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

Johnny Q Public

638. JOHNNY Q PUBLIC - PREACHER'S KID, 1995. From the album 'Extra-Ordinary', Gotee.
1995 was a key year for Christian rock. Dc Talk released their 'Jesus Freak' masterpiece, likewise Jars Of Clay's self-titled gem. And then there was 'Extra-Ordinary' which truly lived up to its title. The fact that Johnny Q Public's guitarists Oran Thornton and Shawn Turner were a mere 15 and 17 when the album was recorded was a stunning revelation and the powerful and at times savage guitar lines that screamed out behind Dan Fritz's gutsy lead vocals demanded listener attention. "Preacher's Kid" had a but of Pearl Jam about it while a reviewer suggested it rode "that fine line between hard rock and alternative." Leaving aside the labelling-obsessions of reviewers, the song is a biting critique of misguided priorities based on an encounter Fritz once had with a child who was ignored by his father, a pastor too busy with church ministry.
Tony Cummings

639. GALILEE SINGERS - MOTHERLESS CHILD WHEN MAMA'S GONE, 1940. From the various artists album 'Black Vocal Groups Vol 5 1923-1941', Document.
Who precisely the Galilee Singers were has been lost in the mist of time. Suffice to say that on 8th March 1940 they went into a New York studio and cut this little ditty for Decca Records. "Diddly up, diddly up, a ba ba ba" they chanted to show that ever before the sound of doowop got to the big city street corners it was alive and well in the Church.
Tony Cummings

640. JAKE HAMILTON - THE GREAT I AM, 2009. From the album 'Marked By Heaven', Jesus Culture.
Like most believers I've had my share of embarrassing experiences during times of worship usually involving misguided attempts to get adults singing children's songs (however one does it singing about "a fuzzy wuzzy bear" is bound to produce severe self-consciousness) and there are some adult worship songs with lines so unbelievably naff that engaging with God when singing them seems all but impossible. In view of all this, the climax of this song praising "the Saviour, Redeemer, the Father, the Son" should have had me running for cover. Even though I know that it's a theological truth that "Abba" could be translated "Daddy", putting the word in a song would surely not work let alone repeating the line "You are a good, good Daddy" three times. But the fact that Jake Hamilton's recording of his composition doesn't have the least trace of naffness must have something to do with Jake's gritty voice. It's too rock'n'roll, too, dare I say it, macho to allow any hint of limp sentimentality. And as Jake roars out over the biting rock rhythm "You are a good, good Daddy" you find yourself joining in so that the next line, "You're rejoicing over me," really hits home as we think of our Heavenly Father rejoicing over his children.
Tony Cummings

641. ODETTA & THE HOLMES BROTHERS - TWO LITTLE FISHES AND FIVE LOAVES OF BREAD, 2003. From the various artists album 'Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute To Sister Rosetta Tharpe', MC.
Odetta was, of course, one of the seminal figures in the American folk music revival of the '50s and '60s as well as being often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement. Five years before her death in 2008 she was one of the contributors to a tribute album released to tie in with the biography of gospel giant Sister Rosetta Tharpe and so came to record with the bluesy trio from Christchurch, Virginia, The Holmes Brothers. Though in her 70s Odetta had a voice which was still as distinctive and dramatic as ever while the Holmes boys provided a nice retro-sounding accompaniment complete with jazzy walking bass. The song, though once a jukebox hit when Sister Rosetta released a 78, was not actually written by the good lady but by renowned jazz composer Bernie Hanighen, who once worked with Billie Holiday and who had the unenviable task of putting lyrics to Thelonious Monk's bop masterpiece "'Round About Midnight". I've no idea whether Hanighen was a man of faith but he certainly was able to come up with a clever and witty account of one of Jesus' miracles which in the hands of Odetta and her cohorts is impossible to listen to without a smile.
Tony Cummings

642. LIAM BLAKE - SINNERS AND SAINTS, 2011. From the album 'You And Other Stories', Helium.
When you have a voice that BBC broadcaster Phil Jupitus described as "achingly lovely," a producer who has previously worked with such luminaries as Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel and a way with lyrics that says more in a couplet than most songwriters can manage in an album, you have everything in place for a stunning album debut. And that is what Southport-born songsmith Liam delivered with 'You And Other Stories'. The most haunting of all of Liam's songs was the closer "Saints And Sinners" where, over a simple acoustic guitar, he poignantly reflects on things spiritual and offers the marvellous admission on his lack of chapter-and-verse Bible knowledge. "I can't quote the good book/I don't know the verses I just know the hook."
Tony Cummings

