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

269. HILLSONG UNITED - HOSANNA/FOR ALL WHO ARE TO COME, 2007. From the album 'All Of The Above', Hillsong.
There is also a version of this Brooke Fraser composition on the Hillsong album 'Saviour King' but this is the version to get. A truly transcendent piece of worship with Brooke showing she is one of the finest singers ever to lead worship with the haunting song over the band's ricocheting drum rhythms seguing into a prophetic song "For All Who Are To Come". To those who've suggested that Hillsong United can only do stadium rockers with simplistic theology had better listen to this spine-tingling gem.
Tony Cummings

The Elms

270. THE ELMS - THE BUZZING WON'T STOP, 2001. From the album 'Big Surprise', Sparrow.
After a pretty underwhelming debut EP, this band from Seymour, Indiana, upped their game considerably for their first full length and it delivered a couple of Christian radio hits Stateside. But it's this soaring mid-tempo number with a softly psychedelic Beatlesque production which is the classic. A high falsetto lead from Owen Thomas intones the most unusual of themes, the conviction of sin via the Holy Spirit, and its atmosphere of sad melancholy is unforgettable.
Tony Cummings

271. NEWSBOYS - BREAKFAST, 1996. From the album 'Take Me To Your Leader', Star Song.
It's mid-period Newsboys that really floats my boat, when John James and Peter Furler were both providing lead vocals and Steve Taylor was producing and writing lyrics for the Aussie pop rockers. Despite my usual aversion to any record featuring whistling (let alone the whistling chorus featured here), this is in my view one of the group's best ever. It's those so witty Taylor lyrics that brilliantly expose Western man's tendency to moan about the most trivial of life's irritations which will get you every time. They go, "When the toast is burned/And all the milk has turned/And Captain Crunch is waving farewell/When the big one finds you/May this song remind you/That they don't serve breakfast in Hell."
Tony Cummings

272. LANAE' HALE - ALIVE AGAIN, 2008. From the EP 'Lanae' Hale', Centricity.
I saw Lanae' play a showcase in Nashville awhile back and this was the first song that she sang. It's a simple number celebrating the fact that God still steps into the lives of ordinary people and changes our hearts. Lanae' celebrates the wonder of it all yet it was her voice as she delivered the song which immediately caught my attention. At turns powerful and soaring and then quiet and gentle, she has this fabulous warble which is almost a yodel which she brings into her delivery. It's most compelling and this song is a winner!
Mike Rimmer

Rodd & Marco

273. RODD & MARCO - GOD'S WORLD, 1995. From the album 'Jurassic Church', Independent.
For a few glorious years in the early '90s these two expatriate Americans seemed omnipresent at Britain's Christian festivals and their ability to entertain any crowd from kids to teens to wrinklies was renowned. With their zany costumes, silly songs and surprisingly proficient rapping Rodd & Marco could communicate truth about Hell or the atonement in a way most evangelists could only dream about while their borrowing of popular culture was both pointed and unrelentingly witty. Here, Rodd Christianssen and Marco Palmer, with some help from producer Ken Smith, constructed a clever parody of Wayne's World and anyone who has seen that classic cinema comedy will recognise these guys' skill at echoing California's rock culture making us laugh AND delivering a spiritual point. Utterly awesome, dude.
Tony Cummings

274. MATTHEW WEST - ALL THE BROKEN PIECES, 2008. From the album 'Something To Say', Sparrow.
After a lengthy period as a not particularly outstanding indie act this Nashville-based songsmith hit the CCM big time and with such skilfully crafted, acoustic-tinged pop as featured on 'Something To Say' few would say his success isn't deserved. This is the album's finest song (oddly tucked away at track 11), a poetic description of a sin-blighted life reassembled by a loving God ("I can take even your greatest mistake/Every scar, every tear, every break/And I can turn it into something more beautiful than you have ever seen"). The chiming production by Ed Cash is exemplary, up there with his great work with Tomlin and Matthew's wistful voice intoning the chorus eats into your consciousness.
Tony Cummings

275. VERRA CRUZ - GUNS IN THE DISTANCE, 2006. From the album 'Emancipation Day', Fierce!
A taut, throbbing rock song from the veteran British blues rockers led with such gutsy passion by Marc James, "Guns In The Distance" stares into the face of the rotting human condition and dares to hope that there's a brighter alternative. And the lyric "lately I've been hoping or dare I say praying, about heavy chain breaking, emancipations and revelations." sums up a yearning desire for spiritual change and impact that drives Verra Cruz forwards. The fact they've said it in such a forceful fashion stirs the listener every time.
Mike Rimmer

276. BOB BENNETT - MATTERS OF THE HEART, 1981. From the album 'Matters Of The Heart', Star Song.
In 1982 the journos writing for Nashville's CCM magazine reckoned this not particularly successful singer/songwriter's 'Matters Of The Heart' was the best album of the year, surprisingly ahead of much higher profile albums like Keith Green's 'Songs For The Shepherd' and Amy Grant's 'Straight Ahead'. Maybe such accolades were a little OTT but there's no doubting that this songsmith from Dowrey, California is something special. In the words of his biographer Joan Brasher his "acoustic folk-style recordings have honestly confronted the messy side of human existence." Indeed, Bob's lyrics stand up as poetry while his guitar playing is deft, technically accomplished and perfectly suited to his warm, expressive voice. Each verse of "Matters Of The Heart" resonates with strong imagery but my favourite is the final one. "Eyes laughing in the face of disaster/Voices pleading on the telephone line/A spark of truth that catches on fire/Your first taste of the new wine." A haunting song.
Tony Cummings

