The latest part of the ongoing series chronicling, in no particular order, the greatest 1001 recordings made by Christian artists

526. TENTH AVENUE NORTH - BY YOUR SIDE, 2008. From the album 'Over And Underneath', Reunion.
The wistful lilt of lead singer Mike Donehey's vocal carries the intro with just a picked acoustic guitar on the first verse so it has to be a very strong song to keep interest. It is. As the other instruments make their introduction the mood of dreamy reflection becomes one of passionate exultation. It's easy for rockers who like their music at setting 11 to dismiss a pop rock outfit like this new team from Florida but if you're looking for lilting melody and lyrics which aren't couched in obscure metaphor, a song like this will connect. The lyrics may only just stay on the right side of spiritual truism ("I'll be by your side wherever you fall/In the dead of night whenever you call") but when the melody and arrangement is as warm and inviting as this, that's no problem.
Tony Cummings

527. CASTING CROWNS - IF WE ARE THE BODY, 2003. From the album 'Casting Crowns', Reunion.
In 2003 Mark Hall and his team of musical youth workers seemed to emerge from nowhere to connect with first the American and then the international Church with songs that moved far beyond the safe platitudes of much Nashville CCM to address, with the authority of a prophet, the issues and difficulties facing today's Church. This, the first of Casting Crowns' continuing stream of hits, in many ways set out Hall's lyrical agenda for all that was to follow. It starts with a succinct picture of a broken girl attending a church meeting - "It's crowded in worship today/As she slips in trying to fade into the faces/The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know/Farther than they know." Then in comes that unforgettable chorus which prophetically pummels the notion of churches as little more than passive, self-satisfied religious clubs - "But if we are the body/Why aren't his arms reaching?/Why aren't his hands healing?/Why aren't his words teaching?/And if we are the body/Why aren't his feet going?/Why is his love not showing them there is a way/There is a way." Amen to that.
Tony Cummings

Michael W Smith

528. MICHAEL W SMITH - LOVE ME GOOD, 1997. From the album 'Live The Life', Reunion.
Down the years Michael Whitaker Smith has had undergone his fair share of musical changes but it was this effervescent track from 1997 that caught the CCM icon at the top of his game. Clearly Michael and Wayne Kirkpatrick - who penned "Love Me Good" - had been listening closely to Paul Simon's 'Graceland' and the track contains the same rollicking, joyful vibe of Mr Simon's flirtation with township jazz. What really works are the staccato lines written with little regard for scan pinpointing the frustrations of our modern world ("Sometimes I wish I was in a movie or some '70s TV thing/Where everything gets wrapped up by the end of the show/Yea, but this ain't Hollywood and this sure ain't the Brady Bunch/And how the plot's gonna all pan out I don't really know"). Such wry observations are interspersed with a small choir of backing singers singing the rollicking chorus "Give me love, give me love, love me good." Wonderful stuff.
Tony Cummings

529. RUSS TAFF - TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS, 1989. From the album 'The Way Home', Myrrh.
Darrell Brown, David Batteau and Russ Taff penned this moving song about a table in the wilderness "where the blessed sing of his tenderness" and "where the lame can walk and the weary rest." Russ's smoky, gritty vocal is perfect and the great James Hollihan provides a bluesy guitar solo. Seldom has inspirational music been delivered with such soulful passion.
Tony Cummings

