocals and keyboards  
• Features future Allies guitarist Randy Thomas on guitars and vocals  
• Guest vocals by Bob Carlisle, later of Allies and “Butterfly Kisses” fame  
• Produced, recorded, and mixed by acclaimed producer/engineer Jack Joseph Puig  
• Features legendary jazz percussionist Victor Feldman  
• Additional keyboards by John Schreiner  
• Originally mastered by legendary mastering engineer Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab  
• Recorded at Bill Schnee Studio and Mama Jo’s in North Hollywood  
• Features fan favorites “Runnin’ To Win,” “Valerie,” and “Live It”  
• Big vocals, prominent keyboards, muscular guitars, driving rhythms, and hook-filled choruses  
• Remastered by J. Powell at Steinhaus  
• 2015 repress of the 2009 Retroactive Records remastered reissue  
• Full-color 4-panel digipak featuring enhanced original artwork  
• For Fans Of: Kansas, Toto, Styx, Whiteheart, Petra & Allies

ABOUT THE ALBUM

By 1982, Sweet Comfort Band had completed one of the most interesting musical transformations in early Christian rock. The jazz, soul, funk, and horn-driven elements of their earliest albums had gradually given way to something bigger, sleeker, and considerably more powerful. On Cutting Edge, that transformation is complete.

Originally released in 1982, Cutting Edge finds Sweet Comfort Band operating as a streamlined melodic rock and AOR powerhouse in the tradition of Kansas, Toto, and Styx. The keyboards are prominent, the guitars have more muscle, the production is polished, and the horn section that had played such an important role on earlier albums is completely gone.

What remained was everything that made Sweet Comfort Band exceptional in the first place: tremendous musicianship, sophisticated arrangements, Bryan Duncan’s unmistakable voice, Randy Thomas’ guitar work, a powerful rhythm section—and hooks, hooks, and more hooks.

Bryan Duncan handles keyboards and vocals, with Randy Thomas on guitars and vocals, Kevin Thomson on bass, and Rick Thomson on drums and vocals. The album also features guest vocals from Bob Carlisle, who would later join Thomas in Allies before achieving enormous solo success.

The supporting cast adds even more pedigree. Legendary jazz musician Victor Feldman contributes percussion, John Schreiner adds keyboards, and saxophone appearances from David Hlebo and John Phillips provide touches of additional color without returning the band to the horn-driven approach of its earlier recordings.

“Runnin’ To Win” launches the album with exactly the kind of polished, energetic melodic rock that defines Cutting Edge. “Valerie” showcases the band’s gift for memorable pop-rock hooks, while “Live It” delivers another standout example of SCB’s increasingly confident arena-ready sound. Throughout the album, huge vocals, polished keyboards, driving guitars, and an exceptionally tight rhythm section demonstrate a band fully comfortable with its new musical identity.

The production team was equally formidable. Cutting Edge was produced, recorded, and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, with sessions taking place during July through September 1982 at Bill Schnee Studio and Mama Jo’s in North Hollywood. The original album was mastered at The Mastering Lab by legendary mastering engineer Doug Sax.

Cutting Edge became another commercial and artistic high point for Sweet Comfort Band and helped establish the sound that would characterize the final phase of the group’s original run. It also provides an important bridge to the careers that followed, particularly Bryan Duncan’s extensive solo work and Randy Thomas’ success with Allies.

This Retroactive Records edition was remastered by J. Powell at Steinhaus and comes packaged in a full-color 4-panel digipak featuring enhanced original artwork. This 2015 pressing is a repress of Retroactive Records’ 2009 remastered reissue.

For fans of polished early-’80s melodic rock and AOR, Cutting Edge lives up to its name—a remarkably accomplished album from Sweet Comfort Band at the height of their rock era.

For Fans Of: Kansas, Toto, Styx, Whiteheart, Petra & Allies

🎵 TRACKS

Runnin' To Win / What Have You Got? / Falling In Love With You / Haven't Seen You / Breakdown Love / Valerie / Changed Hearts / Live It / What Did It Mean? / Armed And Ready