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

582. DC TALK - SO HELP ME GOD, 1995. From the album 'Jesus Freak', Forefront.
The spoken declaration "I've got something for ya, man" heralds the start of not only the most celebrated Christian album of all time but also the song that ushered in a game-changing new style for CCM trio dc Talk. Without completely forsaking the hip-hop nature of previous releases, band members Kevin Max (né Smith), Toby Mac (né McKeehan) and Michael Tait chose to move to a rock footing by drawing inspiration from the Seattle grunge movement of the time. Whilst songs like "What If I Stumble?" and the no-holds barred title track are the ones that most people remember, the opener "So Help Me God" had the vital task of grabbing the listener's attention, ensuring existing fans accepted the band's metamorphosis whilst offering up a credible sound that would hopefully allow dc Talk to venture into the mainstream market. Within the first few seconds, all of the above boxes are ticked and - thanks to an unforgettable riff, a face-melting guitar solo and lyrics that kickstart the album's overarching themes of confessing inadequacy and advocating dependence on God - it remains a great track in its own right.
Lins Honeyman

Coco Mbassi

583. COCO MBASSI - MAKAKI, 2014. From the album 'Joa', Conserprod.
Such is the richness of African music that I could probably write another Spirit Of Rock & Soul focussing on that continent's church music but as this Western-based endeavour has taken me 15 years and counting I think I'll leave that to someone else. Coco Mbassi is a critically acclaimed Cameroon-born singer/songwriter and on "Makaki" a sublime song of praise celebrating the Lord's faithfulness based on one simple phrase "Makiki m'Ongo ma si ma tomba" which translated means "Your promises shall never pass." Coco's sweet and richly soulful voice, aided by her own harmonies, emanate joy and devotion as the hypnotic repetition of the accompaniment (by producer Serge Ngando on standup bass and two jaw-dropping percussionists Dembele Sidki and Daouda Thiam) takes hold. It's a track which makes the listener long for the opportunity to visit a church in Cameroon where, no doubt, we could all celebrate the Lord's faithfulness in a 20 minute version rather than the wonderful three minutes three seconds this recording allows.
Tony Cummings

584. QUICKFLIGHT - FADE TO GLORY, 1983. From the album 'Decent Beat', StarSong.
When the synth-driven bands like Human League and Soft Cell emerged on the British scene in the early '80s Christian rock music seemed distinctly behind-the-times. One band though that did grasp the nettle were this Canadian outfit. Fronted by singer and keyboard player Ric DeGroot, Quickflight caught the eerie new wave vibe perfectly and 1983's US StarSong/UK Kingsway release 'Decent Beat' was one of the best albums of the year. Many lyrics weren't overt, but were rather opaque ponderings which, to quote CCM magazine, were "articulating the questions of urban youth and pointing to the direction where the answer can be found." One song though that did give more than a hint of the divine was the prayerful "Fade To Glory". On this brooding track Jesus is referred to as Agnus Deo with Ric intoning, "Give me all you've got to give/Loose these chains and let me live."
Tony Cummings

585. GOSPEL CLASSICS - MORE LOVE, THAT'S WHAT WE NEED, 1968. From the single, Checker.
In the strange argot of Northern soul devotees, this single is an "all time classic dancefloor filler." For those not au fait to the insular world of North of England club deejays and how by playing obscure recordings of old school soul music they brought some welcome popularity, at least in places like Wigan, Blackpool and Cleethorpes, to hundreds of often unknown soul singers as well as a few gospel acts. The Gospel Classics were a seven-man vocal group who'd once all sung with the more successful Violinaires. They hailed from Detroit and though they never got to record with Motown, signing with Chess/Checker Records was probably the next best thing, particularly as the Chicago company had already shown they could replicate the Motown sound with a gospel singer crossing over to R&B with Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me". Penned during the era of race riots and US social turmoil, "More Love, That's What We Need" had a simplistic universal love message but with a fine, throaty, female-sounding lead vocal and a guitar-driven arrangement, which could almost pass for the Detroit's Funk Brothers, it was indeed a piece of light, finger-snapping R&B made for dancing.
Tony Cummings

