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

456. [DWEEB] - PIRATE + COPSE = QUANDARY, 2005. From the album 'Moose Moose Moose Chicken Moose', Independent.
With this reviewer possessing a beard and a Long John Silver-style accent, I am inclined to nostalgically remember those early, anarchic [dweeb] gigs when Sheffield's finest would lead packed throngs in a mass chant of "I'm a pirate". The surreal ditty from whence this sprang, with its strange references to mallard ducks and other things, was once explained to journo Rimmer as being a song that "just reflects our personality". All I know is that its jerky groove which suddenly bursts into a heavy rock riff seemingly transposed from another song works mysteriously well while Tim Alford's wheezingly eccentric vocal remains one of the Christian scene's most distinctive sounds.
Tony Cummings

457. SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER - SPOTLIGHT, 1994. From the album 'The Fatherless And The Widow', REX Music.
The first time I heard this song on an obscure US independent music sampler its nagging sequenced riff and its shuffling alternative rock groove making me note the name Sixpence None The Richer. But at the stage of that early version of "Spotlight" the group hadn't yet acquired Leigh Bingham as their lead singer and the song's writer Matt Slocum did the vocal. It was when Leigh joined and her haunting Americana voice was added to the song and "Spotlight" became track two on Sixpence's record label debut that it became (alongside 'The Fatherless And The Widow''s other classic "Trust") a repeat-play on my stereo.
Tony Cummings

Carl Perkins

458. CARL PERKINS - BIRTH OF ROCK & ROLL, 1991. From the album 'Friends, Family & Legends', Magnum Music.
If there's any singer/songwriter, Christian or non-Christian, entitled to pen a song that ambitiously recounts the history of rock'n'roll then there can be few better choices than Carl Perkins. As any student of rock music will tell you, Carl's exuberant, raw rockabilly recordings for Sun Records in the 1950s helped lay down the rhythmic template for all that was to follow. In the mid '70s the "Blue Suede Shoes" man was at a low ebb until a dramatic Christian conversion not only secured his salvation and deliverance from alcoholism but was pivotal in resurrecting his flagging career. Before his death in 1998 Carl was being heralded for what he was, one of the giants of rock'n'roll. Modern icons like Bono, Paul Simon and George Harrison guested on his final recording but it was this track from a 1991 album which gets my vote as Carl's best post-conversion track. Carl's lyric wittily recounts, "Nashville had country music/Memphis had the soul/Little rockabilly had the rhythm/That started rock and roll/And I was there when it happened/Lord, I think I ought to know/Folks, I was there when it happened/I watched Memphis give birth to rock and roll." The melody is slightly corny but the rhythm is sublime and the plentiful guitar solos from Chet Atkins, Steve Mariner and, best of all, Carl himself show that, even in the autumn of his years, Carl remained a master of rhythm.
Tony Cummings

459. KIRK FRANKLIN - REVOLUTION, 1998. From the album 'The Nu Nation Project', Gospocentric.
This storming track continued Kirk's work in wrenching gospel music into the 21st century. Again, there were those who thought the music style was too "worldly" in the same way as he'd received flak for "Stomp" with God's Property. But again, you can't argue with countless fans, both Christian and non-Christian, who took this track to their hearts and again made it a hit. From start to finish, this has so many hooks that it's impossible not to get caught up with this and "throw yo hands up"! The mixture of chants and whoop whoop vocals all add to the energy and atmosphere and once again Franklin hypes the whole thing in his unique fashion. "Do you wanna revolution?" he asks and yes Kirk, we clearly did. In fact we still do! One of the most significant gospel recordings of the last 30 years and possibly the high water mark of Franklin's career and influence.
Mike Rimmer

460. THE MOX FILES - AWAKENING THE DAWN, 2001. From the album 'Alien', Independent.
British singer/songwriter Andrew Moxon was, at least for the release of this album, The Mox Files and this eerily haunting track is his classic (and, as far as I know, his only physical release). The song itself is a vision of the Kingdom ("Up and down my nation/There's a brand new song/Praising you every house/Awakening the dawn"). But what really lifts the track to the heights is the stunning techno production from one of Bristol's most underrated talents, Tony 'The Psalmist' Silcock. Probably the greatest thing the master of sequencers and drum machines has ever created with Andrew's heavily treated vocals echoing in and out of the reverberating groove.
Tony Cummings