530. DELIRIOUS? - GOD YOU ARE MY GOD, 2000. From the album 'Glo', Furious?.
Rock/Gregorian chant crossover, anyone? At the turn of the millennium Delirious? stood on the threshold of that thing which all bands dream about: mainstream breakthrough. Having reached the Top 20 of the UK singles chart the previous year, and with 'Mezzamorphis' a number 25 hit album, the music press were beginning to sit up and make comparisons with Radiohead, even if the d:boys were getting only occasional airplay on mainstream radio. When a killer album would surely have been the tipping point into fame and fortune, Delirious? took the uncommercial route and outrageously released a worship collection. True, in one sense all of their art can be viewed as "worship songs". But, as they well knew, an album like 'Glo' was never going to connect with the great unchurched. But amongst the many songs which form the rich legacy that the group have left on deposit with the CCM world, the opening track here is crucially overlooked. Segued into "Glo In The Dark (PT01)", the song "God You Are My God" is utterly awesome. With sections from the monks at Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire, this Stu G composition features lyrics which repeat most lines in a liturgical manner whilst evoking Psalm 27: 4-6 perhaps. The vocal effects from Anna Smith are in themselves sufficient to make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up. A sound track for life, no less.
John Cheek

531. LONE JUSTICE - INSPIRATION, 1986. From the album 'Shelter', Geffen.
Occasionally the '80s digital technology with the power snare and use of sequencers make some of the tracks on 'Shelter' sound rather dated today, particularly when compared with the rootsy sound of its 'Love Justice' predecessor. But there was no hiding the quality of the voice of the group's Maria McKee. Columbia Records' Peter Philbin once described Maria as having "one of those rare voices that does not lay down on a record, but jumps right out of the speakers at you." Indeed it does. With the right song the effect is truly electrifying and "Inspiration" is a sincere prayer with Maria singing ("How my spirit longs for your inspiration/Fill me up, fill me up, fill me up") with complete conviction.
Tony Cummings

532. SUPERCHICK - IT'S ON, 2005. From the album 'Beauty From Pain', Inpop.
One of the most underrated producers in the whole of post-war music must surely be Superchick's Max Hsu. This Chinese American studio whiz is equally adept at creating propulsive dancefloor fillers and infectious radio friendly pop rock. This corker begins with a surge of careering guitars like something plucked from the golden age of punk before Tricia Brock belts out the rapid delivery lyric "Today's your day/So c'mon bring it on/It's on". Seldom has a message of seizing the day been delivered with such joyous enthusiasm.
Tony Cummings

Randy Matthews

533. RANDY MATTHEWS - DIDN'T HE, 1972. From the various artists album 'Jesus Sound Explosion', Explo '72.
Explo '72 has been called by more than one church historian "the Christian Woodstock". The massive event in Dallas, Texas reached a peak when 200,000 people attended a Jesus music concert which featured Love Song, Larry Norman, Johnny Cash and many others. But it was Myrrh Records recording artist Randy Matthews who was to make the most telling contribution on the live album released later that year. "Didn't He" is a slow, deeply emotional song about Christ's crucifixion ("Didn't he die. . .for you and me?"). With just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment Matthews sang in a gruff and gritty voice wrenching every bit of emotion from the narrative while slamming the box of his guitar with the heel of his hand simulated the sound of nails being driven through flesh. Critic Mark Allan Powell wrote about Randy's unforgettable performance, "It became one of the defining moments of the festival, a moment that would later be broadcast on national TV." It still retains its power today.
Tony Cummings

534. BRUCE COCKBURN - THE GIFT, 1988. From the album 'Big Circumstance', True North.
At the time of its release, Bruce was regarded, not least by Greenbelters, as an elder-statesman of Christian popular music; a name spoken of in almost hallowed tones. 'Big Circumstance' was an album which came mid-way in his career when Cockburn was being cited as an influence by U2 and Deacon Blue. "The Gift" was buried amongst what has become some of Cockburn's best known material yet it's this song with its near-transcendent atmosphere which makes it a classic. The African feel of the song evokes Paul Simon circa 'Graceland' but is in no way derivative, instead its arrangement is testimony to the amount of time Bruce had spent with the poor and downtrodden of the globe. "The Gift" isn't a protest song. Without actually spelling it out, it's clearly about God's gift of grace, salvation and eternal life. Reminiscent of John 3:8, it speaks of something mysterious and unrestricted: "The gift keeps moving/Never know where it's going to land/You must stand back and let it/Keep on changing hands."
John Cheek