586. SOUL EMBRACED - MY TOURNIQUET, 2000. From the album 'For The Incomplete', Clenched Fist.
The sad spectacle of Evanescence tying themselves up in knots once the sales stigma of being labelled "a Christian band" hit home shouldn't overshadow this classic song. For though Evanescence recorded this song as "Tourniquet" on their 17 million selling 'Fallen' album, it was the original by Soul Embraced which is superior. Originally a side project of drummer David Sroczynski and William "Rocky" Gray from Shredded Corpse, later to join Evenescence, Rocky reformed Soul Embraced with fellow Living Sacrifice member Lance Garvin (drums) and his brother-in-law Chad Moore (vocals). 'For The Incomplete' came out in 2000 of which "My Tourniquet" is the killer. The drums alone are worth checking out. The shotgun guitar intro and that gorgeous recurring riff once the song opens up really sets the scene for this lyrically very powerful song.
Tony Cummings

587. REV H B CRUM & HIS MIGHTY GOLDEN KEYS - DON'T YOU KNOW ME THOMAS, 1959. From the various artists album 'Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers Vol 1', Vee-Tone.
By the late '50s the "hard" gospel quartets were at their height and the leather-lunged Rev H B Crum could scream and carry on with the very best though he and his Golden Keys were never to achieve the gospel success of the church wrecking Blind Boys Of Mississippi let alone the screamers who purloined the style for R&B stardom like James Brown. In this oh so brief (one minute, 42 seconds) single, one of six sides the good reverend recorded in New York City on 28th January 1959, Rev Crum screams himself into a frenzy of Holy Spirit fervour as he confronts the doubts of the disciple Thomas. The careering tempo is fast enough to leave the saints doing the Pentecostal two-step risking heart attacks so maybe the single's brevity was a wise move.
Tony Cummings

Chris Tomlin

588. CHRIS TOMLIN - EVERLASTING GOD, 2006. From the album 'See The Morning', Sixsteprecords.
Worship songwriter Ken Riley told Cross Rhythms how he'd come to co-write "Everlasting God" with Brenton Brown. The South African-born singer/songwriter, though suffering from ME, had invited Ken to get a train down from Newcastle to London so they could attempt writing a song together. Brenton had been reading Isaiah 40 and that "Brenton was hanging on to that like a lifeline, he was believing God's promises that his strength would rise." With that in mind, Brenton and Ken wrote what was to prove to be a classic song in 20 minute bursts in between Brenton having to go and lie down. Brenton's version and Ken's band Yfriday's version of the song are both good but it was Chris Tomlin's rendition, with exemplary organic production from Ed Cash, which was to take the song to the world Church.
Tony Cummings

589. FOUR KORNERZ - BETTER DAYS, 2007. From the album 'Soulectric', UB1 Music.
In a recent radio interview, the Nigerian funksters' Deji pointed out that even five years on the message of this song still resonates in today's financially worrisome times. Said Deji, "It's a song which says, 'Don't lose hope.' Things will not always go rosy, especially in this wonderful Christian walk that we have, but as long as you hold on to your hope that better days will come, nothing can faze you." In the same interview Deji explained how the deliciously funky groove evolved. "We had this idea in our heads, we had no lyrics, nothing and I said, 'Guys, just keep playing this' and I recorded the music. I was just there at about two in the morning on my own, chopping vocals and stuff and I just put up a mic and I started humming it to myself. I think by 7AM the song was done. I was red-eyed, I looked something like the bogeyman coming out of the studio. But I was very happy."
Tony Cummings

590. LAND - WHATEVER IS, 1999. From the album 'Point Me To The Skies', Sacred Tree Music.
Back in the late '90s, songwriter Steve Knott and a disparate collection of singers and musicians gathered at Castle Sound Studios in East Lothian under the auspices of renowned Scottish producer Calum Malcolm (Simple Minds, Prefab Sprout) to record what would be their second and final album under the name Land. Considered by Knott as the best track on the album, "Whatever Is" sees singers Diane Macleod, Shirley-Anne Nolan and Yvonne Whitty (better known today as Scottish songstress Yvonne Lyon) passionately extol the qualities of a God-filled mindset in the form of a mediation based on Philippians 4:8. The song itself is a game of two halves and starts relatively sedately before the appearance of a gospel choir midway through - an idea that seemingly came to Knott in a dream. The choir lifts the track onto a completely new level. I had the pleasure of witnessing this song gel in the studio and, along with various Land members, Electrics frontman Sammy Horner and a vastly more experienced and able black gospel choir from Glasgow, was honoured to be a very small and insignificant part of the troupe of backing singers that make this track and the album as a whole just that little bit special.
Lins Honeyman