Mark Williamson Band

643. MARK WILLIAMSON BAND - ALL VERY WELL, 1980. From the album 'Get The Drift', Chapel Lane.
A West Country record shop selling new and second hand albums recently admitted on their website that "a real passion of ours is Christian music." The shop's website even went so far as to publish a short list of recommended albums. And there amongst Switchfoot, U2, Jars Of Clay et al was the 1980 vinyl album 'Get The Drift' by the Mark Williamson Band. Their recommendation was spot on. In an era when the tiny marketplace for UK Christian music ensured that most albums were made in a studio sojourn of a few days the pioneering studio-cum-fledgling record label Chapel Lane gave Mark and his band five weeks of studio time and the result was a polished and precise piece of pop rock which compared well with mainstream label budget albums. Midlands-born Mark had previously recorded solo albums for Pilgrim/Grapevine and was to go on to forge a career as a session singer, eventually relocating to the US, has a fine voice, a gritily textured, perfectly pitched instrument able to handle rocking riffs and moody soul ballads with equal aplomb. Also, Mark's band, newly formed in 1980, was top rate. Keyboard player Chris Eaton went on to get success as a soloist and songwriter for artists like Cliff Richard and Amy Grant. But Mark was no slouch as a songwriter either. "All Very Well", co-written with Phil Thomson (who also designed 'Get The Drift''s sleeve) is a succinct encapsulation of the Big Questions. "There is more to the dance than the rhythms/There is more to the dance than the play/There's got to be more to dying/Than just fading away."
Tony Cummings

644. TONEX - IT'S ON LIKE THAT, 2000. From the album 'Pronounced Toe-Nay', Verity.
From the standpoint of hindsight, listening to the music of artists who have "fallen" always brings a certain sadness. Tonex was, of course, heralded as one of the great hopes of modern gospel. Acclaimed by a big audience as a studio genius and winner of six Stella Awards he seemed to have decades of successful gospel ministry ahead of him until questions about his lifestyle and his eventual admission to being a practicing homosexual scuppered Tonex's gospel career. Now working as B.Slade the San Diego singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is attempting to carve a niche in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) music. But whatever his moral and spiritual problems, no one can deny that Tonex left behind a stunning set of albums that brilliantly fused R&B, gospel, neo-soul, hip-hop and pop into one of the most arresting sounds ever to emerge in urban gospel. This is Tonex's masterpiece. Over a juddering funk rhythm, awash with samples, beeps and effects, the songsmith woozily sings that he's not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Tony Cummings

645. BURLAP TO CASHMERE - ORCHESTRATED LOVE SONG, 2011. From the album 'Burlap To Cashmere', Essential.
Take the acoustic roots sound of a Mumford & Sons, add in some Greek and flamenco flourishes and you have the captivating sound of Burlap To Cashmere. Now back and firing on all cylinders after their lengthy stay away from the touring scene, Steven Delopoulos and Theodore Pagano have lost none of their ability to conjure up memorable melodies while in producer Michael Froom (Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney) they had the perfect compatriot to frame their songs. "Orchestrated Love Song" is exactly that.
Tony Cummings

646. MORAL SUPPORT - SIN, 1980. From the album 'Zionic Bonds', Switch.
When the 'Zionic Bonds' album was released in 1980 it made a huge impact with Britain's rock music loving churchgoers. Pilgrim Records pushed the boat out with full colour page ads in Buzz magazine and though nobody had heard of Moral Support they, and a rave review, announced to UK Christians that British Christian rock had finally got up-to-date. Belfast-based singer/songwriter Andy McCarroll had dropped the folk rock sound of his previous solo releases and with the help of some Irish bandmates made an album that had clearly been influenced by the Clash, Police and other bands storming the mainstream. The lyrics were what gave 'Zionic Bonds' its edge. There were songs about the confusion of adolescence, songs about sectarianism and even an anti-abortion song sung from the perspective of the foetus. But possibly the most powerful track of all was this opener which kicks off with guitar feedback before the drum, bass and guitar assault is launched. McCarroll, complete with Belfast-boy accent, belts out his depiction of sin. "It affects my body and corrupts my brain/It effects like poison running through my veins/It penetrates all, all it touches it stains/It's like living your life in a sewage drain." Moral Support only lasted a year and today 'Zionic Bonds' is eulogised by CCM buffs, even American ones who picked up on its raw power when Pilgrim International gave it a US release.
Tony Cummings