461. SWAN SILVERTONES - SAVIOUR PASS ME NOT, 1961. From the album 'Move Up', VeeJay.
This track was called by gospel authority Anthony Heilbut "the last great Swans record" and I wouldn't argue. Its compelling power rests in the stunning interplay between lead vocalist Louis Johnson who sings the first verse in a soulful baritone of breathy intimacy and the amazing Claude Jeter. Heilbut described it thus, "Jeter comes in supplementing the simple chorus with glorious ad libs, while Johnson chants the words like a backwoods preacher." Stunning.
Tony Cummings

462. BUDDY MILLER - WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE, 2004. From the album 'Universal United House Of Prayer', New West.
Bob Dylan's "With God On Our Side" has been acknowledged for many a long year as one of the GREAT protest songs. But it took this jaw-dropping rendition by the multi-talented country man to bring out all the pathos and passion of the lyric pinpointing hundreds of yeas of warfare and carnage all in the name of God. With Buddy's mountain man howl and a production which starts with a reverb-drenched guitar and a fiddle and ends with a stately band ponderously pounding home each devastating line made this an impossible to ignore denouncement of blind patriotism and xenophobia. Amazingly, Buddy's epic rendition clocks in at nine minutes yet never, for one second, loses its power to convince.
Tony Cummings

Chris Taylor

463. CHRIS TAYLOR - WORTHLESS PURSUIT OF THINGS OF THE EARTH, 2000. From the album 'Worthless Pursuit Of Things Of The Earth', Rhythm House.
San Antonio's Chris Taylor has been making fine music for years with limited recognition (though the 'Worthless Pursuit. . .' album was nominated as Rock Album Of The Year in the 2001 Dove Awards). But in view of the theme of this compelling Taylor composition - which skilfully pinpoints the facile pointlessness of materialism and our whole vainglorious culture - such lack of platinum sales and back-slapping award ceremonies shouldn't have phased Chris too much. The one-time Love Coma man sings "From the moment of our birth/It's a worthless pursuit of things on the earth/Over and over again/I've worked my fingers all the way to the bone/Possessing the things I don't need." With some gutsy electric guitar and a touch of Americana in the mix, this is a gem of a song delivered with the laconic confidence of a masterly songsmith every bit as good as anything Neil Young ever recorded.
Tony Cummings

464. DEACON BLUE - DIGNITY, 1987. From the album 'Raintown', Columbia.
That 15 years after its release as a single "Dignity" was used as the backing music to help promote a programme schedule, one season on BBC2, is testament to how the song has long-since been equated with quality art and high production values. The group's large following amongst middle-class Yuppies in the late '80s earned Scotland's Deacon Blue immense suspicion amongst the cool music press and almost prevented the songwriting of Ricky Ross a fair hearing. But their huge fan-base north of the border was sufficient to keep Deacon Blue in the charts and on the radio and by the time of their split in 1994 the acclaimed "Dignity" was deservedly re-released as a farewell gesture. Originally recorded seven years earlier, the song had featured in their stage-set for over a year and was transformed in the studio - Jon Kelly was Paul McCartney's producer, had worked with George Martin and it showed: "Dignity" sounded near-perfect. Essentially, the story of an Everyman-of-sorts, a humble Scottish council worker who reflects the yearning we all have, for a better world - but "never thinks to mutter". With a sublime piano part from James Prime, this atmospheric, evocative, emotional combination of words and music captures a highly personal yet profound mood, with the climax, "And I'm thinking about home/And I'm thinking about faith. . ."
John Cheek

465. FIRE FLY - ALPHABET SONG, 2002. From the single "Blue Eyed Boy", Embryo.
Occasionally dedicated music enthusiasts prepared to trawl through mountains of unknown recordings will unearth a track that not only gives endless listening pleasure to its discoverer but will leave them convinced that had the cut been given even a little in the way of a promotional push it would have gone on to big things. So it is that I'm convinced that Fire Fly's "Alphabet Song" COULD have hit big on Christian and even pop radio, if only. . . Fire Fly, as Britain's clique of hard music buffs will tell you, were an excellent Midlands-based band who between 1998 and 2009 released three albums, and EP and this single while offering unforgettable performances that managed to fuse mosh pit excitement and tender-hearted worship. In Si Bibby and Mark Broomhead they had two stalwarts of the UK thrash scene but this track is a million miles from the extreme noise of that genre. Instead singer Si is accompanied by a haunting electric piano figure (possibly played by producer David Pickering Pick) in a wistful song that ambles through the alphabet ("A is for the apple that Eve had to try/B is believing that boys should not cry. . .") and then explodes in a flurry of hard rock aggression before returning to that eerie alphabet. Unique.
Tony Cummings

