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Highlands (album)

Highlands is the ninth album by the Christian rock band White Heart and the band's last album with Star Song Records.[3][4] The album was released and just coming off the singles that were from their Grammy nominated album Tales of Wonder (1992) as well as touring. Highlands was produced by White Heart founders Mark Gersmehl and Billy Smiley with Darrell A. Harris as executive producer. The first radio single "Once and for All" topped the Christian CHR/Pop chart and features members of the 1990's female Christian rock group Rachel Rachel near towards the end of the song. A music video was made for the album's third radio single "Heaven of My Heart". The album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart.

– lead vocals, backing vocals

Rick Florian

– keyboards, percussion, recorder, lead vocals, backing vocals

Mark Gersmehl

– rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, octave acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Billy Smiley

– rhythm and lead guitars

Brian Wooten

– bass

Anthony Sallee

– drums, percussion

Jon Knox

Mark Gersmehl – producer

Billy Smiley – producer

Darrell A. Harris – executive producer

Jeff Balding – recording engineer

Richie Biggs – recording engineer, mixing

Ronnie Brookshire – recording engineer

Bill Deaton – recording engineer, mixing

Lee Groitzsch – second engineer

Patrick Kelly – second engineer

Shawn McLean – second engineer

Todd Robbins – second engineer

– mastering

Bob Ludwig

Toni Thigpen – art direction

The Riordon Design Group, Inc. – design

Mark Tucker – photography

Shin Sugino – photography

Franklin, Tennessee – recording location

The Bennett House

Nashville, Tennessee – recording location

Quad Studios

The Boardroom, Nashville, Tennessee – recording location

OmniSound and The Battery, Nashville, Tennessee – mixing location

Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine).

Critical reception[edit]

Thom Granger of AllMusic praised Highlands saying that it was "another artistic high-water mark for the band, which now includes Adam Again member John Knox on drums. The influence of '70s prog rockers like Yes and Kansas is interwoven with Celtic themes for a Christian rock classic."


David Cranson of Cross Rhythms said that "after years of personnel changes and so-so albums that languished in the shadows of Petra, three GREAT albums have emerged for White Heart, each seemingly topping the last until with last year's 'Tales Of Wonder' many critics were tossing around the phrase 'classic'. Now comes this, another superlative set of classy AOR cuts ranging from blues based rockers like 'Point Of No Return' to the haunting title track 'Highland of Love.' Lyrically White Heart are good, structurally they're repetitive. But that's a very personal view. If you have any of their previous albums, I reckon you'll like this."