Ruscha

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ruscha - Come Alive (CD cover)


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Origin = Liberty University in VA
Genre = Christian rock
Year = 1988
Label = Pan-Trax Records, Inc. & Victor Entertainment, Inc.
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Past_members = (see Members of Ruscha)

Ruscha was a Christian rock band formed in the mid 80s, by two Siberian immigrant brothers Nikolai and Peter Pankratz who escaped Communist Russia, then testified to the plight of their fellow believers after safely reaching the USA, where they formed a band at Liberty University in VA.

At first, the band released three albums under the name "The Russians" ("The Russians", "I Want To Talk To You" & "Love Forever More").

The band under went a name change for the fourth album called "Ruscha" "Testimony" in 1987.

Their fifth & most popular album was "Ruscha" "Come Alive" which in 1988 rose to moderate success. The album included the song "Come Home", which went to #4 at Christian radio in the US in 1988. [Entry in Mark Allen Powell's "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music" (Hendrickson Publishers, 2002), p. 784.] The original album (defunct Pan-Trax Records, Inc. in Dickson, Tennessee) has been long out of print, but a CD was re-issued in 1996 on an import label (Victor Entertainment, Inc. in Tokyo, Japan). This newer version doesn't have the printed lyrics the US version had, but does have all the same songs in English and cover art.

Their sixth and final album was "Ruscha" "Invisible Hands" in 1992. This album was very rare due to the fact that it was entirely sung in Russian.

Three of the members of Ruscha (Andy Denton, Mike Jacobs, & Billy Williams) went on to form Legend Seven in 1990 by Word Records. Andy Denton created the two solo albums "Midnight Of Hope" in 1999 by KMG Records (Nashville, TN), and "50 Years From Now". Andy Denton was also half of Identical Strangers (Damascus Road Records) with Randy Thomas (Allies & co-writer of Butterfly Kisses (song)) in 1995.

"Come Alive" track listing

* 1. Come Alive (4:52)
* 2. Someone Listening (3:51)
* 3. Broken Heart (4:09)
* 4. Holy & True (3:41)
* 5. Come Home (4:22)
* 6. Thy Word Stands Forever (4:43)
* 7. Burning Bridges (4:22)
* 8. Exalt The Name (3:43)
* 9. Do You Care? (3:51)
* 10. Lord Of The Impossible (3:17)

Band members

* Nikolai Pankratz - rhythm guitar, keyboard programming, bgvs
* Peter Pankratz - bass guitar, bgvs, lead vocals
* Andy Denton - lead vocals, bgvs
* Billy Williams - drums, percussion programming
* Michael Jackson - keyboards, bgvs, vocoder vocal, keyboard programming, string programming
* Michael Jacobs - lead guitar, background vocals (now currently solo artist. See www.sacrednation.com)

"Come Alive" studio credits

* Produced by: Bubba Smith
* Executive Producer: Nikolai Pankratz
* Mike Radovsky - drums
* Duncan Mullins - bass, drum programming
* Tom Hemby - guitar
* Phil Naish - keyboards, bass programming
* Tim Akers - keyboards
* George Cocchini - guitar
* Mark Douthit - sax
* Jeff Teague - drums
* Bubba Smith - cymbals
* Recorded at: Gold Mine, Omni, Bullet, & Stage III studios
* Mixed at: Woodland Studio

References

See also

*Legend Seven

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/davemwiz/ Dave's Museum of Ruscha]