466. SOLOMON BURKE - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN, 2002. From the album 'Don't Give Up On Me', Fat Possum.
Although the 'Don't Give Up On Me' album was overhyped and was never the Best Album Of 2002 as claimed by Mojo magazine, it did mark a return to form for the veteran soul singer. The brand new songs handed to the veteran gospel crossover man by Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Brian Wilson were, in truth, of variable quality. But to hear Burke's vibrant bel canto with a band sympathetically produced by Joe Henry made for nostalgic listening for those who remembered Solomon's Atlantic Records glories. For my money, Nick Lowe has always been one of Britain's finest songwriters and this song, though not penned by a believer, neatly and succinctly pummels the sin of judgmentalism ("Yes, there is much in life for which I could atone/But let him without sing cast the first stone"). Solomon emotes the confessional with elegance.
Tony Cummings

467. JAYNE EDWARDS - HARMONY/I GOT IT, 1983. From the single, Profile.
In 1983 I was reading a copy of Buzz magazine which, back then, was one of the few places where you could read reviews of new Christian music. A certain Tony Cummings reviewed this 12 inch single and enthused greatly about it. It was released by RCA and I discovered one solitary copy sitting in the racks of my local independent record shop so I snapped it up. It had an early '80s disco feel with a groovy extended instrumental introduction called "Harmony" before it seamlessly kicked into "I Got It". There was a solid driving beat and some great horn work on the track but its crowning glory belonged to the righteous vocalising from Ms Edwards. I don't know much about Jayne Edwards. She had at least one other R&B single around the same era but then slipped from view. But this song made a lasting impact on me! Edwards puts every ounce of storefront church passion into delivering a testifying song that celebrates the fact that she's got it! The lyric reveals the "it" is an experience of the Holy Spirit which includes speaking in "unknown tongues". Towards the end of the nearly eight minutes of song as Jayne is hollering her thanks to Jesus, an unnamed male singer enters into a call and response climax to stoke the fire even more. This is unbridled celebratory '80s dance gospel and after listening to this, you'll want "it" too!
Mike Rimmer

Phoenix Sonshine

468. PHOENIX SONSHINE - THE EXODUS, 1975. From the album 'The Exodus', Destiny.
One of the most adventurous tracks ever recorded by the Jesus music acts of the '70s this trio of Gary and Debbie Cowan (from Phoenix, naturally) and Paul Amschler specialised in jangly folk rock in Crosby, Stills & Nash style. But on this song Phoenix Sonshine also made use of the Guli Folk Orchestra, whoever they were. So Indian instruments like gaida, gadulka, tapan and kaval add their colourings to an ambitious song about the epic journey of the Israelites. A gem.
Tony Cummings

469. MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY - A BRIGHT SIDE, 1964. From the album 'A Bright Side', Peacock.
The hypnotising musicality and sheer, no-holds-barred passion of African American preaching has long not only gripped congregations but found many admirers in the stuffy, non-spiritual world of white blues and gospel collectors. And this stunning seven minutes-odd sermonette by Joe Ligon recorded when he was at his height as a rasping, hollering, screaming exhorter of the brethren and frontman for one of the era's great quartets has few equals. Joe tells a typically melodramatic tale about a praying mother whose only son has been wrongfully arrested for a murder and how the courageous old lady uses her body to stop a bell ringing which in the custom of the town, preceded the dispatch of any prisoner. Throughout his heart-rending sermonette Joe's fellow Clouds urge him on with yells and whoops and by the time they finally get to the song about there being a bright side in the darkest gloom the point of sacrificial love has been pushed home with the power of a sledge hammer. Melodramatic? Undoubtedly. Effective? Unquestionably.
Tony Cummings