647. HEAVENLY FIVE - MAKE IT IN, 1964. From the single, Anderson.
I don't know whether the Heavenly Four who made this utterly obscure 45 in 1964 are in any way connected with The Fantastic Heavenly Four out of Brookneal, Virginia, who are still operating. What I do know is that when this hard quartet gathered around a mic they sure knew how to holler up a storm and aided by a lone guitarist, contributing some delicious blues runs, roared their assertion that they were going to make in into Heaven. Raw, honest and convincing and another demonstration that if you have the talent you can overcome the realities of a zero-budget recording.
Tony Cummings

Gospel Gangstaz

648. GOSPEL GANGSTAZ - BEFORE REDEMPTION, 1994. From the album 'Gang Affiliated', Myx.
While hip-hop developed in America's mean streets the Church, both black and white, did all it could not to listen. And even when dc Talk and MC Peace were begrudgingly given a little Christian radio play their rap music was seemingly light years from the streetwise outpourings of the second wave of rappers who by the '90s were dominating mainstream radio waves. The media dubbed the raw angry rap, with its expletive-strewn lyrics of violence and mysogyny, gangsta rap and Christian preachers jostled to denounce this new assault on American youth. So it was hardly surprising when in 1994 California's Gospel Gangstaz emerged they were widely criticised by misguided church conservatives who had once used the same "guilty by association" techniques to vilify the emergent Christian heavy metal bands, despite the fact that from the off the Gospel Gangstaz were bold proclaimers of new life found in Christ. Even church liberals joined in the criticism, offended by the use of the street slang "niggah". But despite all this 'Gang Affiliated' sold well to young churchgoers longing for something as musically raw and authentic as the mainstream gangster rap hitmakers. Emcees Mr Solo and Chille'Baby had been members of the notorious South Central Los Angeles street gang while Tik Tokk once belonged to their arch rival gang, The Bloods. With producer DJ Doire (formerly of the pioneering SFC) they were truly grounded in the sound of the streets and used their grasp of gangster rap to make jaw-dropping proclamations of past sin and present deliverance. For instance, "Before Redemption", rather than the sad glorification of gang bang immorality popular in mainstream gangster rap, featured Mr Solo confessing his past sexual sin with openness and no little wit: "Diggin' any girl I found, the Devil had me bound/Ditchin' school to feed my hungry flesh/I had an 'A' for fornication, but an 'F' on my test/Being in bondage is a horrible state/I can't escape, having sex so much that I'm losing weight."
Tony Cummings

649. SANDRA CROUCH - COMPLETELY YES, 1985. From the album 'We're Waiting', Light.
Songs of absolute abandon to God are common but seldom, if ever, has one been sung with such nerve-tingling conviction as this tour de force from Andrae's twin sister. "From the bottom of my heart/To the depths of my soul/Yes, Lord, completely yes/My soul says yes" emotes Sandra bringing impassioned soul power to every syllable. "Completely Yes" was named Song Of The Year by the Stellar Awards and subsequently went into the repertoire of countless church gospel choirs. But to my knowledge none took it to the worshipful heights that Sandra achieved when she recorded this live at the Christ Memorial Church Of God In Christ in Pacoima, California.
Tony Cummings

650. ROB MATHES - THE MAGI'S JOURNEY, 1995. From the album 'William The Angel', Night Music.
A Christmas concept album which recounts the tale of a chubby angel could so easily have been one of those only too frequent sentimental Christmas calamities which every year clog the yuletide release schedules. In fact, 'William The Angel' is a gem and one is quickly drawn in not just by the storyline of this song cycle about angelic William who has trouble convincing people about the existence of a loving God until events in Bethlehem intervene but by the quality of the pop arrangements, perfectly underpinning Rob's attractive voice with a special heads up for drummer Joe Bonadio. "The Magi's Journey" was inspired by the poem The Journey Of The Magi by TS Elliot. Definitely a song, and an album, that stands repeated yuletide listening.
Tony Cummings

651. BLESSID UNION OF SOULS - I BELIEVE, 1995. From the album 'Home', EMI.
These guys from Morrow, Ohio started off as a band playing acoustic rock mixed with cowpunk but thanks to heavy play from Cincinnati radio stations ended up with a big international hit power ballad (number 8 in the US, number 28 in the UK). The song was supposedly written about "Lisa", a girl lead singer Eliot Sloan had once dated but many of the lyrics have a clear spiritual resonance. Sloan's passionate, soulful voice and that haunting piano figure make it a memorable oldie.
Tony Cummings