Comeback Kid

277. COMEBACK KID - GIVE AND TAKE, 2003. From the album 'Turn It Around', Facedown.
When hardcore is delivered with the passion demonstrated here it is an energising shot of adrenaline-inducing noise unlike anything else and one which gets this 63 year old reviewer gazing longingly around the room looking for a mosh into which he could hurl himself. The raucous bellow of Andrew Neufeld was first heard on Figure Four albums but here takes on an even greater ferocity, the answer gang vocals sound like the collective efforts of Millwall Supporters Club and the vicious pummelling of the band (much respect to drummer extraordinaire Kyle Profela) is a magnificent cacophony. And those lyrics bite home - "There's a choice to respect/There's a choice I accept/But I'll always be here/I'll always be here/I'll always."
Tony Cummings

278. JOHN COX - WASH THEM AWAY, 2006. From the album 'Sanctuary', Kalibone.
It's one of those CCM mysteries why this acoustic singer/songwriter from Chico, Texas has only released three CDs in a decade. (By the way, don't confuse this John Cox with the former tenor with Southern gospel's Blackwood Brothers Quartet.) What I can say is that John manages to achieve that most difficult of tasks, writing songs that speak direct spiritual truth that, on the one hand, avoid the irritating contrivance of obscure metaphor yet on the other resist those tried-and-tested clichés which clog the lyric writing of so many Christian songwriters seeking to minister. Like many of the songs on 'Sanctuary', John effortlessly finds the middle ground. This haunting song ponders the staggering truth that all memory of our sins has been washed away from the divine mind. The production, by Zodlounge, is inspired too with an eerie electric guitar similar in sound to that extraordinary Twin Peaks soundtrack from a while back.
Tony Cummings

279. THE CARTER FAMILY - CAN THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN (BYE AND BYE), 1935. From the album 'The Carter Family Vol 2: 1935-1941', JSP.
According to a list in Bil Carpenter's Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia this 78 sold a million copies (though record sales, before the establishment of the industry body RIAA, are notoriously prone to exaggeration). What is certain though is this family of Appalachian mountain songsters were a stunning repository of rural folk culture and along with Jimmie Rodgers were the originators of modern country music and were a huge musical influence. With Maybelle's guitar showing her uncanny ability to pick the melody of a tune on the bass strings while simultaneously strumming the rhythm on the treble strings and those haunting Mountain harmonies, the Carter Family's recordings (over 270 tracks between 1927 and 1941!) were truly timeless. This recording, though showing lyrical and melodic differences from other versions popularised by Johnny Cash et al, is a haunting gem of rural folk music.
Tony Cummings

280. MARK HEARD - HEART OF HEARTS, 1982. From the album 'Victims Of The Age', Home Sweet Home.
At the time of its release Nashville's CCM magazine, clearly increasingly alienated by the sugar-coated pop confections which were swamping US Christian radio, singled out 'Victims Of The Age' for rave reviews. Thom Granger wrote, "These nine songs confront the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil attitudes held by many present day believers. Heard's word pictures are vivid and believable. With repeated listening, larger themes seem to envelope all of the songs." Certainly, it's gritty, blues rock vibe and Mark's passionate abrasive vocals make 'Victims Of The Age' a hugely memorable set with "Heart Of Hearts" a stellar song of hope and faithfulness pinpointing the realities of urban life. Singing backups on the track is a very young Leslie Phillips (later to become Sam Phillips) who was so impacted by the song she cut her own version on her debut album 'Beyond Saturday Night'.
Tony Cummings

David Evans

281. DAVID EVANS - PROPHECY, 1995. From the album 'R.O.A.G., Heartfelt Music.
Australia's prophet musician David has long been a friend of Cross Rhythms and this tumultuous track with its electronica effects, a rap and some full-on preaching samples are the perfect backdrop for David's rich blue-eyed soul voice. As it builds to its glorious hook "Young men, prophecy" with what sounds like a gospel choir in attendance, the air of spiritual militancy is perfectly maintained. The kind of go-for-the-spiritual-jugular music that makes much of today's music sound like a bland wimp out.
Tony Cummings

282. REDCLOUD CON RALPHIE - MANOS PA ARRIBA, 2006. From the various artists album 'Various: Reggaeton Baptism', Lion Of Zion.
The fusion of Latin, hip-hop and reggae to produce that intense rhythmic brew known as reggaeton is, in my book, one of the most exciting new developments to hit the international music scene these last few years. It also resulted in this - the first Spanish language track ever to grace the Cross Rhythms radio playlist. The best cut from Lion Of Zion's 'Reggaeton Baptism' compilation, this is a truly electrifying chunk of Latin rapping. Produced by Christafari's Mark Mohr and featuring Syntax Records' Redcloud it effortlessly crosses the language barrier.
Tony Cummings