Stewart Memorial Christianity

531. LONE JUSTICE – INSPIRATION, 1986. From the album’Shelter’, Geffen.Occasionally the ’80s digitaltechnology with the power snare and use of sequencers make some of thetracks on ‘Shelter’ sound rather dated today, particularly whencompared with the rootsy sound of its ‘Love Justice’ predecessor. Butthere was no hiding the quality of the voice of the group’s MariaMcKee. Columbia Records’ Peter Philbin once described Maria as having”one of those rare voices that does not lay down on a record, butjumps right out of the speakers at you.” Indeed it does. With theright song the effect is truly electrifying and “Inspiration” is asincere prayer with Maria singing (“How my spirit longs for yourinspiration/Fill me up, fill me up, fill me up”) with completeconviction. Tony Cummings

532. SUPERCHICK – IT’S ON, 2005. From the album ‘Beauty FromPain’, Inpop.One of the most underrated producers inthe whole of post-war music must surely be Superchick’s Max Hsu. ThisChinese American studio whiz is equally adept at creating propulsivedancefloor fillers and infectious radio friendly pop rock. This corkerbegins with a surge of careering guitars like something plucked fromthe golden age of punk before Tricia Brock belts out the rapiddelivery lyric “Today’s your day/So c’mon bring it on/It’s on”. Seldomhas a message of seizing the day been delivered with such joyousenthusiasm.Tony Cummings

RandyMatthews

533. RANDY MATTHEWS – DIDN’T HE, 1972. From thevarious artists album ‘Jesus Sound Explosion’, Explo ’72.Explo ’72 has been called by more than one church historian “theChristian Woodstock”. The massive event in Dallas, Texas reached apeak when 200,000 people attended a Jesus music concert which featuredLove Song, Larry Norman, Johnny Cash and many others. But it was MyrrhRecords recording artist Randy Matthews who was to make the mosttelling contribution on the live album released later that year.”Didn’t He” is a slow, deeply emotional song about Christ’scrucifixion (“Didn’t he die. . .for you and me?”). With just anacoustic guitar for accompaniment Matthews sang in a gruff and grittyvoice wrenching every bit of emotion from the narrative while slammingthe box of his guitar with the heel of his hand simulated the sound ofnails being driven through flesh. Critic Mark Allan Powell wrote aboutRandy’s unforgettable performance, “It became one of the definingmoments of the festival, a moment that would later be broadcast onnational TV.” It still retains its power today.TonyCummings

534. BRUCE COCKBURN – THE GIFT, 1988. From the album ‘BigCircumstance’, True North.At the time of its release,Bruce was regarded, not least by Greenbelters, as an elder-statesmanof Christian popular music; a name spoken of in almost hallowed tones.’Big Circumstance’ was an album which came mid-way in his career whenCockburn was being cited as an influence by U2 and Deacon Blue. “TheGift” was buried amongst what has become some of Cockburn’s best knownmaterial yet it’s this song with its near-transcendent atmospherewhich makes it a classic. The African feel of the song evokes PaulSimon circa ‘Graceland’ but is in no way derivative, instead itsarrangement is testimony to the amount of time Bruce had spent withthe poor and downtrodden of the globe. “The Gift” isn’t a protestsong. Without actually spelling it out, it’s clearly about God’s giftof grace, salvation and eternal life. Reminiscent of John 3:8, itspeaks of something mysterious and unrestricted: “The gift keepsmoving/Never know where it’s going to land/You must stand back and letit/Keep on changing hands.” John Cheek

535. ‘ARK – HOLD ME TONIGHT, 1979. From the album ‘The AngelsCome’, Spirit. Two Brit singer/songwriters Dave Kellyand Derek Jeffery with a lot of mainstream experience (they were oncesigned to the Beatles’ Apple Records), relocated to California, gotthemselves converted and with three Americans including guitarvirtuoso Al Perkins made ‘The Angels Come’ album, which as theEncyclopedia Of Christian Music observed was “criminallyunsuccessful”. The album was a delicious celebration of British ’60spop and with Kelly’s Rickenbacker guitar giving the music a masterlyretro feel it fully deserves its recent re-evaluation as an ignoredclassic. The opener “Hold Me Tonight” is deftly tuneful with janglyguitars and evangelistic lyrics though here the rich harmonies areless Beatles, more Crosby Stills & Nash while the lyrics sparklewith the joy of new birth (“Oh, Lord, a miracle is changing mylife”).Tony Cummings

536. ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION – A LIVING PRAYER,2004. From the album ‘Lonely Runs Both Ways’. Rounder.Ifirst heard this gorgeous song on BBC’s Heaven And Earth show, Alisonand band shooting what was an even more unhurried take (than the albumversion) in a New York studio. This devotional beauty was written byRon Black, the Union Station band member through whom numerous otherof Krauss’s songs were also birthed. While Alison’s music typicallystraddles bluegrass, country, folk and pop, this inspirationalprayer-song fails to find a home in any of these categories. The albumversion contains acoustic guitar picking as sole accompaniment, andit’s this totally stripped down format that most ably brings out thepurity and striking beauty of Alison’s hauntingly delicate vocal. Thisfinds a suitable match in the spiritual purity expressed in the chorusline; “In your love I find release/A haven from my unbelief/Take mylife and let me be/A living prayer, my God to thee”. Beautiful.Tom Lennie

