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

255. MARTYN JOSEPH - EVERTHING IN HEAVEN COMES APART, 1995. From the album 'Martyn Joseph', Epic.
The Welsh songsmith has recorded some gems down the years but it's this breathtaking evocation of Heaven, when all created things, from baboons to swing top bins, from the leper's soul to "the unseen rage of all our days" are revealed and disassembled, molecule by molecule in the divine light. The dazzling kaleidoscope of images are courtesy of Martyn's sometime collaborator, poet Stewart Henderson, and I doubt if Stewart has ever delivered a better or more thought-provoking lyric.
Tony Cummings

256. RESOLUTION - POLITICALLY INCORRECT, 1993. From the album 'Politically Incorrect', N-Soul.
This album's co-producer, dance music maestro Scott Blackwell, once told me that the Resolution album was N-Soul's worst ever seller with thousands of returns from America's ultra-conservative Christian bookshops once they'd espied songs like the title track and "Sympathy For The Left Wing" on the album. Consequently, the great American public missed out on an electro pop rock gem. The simple bass groove and rimshot rhythm are delicious while the lyrics by keyboard player Calix Reneau are brilliant ("It's not a Black thing/Or a White or a Latin or an Asian swing/Not conservative, moderate or liberal/Not holistic, New Age or traditional/Not slave nor free nor Jew nor Gentile/Not politically correct, not by a country mile/It's the cross of Christ/I said, it's the blood-soaked cross of Christ.") Powerful stuff indeed.
Tony Cummings

257. JONATHAN BUTLER - LORD I LIFT YOUR NAME ON HIGH, 2004. From the album 'The Worship Project', Maranatha! Music.
Many consider this compelling worship anthem, penned by Rick Founds in 1991, one of the finest modern worship songs ever and down the years acts as diverse as Donnie McClurkin, Noel Richards, Petra and SonicFlood have recorded versions. But few recordings are as sensitively rendered and emotionally touching as that by South African native Jonathan Butler, who, as well as being a worshipper, is known as an accomplished jazz instrumentalist and passionate R&B singer. Here, his velvety-smooth vocals, the unhurried pace and soft, worshipful atmosphere make the tune a pure delight.
Tom Lennie

Faye Adams and Anna Tuell

258. FAYE ADAMS - SHAKE A HAND, 1953. From the single, Herald.
The story of how the rhythm and blues record companies of the post war years gradually moved away from the urban blues artists which were their big sellers and persuaded more and more church-based singers to switch from gospel music to R&B to create "soul music" was, of course, repeated hundreds of times. And so it came to pass that Faye, the daughter of David Tuell, a key figure in the Church Of God In Christ, sang with her sister Anna on gospel radio shows in Newark, New Jersey before crossing over to chase the showbiz dollar. Using her married name (which, rather unfortunately, was Scruggs), Faye won an audition with band leader Joe Morris. And after some flops, her first release under the Faye Adams moniker was this milestone hit. It topped the US R&B charts for 10 weeks in 1953 and made 22 in the mainstream pop charts. In many ways "Shake A Hand" belongs in that list of seminal R&B hits like Ray Charles' "I Gotta Woman" and the Isley Brothers' "Shout" which were clearly secularised versions of the sound of gospel while lyrically "Shake A Hand" was a '50s version of "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand" espousing a call to love our fellow men and women by the simple device of shaking "a hand if you can". Faye had a big, soulful voice while the backing choir here gave her sentimental anthem a churchy feel. When the R&B hits stopped she returned to singing in the church.
Tony Cummings

259. P.O.D. - ALIVE, 2001. From the album 'Satellite', Atlantic.
It was a quirk of history that the 'Satellite' album was released on 9/11. Certainly that joyful collection of metal anthems hit the perfect note in such a bleak and bitter time. Though HM magazine may have overstated it when it claimed that "Alive" became "a healing balm for a generation", it certainly was a glorious anecdote to those rock devotees who'd gorged on the poison fruit of post grunge depression plus a riposte to those critics who were convinced that rapcore could only ever be an expression of musical anger. The lyric was utterly life affirming: "Every day is a new day/I'm thankful for every breath I take/I won't take it for granted." As the song continued, one of rock's most distinctive voices, Sonny Sandoval sang with unapologetic abandon "I feel so alive for the very first time. . . Now that I know you I could never turn my back away/Now that I see you I believe no matter what they say" and the riffing guitars rammed home every syllable. Great stuff.
Tony Cummings

260. SUFJAN STEVENS - GET BEHIND ME, SANTA!, 2006. From the album 'Sufjan Stevens Presents Songs For Christmas', Asthmatic Kitty.
I've gone on record several times to express my dislike of songs about Santa Claus. From my perspective the guy with the white beard and red coat is a Christmas usurper who simply muddles the wonderful story of the incarnation. So well done to our banjo-playing iconoclast Sufjan and his decidedly left of centre recording sensibilities for coming up with this tongue-in-cheek piece of Yuletide wit. Originally released as a fanclub project 'Peace', this is now on a Christmas song box set. Worth wading through Sufjan's so-so renditions of "Once In Royal David's City" and "O Come O Come Emmanuel" to get to this Christmas treat.
Tony Cummings

Kosmos Express

261. KOSMOS EXPRESS - DREAMMAKER, 1997. From the album 'Now', Sublime.
One US fanzine commented that this, the debut album by a Californian band, "doesn't seem like much the first time around but Goraieb and co have the perfect pop formula for longevity." They were right about the grow-on-you quality but wrong that the band led by singer/guitarist Rob Goraieb would achieve longevity (Kosmos Express only managed one more album breaking up when Sublime/Pamplin went belly-up). What this band left behind were two albums of infectiously catchy Britpop and though the songs "Beautiful" and "Little Tree" are possibly a little too close to being "Wonderwall" clones to be comfortable this haunting opener with its conga-driven intro, effective backward effects at the end of each line and ferocious guitar attack when if finally gets to the climax make it an overlooked gem.
Tony Cummings