591. WHITSUNTIDE EASTER - TRANSITORY, 1977. From the album 'Next Time You Play A Wrong Note. . .', Grapevine.
If you're a vinyl collecting fanatic with a well thumbed copy of Rare Record Price Guide you'll know that the 'Next Time You Play. . .' album sells for £100 plus. This set by an obscure Dutch Christian band, recorded at Eastbourne's ICC studios, and produced by John Pac sold zilch when released into the Christian bookshops but has subsequently been acclaimed as a "psych folk" classic by obsessive vinyl hoarders. And the album does indeed contain some wonderful stuff with "Transitory", a song of fragile beauty with a delicate vocal from Nannet Coumou over some shimmering acoustic guitars. Timeless.
Tony Cummings

592. DELIRIOUS? - WHAT A FRIEND I'VE FOUND, 1995. From the album 'King Of Fools', Furious?
"Deeper" was the epitome of pop rock perfection which (eventually) made it a chart hit, but it was this beautiful, elegantly building paean of worship which was the perfect closer. Helped by wise studio head Andy Piercy, the d:boys had that rarest of gifts, the ability to make pop credible music while taking us to a deep place with God who is "closer than a brother."
Tony Cummings

Boyer Brothers

593. BOYER BROTHERS - STEP BY STEP, 1952. From the single, Excello.
When in 1952 Florida's James and Horace Boyer visited deejay and entrepreneur John Richbourg, whose radio programme on WLAC was THE means of getting exposure to gospel music, they couldn't have expected the outcome. Remembered James, "We introduced ourselves and said we desired to make records. He had us to audition with only the piano. After he heard one song he said, 'Wait a minute.' Between his radio chores he set up recording equipment and told us to run through two songs." One of these songs was Horace's arrangement of "Step By Step" penned by the great James Anderson. As it turned out, this primitive recording of the elegant yet soulful rendition of the Anderson hymn ("Step by step, I'm nearly in the Kingdom") was leased to Ernie Young for the first release on Young's Excello Records. With much radio play from Richbourg it turned out to be a major gospel hit. Decades on, academic Horace Boyer gained accolades for his seminal gospel study How Sweet The Sound: The Golden Age Of Gospel while that charming, liltingly soulful oldie turns up on numerous Gospel Classics compilations.
Tony Cummings

594. 16 HORSEPOWER - FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, 1997. From the album 'Low Estate', A&M.
The various musical offerings of David Eugene Edwards with both 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand have long attracted a clique of fans. Critic John Thompson once described 16 Horsepower's eccentric stylings: "The music is a style all its own: part old school country (complete with fiddle, hurdy gurdy, banjo and squeeze box) and part gothic rock. The songs drone, wheeze and burn into a sound that surprisingly works. And then there is Edward's voice. . . he howls, cries and at times screams with a beauty I have never heard before." "For Heaven's Sake" is among Edwards' best with a power depiction of the love that will not let us go. "All my love, well it is madness/Freely given to you folks with gladness."
Tony Cummings

595. WHITNEY HOUSTON - JESUS LOVES ME, 1992. From the various artists album 'The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album', Arista.
For me this is the greatest Sunday School song ever written and it was a huge surprise Whitney's dazzling version found its way onto the multi-million selling soundtrack of The Bodyguard movie. For such a simple song, its origins are complex. The lyrics first appeared as a poem in a novel, Say And Seal, written by Susan and Anna Warner and published in 1860. The tune was added in 1862 by William Batchelder Bradbury who read the novel and was moved by the scene where the words "Jesus loves me this I know/For the Bible tells me so/Little ones to him belong/They are weak but he is strong" were recited to a dying child. Bradbury added his own chorus "Yes, Jesus loves me. . ." and a classic was born. Over a century later it was Whitney's soulfully sincere reading of the song that brought the hymn evergreen to a new cinema and CD audience. The fact that Whitney continued to sing the Warner and Bradbury gem through the rest of her deeply troubled life and it was the last song the singer ever performed on stage gives Whitney's beautiful interpretation even further poignancy.
Tony Cummings