Koo-ah

Description

Koo-ah is the solo debut album by the American singer, songwriter, and session bassist Rick Cua of The Outlaws fame, released on Refuge Records in 1982, distributed by The Benson Company. The album was recorded by Jeff Levine at Glaser Recording Studio and Lower Level Studio in Nashville, Tennessee; with John Rosasco and Rick Cua producing and arranging for Primacy Productions.

Rick Cua first found fame as a member of the mainstream Southern rock band The Outlaws and then later turned his reawakened faith in Christ into a solo career with arena rocker-style albums like Wear Your Colors and Can’t Stand Too Tall. The strictures of Christian contemporary radio, though, dictated that what Cua did was ignored. There were next to no radio outlets for actual rock with a Christian message to be aired. To sell more copies in the late ’70s and ’80s, you needed to get a “radio hit”… something light and “safe” that Christian radio of the time would air. (The situation has improved as time goes on though CCM radio is still pretty fearful of electric guitar and R&B sounds.) As time went on, Cua began to soften his sound, veering closer and closer to pop and A/C sounds.

PROMO. Remastered CD Re-issue, Girder Records 2022

Just in case you did not know how to pronounce Rick’s last name, he made it incredibly easy on us by entitling his debut album with the phonetics of his family name. Rick was in The Outlaws when Joe English introduced Rick to the workings of the Christian music industry. At that time Joe was riding the CCM charts at number one with his Refuge Records debut. Refuge was a label created for general market artists to share their faith-inspired music. Cua wrote his first Christian song «You Can Still Rock & Roll», which caught the attention of Refuge, hence a record contract. Koo-ah, released in 1982, created a solid buzz in the CCM market. The supporting cast of musicians on the album include Joe English, Jimmy Hall and Mike Duke of southern rock band Wet Willie, four band members from The Outlaws, and Robbie Dupree, who made the charts in 1980 with his hit «Steal Away». The rollicking «You Can Still Rock & Roll» reached number one on the Christian music charts.

Tracks like «Fly Me To Heaven», «The Rock Was Rolled Away», and «Crossfire» feature hook-laden guitar, solid drumming, vibrant keys, and female backing vocals, all prime ingredients conducive for Southern-flavored rock. Eternity is a memorable mid-tempo rock ballad with a textured interplay between the key arrangement and the soaring guitars soloing. On «Crossfire», there is a lyrical mention of Rosasco’s Roadside Bar which may well be tongue-in-cheek since John Rosasco was Cua’s manager.

Another steady rocker, «I Wanna Be Like You», divvies out some fun guitar lick exchanges between Muscle Schoals player Will McFarlane and Freddie Salem of The Outlaws. There is also that signature drum sound of Joe English. The closing track, «Melt My Heart», is a swinging honky-tonk tune with Cua laying down funky bass, Mike Duke of Wet Willie plunkering out bar room piano, and Robbie Dupree wailing on his harmonica.

Koo-ah is a classic well-loved album that showed up at a pivotal time for Christian rockers. – Doug Peterson, Down The Line zine

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/koo-ah/716273414)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Fly Me To Heaven” – 3:38
A2. “Spirit” – 3:53
A3. “The Rock Was Rolled Away” – 3:14
A4. “Eternity” – 4:07
A5. “Heaven Was Made For Everybody” – 3:34

Side Two
B1. “You Can Still Rock ‘N Roll” – 3:01
B2. “Crossfire” – 3:19
B3. “Just A Little Bit More” – 3:56
B4. “I Wanna Be Like You” – 4:46
B5. “Melt My Heart” – 2:53

Note: Simultaneously released on 8-track tape, cassette, and 12-inch vinyl LP by Refuge Records. Re-issued on Sparrow Records in 1985. Remastered and re-issued on CD by Girder Records in March 2022 (GR1120), under license from Capitol CMG, as a part of the label’s Legends of Rock Series.

The first four solo albums (1982-1986) by Rick Cua were remastered and re-issued on CD by Girder Records in March 2022 as a part of the label’s Legends of Rock Series.