262. THE CROSS MOVEMENT - ON RIGHT NOW, 2000. From the album 'Human Emergency', Cross Movement.
In the early years of the decade The Cross Movement collective of East Coast MCs were THE Christian act recording hip-hop with plenty of hard hitting street vibe yet with sufficient pop hook sensibilities to get exposure on the few Christian radio stations adventurous enough to play them. Written and produced by William Branch, with its chanted hook telling the "Kingdom people bring it on right now" with verses that go right for the spiritual jugular ("Though we laugh, it's not funny when we ask if/You're going to Heaven and you say 'I'm a Baptist'/Perhaps this rap is a way to get at this/An up-to-date, God-honouring way to combat this."). Evangelism at its catchiest.
Tony Cummings

263. PRATT/McCLAIN - HERE I AM (THE ANTI-CHRIST SONG), 1974. From the album 'Pratt/McClain', ABC.
If you're old enough to remember the Happy Days sitcom of the '70s which featured a pretty naff recreation of 1950s rock'n'roll culture you'll probably be less than impressed with the information that Pratt & McClain provided the "Happy Days" theme song, surely one of the corniest hits (number five in the US singles chart in 1976) ever. But two years before their breakthrough, Truett Pratt and Jerry McClain, along with producer Michael Omatian, were making some excellent Jesus music of which this is their best known song. A powerful piece of pop rock with some biting electric guitar and a rapid-syllable vocal hook very reminiscent of the kind of thing Omartian used on his own album for ABC in 1974 'White Horse'. The lyric is, of course, a warning against a world leader who will one day hoodwink a godless world ("I built my kingdom on a pot of gold"). Powerful stuff.
Tony Cummings

264. NEWSBOYS - MY FRIEND JESUS, 2009. From the album 'In The Hands Of God', Inpop.
Pete Furler describes the frustration that we all face when taking on errant customer "service" systems on the telephone where you wait to be connected, listen to piped music and slowly go up the wall. In these situations it's very easy to lose our religion and Furler honestly describes it with humour and everybody's favourite line about having to listen to Celine Dion songs whilst on hold! And yet the twist in the song is that the Newsboys remind us that even in annoying situations, God encourages us to think and act like Jesus so instead of punching the wall, we can still speak kindly to each other. Something to remember the next time you're stuck on hold. "My Friend Jesus" manages the difficult task of being a fun song with something serious to say!
Mike Rimmer

265. BART MILLARD - THE OLD RUGGED CROSS, 2005. From the album 'Hymned No 1', INO.
In 1913 George Bernard wrote this classic hymn and since that time hundreds, possibly thousands, of versions have been recorded. But it was when Millard, lead singer of American million-selling worship band MercyMe, decided to do what so many Christian artists were doing around the turn of the millennium - record a set of popular old hymns to contemporary arrangements - that the hymnbook favourite had its finest hour. Bart's arresting vocals, careful choice of both lesser known and popular hymns, and use of highly varied musical styles make the album an absolute winner with the greatest treat being this closing track, on which Bart offers a mellow, laid-back acoustic approach, with bass, slide-guitar and his own emotive vocals combining to spell-binding effect. Millard did three studio takes of this song - but the first was voted easily the best. Indeed, such is the beauty of this rendition that it's virtually impossible to imagine anyone performing a more compelling version.
Tom Lennie

266. MIGHTY & SEYI - SEEK YE FIRST, 2008. From the single, Breaker Productions.
London-based Mighty & Seyi are a rapper and singer locked together to create hip-hop that was infused with melody. They won the Star Awards in November 2007 and a year later their debut single showed them to be a talented duo bursting with ideas. Message-wise, the song is a hard-hitting plea that for anything to change on the streets, it'll take a generation of kids to choose to seek God before anything else. The remix from Birmingham's Tony Bean is by far the best as it adds fresh funk to the song and gives the single a real lift. We are still awaiting Mighty & Seyi's album debut. Here's hoping it comes soon.
Mike Rimmer

267. WADE MAINER & THE SONS OF THE MOUNTAINEERS - THE PRECIOUS JEWEL, 1941. From the various artists album 'Mountain Gospel', JSP.
On 29th September 1941 Wade Mainer and his mountain-style harmonizers Curley and Jack Shelton went into a studio in Atlanta, Georgia and recorded this plaintive song about a lost sweetheart who was going to be the singer's wife but went instead to Heaven. It's easy to lampoon country/bluegrass's death songs but for me the plaintive harmonies and eerily haunting melody make this a gem of simple, appealing rural music which would sound great if ever revived by one of the new traditionalists.
Tony Cummings

268. NATALIE GRANT - PERFECT PEOPLE, 2008. From the album 'Relentless', Curb.
Natalie Grant, after delivering rather unmemorable early albums, fully deserves her current position as American CCM's top female singer. A song like this gem from the pens of Jason Barton, Sam Mizell and Matthew West sounds like a match made in Heaven as it brings out the brittle poignancy of her lower register and the anthemic gospel-tinged power of her upper register on the chorus. Add to a great vocal performance, the simple yet profound lyric ("There's no such thing as perfect people/There's no such thing as a perfect life/So come as you are, broken and scarred/And be amazed and be changed by a perfect God") and you have the perfect Christian radio hit.
Tony Cummings