535. 'ARK - HOLD ME TONIGHT, 1979. From the album 'The Angels Come', Spirit.
Two Brit singer/songwriters Dave Kelly and Derek Jeffery with a lot of mainstream experience (they were once signed to the Beatles' Apple Records), relocated to California, got themselves converted and with three Americans including guitar virtuoso Al Perkins made 'The Angels Come' album, which as the Encyclopedia Of Christian Music observed was "criminally unsuccessful". The album was a delicious celebration of British '60s pop and with Kelly's Rickenbacker guitar giving the music a masterly retro feel it fully deserves its recent re-evaluation as an ignored classic. The opener "Hold Me Tonight" is deftly tuneful with jangly guitars and evangelistic lyrics though here the rich harmonies are less Beatles, more Crosby Stills & Nash while the lyrics sparkle with the joy of new birth ("Oh, Lord, a miracle is changing my life").
Tony Cummings

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

537. REVIVE - LET ME RISE, 1998. From the album 'Beautiful Day', Word.
Britain's alternative worship underground has long produced intriguing music as more adventurous churches grappled with the new technology to make music which didn't conform to the increasingly stereotypical guitar rock sounds of much of evangelical worship. This Leeds collective made two albums and it's this one which may eventually come to the attention of Mojo magazine readers as it features the first recorded music by Corinne Bailey Rae. Even before Corinne's fully found her stylistic niche she demonstrated here that her delicate, bitter-sweet voice was a haunting listening experience and over this ricocheting electro track put together by producers Steven Cudaby and the one-time HOG man Lee Jackson it works surprisingly well. The verse begins powerfully, "If I could lose my tainted view/And still the chaos in my mind/I'd lose myself in thoughts of you/And leave my fears behind me" before the soaring chorus kicks in, "Let me rise, let me rise/Above the city, above time/Let me borrow your eyes/Purify my sight". The lyric was inspired by I Would Like To Rise Very High by Catholic poet and author Michel Quoist. Haunting vocals, inventive electro rhythms, poetic lyrics - it all works.
Tony Cummings

Tonio K

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 and during his brief flirtation with the Christian music industry, Word released the 'Romeo Unchained' and 'Notes From The Lost Civilisation' albums though the Christian retail release of the former didn't contain this gem of a track. (It was considered too out there for Christian bookshop consumption.) With the same kind of Bowie-tinged post-punk sound favoured by Steve Taylor at the time, another echo of CCM's wittiest lyricist is also evident in the satirical lyric which pokes playful fun at Deep South Pentecostals who handle rattlesnakes as a demonstration of their faith.
Tony Cummings

539. EVANGELIST SHIRLEY CAESAR & THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHOIR OF THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST, BROOKLYN - CHOOSE YE THIS DAY, 1967. From the album 'I'll Go', Hob.
Forget all those later compilations of the gospel matriarch's recordings when Shirley was largely resting on her creative laurels. To get Shirley's very best performances one has to go back to the lady's stunning recordings with the Caravans. Equally jaw-dropping is this, her first album after leaving the 'Vans. By '67 the years of touring and recording had enabled Shirley to develop her full vocal armoury with its array of blue notes and slurs, the "yeahs" squalled high or ad libbed low and her exaggerated heavy breathing recalling the glories of the old country preachers. In his book The Gospel Sound, Anthony Heilbut describes "Choose Ye This Day" as "a sermonette, song-chant and aesthetic document in one." Egged on by an enthusiastic youth choir the singing evangelist catalogued everyone in need of salvation, from butcher to policeman. When the postman knocks at her door, she's ready. "That postman needs to be born again. I said to myself, 'Go tell the postman what he must do," before ad libbing, "Wait a minute, the other day I saw the President on TV." The song continues, "Tell the President too/Tell the Governor/The Internal Revenue/Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve." This devastating piece of musical Gospel preaching is aided by the choir. As Heilbut observed, "Their emphatic 'chooses' would terrify any sinner."
Tony Cummings