537. REVIVE – LET ME RISE, 1998. From the album ‘BeautifulDay’, Word.Britain’s alternative worship undergroundhas long produced intriguing music as more adventurous churchesgrappled with the new technology to make music which didn’t conform tothe increasingly stereotypical guitar rock sounds of much ofevangelical worship. This Leeds collective made two albums and it’sthis one which may eventually come to the attention of Mojo magazinereaders as it features the first recorded music by Corinne Bailey Rae.Even before Corinne’s fully found her stylistic niche she demonstratedhere that her delicate, bitter-sweet voice was a haunting listeningexperience and over this ricocheting electro track put together byproducers Steven Cudaby and the one-time HOG man Lee Jackson it workssurprisingly well. The verse begins powerfully, “If I could lose mytainted view/And still the chaos in my mind/I’d lose myself inthoughts of you/And leave my fears behind me” before the soaringchorus kicks in, “Let me rise, let me rise/Above the city, abovetime/Let me borrow your eyes/Purify my sight”. The lyric was inspiredby I Would Like To Rise Very High by Catholic poet and author MichelQuoist. Haunting vocals, inventive electro rhythms, poetic lyrics – itall works.Tony Cummings

TonioK

538. TONIO K – I HANDLE SNAKES, 1986. From the album’Romeo Unchained’, What?Steve Krikorian (aka Tonio K)is one of post-war music’s most thought provoking songsmiths andduring his brief flirtation with the Christian music industry, Wordreleased the ‘Romeo Unchained’ and ‘Notes From The Lost Civilisation’albums though the Christian retail release of the former didn’tcontain this gem of a track. (It was considered too out there forChristian bookshop consumption.) With the same kind of Bowie-tingedpost-punk sound favoured by Steve Taylor at the time, another echo ofCCM’s wittiest lyricist is also evident in the satirical lyric whichpokes playful fun at Deep South Pentecostals who handle rattlesnakesas a demonstration of their faith.Tony Cummings

539. EVANGELIST SHIRLEY CAESAR & THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S CHOIROF THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST, BROOKLYN – CHOOSE YETHIS DAY, 1967. From the album ‘I’ll Go’, Hob.Forgetall those later compilations of the gospel matriarch’s recordings whenShirley was largely resting on her creative laurels. To get Shirley’svery best performances one has to go back to the lady’s stunningrecordings with the Caravans. Equally jaw-dropping is this, her firstalbum after leaving the ‘Vans. By ’67 the years of touring andrecording had enabled Shirley to develop her full vocal armoury withits array of blue notes and slurs, the “yeahs” squalled high or adlibbed low and her exaggerated heavy breathing recalling the gloriesof the old country preachers. In his book The Gospel Sound, AnthonyHeilbut describes “Choose Ye This Day” as “a sermonette, song-chantand aesthetic document in one.” Egged on by an enthusiastic youthchoir the singing evangelist catalogued everyone in need of salvation,from butcher to policeman. When the postman knocks at her door, she’sready. “That postman needs to be born again. I said to myself, ‘Gotell the postman what he must do,” before ad libbing, “Wait a minute,the other day I saw the President on TV.” The song continues, “Tellthe President too/Tell the Governor/The Internal Revenue/Choose yethis day whom ye shall serve.” This devastating piece of musicalGospel preaching is aided by the choir. As Heilbut observed, “Theiremphatic ‘chooses’ would terrify any sinner.”TonyCummings

540. LARRY NORMAN – NIGHTMARE #71, 1973. From the album ‘SoLong Ago The Garden’, Solid Rock.Clearly influenced byDylan’s talking blues “dream” songs this features a lyric which somehave dismissed as stream of consciousness meaninglessness but for meis a dazzling kaleidoscope of seemingly random images to paint apicture of the confusing blur of our modern world. The tracknamechecks child actress Shirley Temple, comedian Harpo Marx,communist Bill Robinson, deaf and blind activist Helen Keller andseveral others. And even if you can’t grasp the relevance of suchunremitting surrealism the lines about Ronald Colman grabbing Larry’sleg with the assertion that the film actor “said exactly eighty ninewords to me”, followed by the instruction “Count ‘em” will beirresistible to rock music anoraks. Sure enough, the following stanzathat begins with the words “Let the proud but dying nation kiss thelast generation” and ending with the lines “Love is a corpse we sitand watch it harden/We left it oh so long ago. . .the garden” comes toexactly the number claimed.Tony Cummings

…to be continued- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – — – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -The CompleteSpirit Of Rock And Soul As So Far Published In ChronologicalOrderAs published in CR1, 1st May 1990Dave Marshwas a colleague of mine; way back when hair was long and party-nightswere longer. We didn’t know each other too well though well enough,through sharing the same book publisher, to have a lot of respect forsomeone who, as they used to say in the music biz back then, had ‘goodears’.

That meant he knew the difference between the brilliant from themerely good and could find songs, out of the hundreds and thousands ofrecords that pour into the lives of professional rock journalists thathad that glimmer of creative genius. Sometimes Dave was even able tolocate and codify in words (always a frustrating mode of expressionwhen dealing with music!) why they were brilliant. A good reliablereviewer of Dave was.

Now 20 years on he’s gone rock music legit and got a book of rockreviews, published by Penguin. It’s called The Heart Of Rock And Soul.What you get are Dave’s reviews of a thousand and one tracks hyped onthe book cover as ‘the greatest singles ever made’.

All lovers of pop music should investigate the book. Dave’s ears areas good as ever and though there’s just a touch of the portentousabout some of his writing, the veteran journalist does do a good jobin flagging down plenty of classics in the millions of songs recordedin the post-war years. But what is sorely missing in Dave’s tome, asthe author himself admits, is gospel music. “There are no gospelsingles in The Heart Of Rock And Soul quite simply because I couldfind no way of contextualizing them without trivializing them,” hewrites.