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

610. SWITCHFOOT - AFTERLIFE, 2011. From the album 'Vice Verses', Credential.
'Vice Verses' is a rock album of the highest calibre and this bombastic opener with its dark, Foo Fighters-style guitar riff pulls in listeners every time it gets played on Cross Rhythms radio. Jon Foreman sings its "seize the day" message with passionate deliberation: "I've tasted fire, I'm ready to come alive/I can't just shut it up and fake that I'm alright/I'm ready now I'm not waiting for the afterlife." A salient reminder that we need to appropriate the peace, joy and living presence of the Godhead here and now.
Tony Cummings

611. THIRD DAY - BORN AGAIN, 2008. From the album 'Revelation', Essential.
Apparently the first part of "Born Again" was written while Third Day's smoky-voiced singer Mac Powell was folding laundry. The whole first verse popped into Mac's head complete and he subsequently recounted how he was "running around the house, throwing stuff everywhere looking for a pen and a piece of paper." It was worth the effort. This power ballad with its artful blend of Southern rock and Americana-tinged folk is a stirring anthem. Helped by the soaring vocals of Lacey Mosley of the band Flyleaf, Powell excels himself with his soulful treatment of a song described as "a heartfelt expression of what it's like to experience a change from within." Third Day's bassist Tai Anderson said the song dug beneath the clichéd expression of being born again to reveal what the phrase is "supposed to mean". I wouldn't argue.
Tony Cummings

612. JORDIN SPARKS - NO AIR, 2008. From the single, 19 Records.
When the "No Air" single was released in 2008 there were plenty of critics who panned it. After all, Jordin was that beautiful young lady from American Idol and a pop/R&B song written by six people was bound to bring forth the reviewing clichés about such music being "manufactured". As it turned out, Joe Public ignored the sneers and bought the single in droves ("No Air" eventually selling close to three and a half million copies). Jordin, ably helped by R&B hitmaker Chris Brown, sings effortlessly over the deliciously insinuating groove. As the often repeated question "tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air?" is asked about a take-your-breath-away romance it is clear that Jordin's biggest hit remains a breath of fresh air for pop and R&B radio.
Tony Cummings

Allies

613. ALLIES - DEVIL IS A LIAR, 1989. From the album 'Long Way From Paradise', Dayspring.
The sentimental ballad "Butterfly Kisses" was Bob Carlisle's mega hit but Christian rockers have long held that the Allies, the band Bob fronted from 1984 to 1992, represent Bob's best work. And certainly the Allies' third album 'Long Way From Paradise' shows a band confident enough to take on everything from Journey-style rockers, to a cover of "Crying In The Chapel" which was nearer to the Orioles' doowop version than Elvis' maudlin rendition. But it was when they gave full reign to Randy Thomas' blues guitar that the Allies were at their peek and with Bob's gritty tones the effect of this denouncement of the old Enemy hasn't worn off 20 plus years on.
Tony Cummings

614. LARRY NORMAN - THE OUTLAW, 1972. From the album 'Only Visiting This Planet', MGM.
Another track from the rock pioneer's quiver of classics. Over that delicious folk guitar figure Larry's high, near falsetto delivers a unique depiction of when God incarnate walked here on earth. "Some say he was an outlaw, that he roamed across the land/With a band of unschooled ruffians and a few old fishermen." Great opening lines to a great song.
Tony Cummings

615. MELLO-AIRES OF ROCHESTER, NY - TAKE YOUR BURDENS THERE, 1952. From the various artists album 'Powerhouse Gospel On Independent Labels 1948-1959', JSP.
When tenor Elmer A Stallworth took some fellow group members from The Flying Clouds Of Detroit to form the Mello-Aires, he must have had high hopes. The Flying Clouds had been doing well and the "new" group hoped to build on that success. It was not to be. Their one single for Gotham Records was all they managed and with few sales and fewer engagements the group quickly folded. But they left behind this gem of a track. Ignoring the jolly piano, it was the hypnotic chanting group vocal over which Stallworth whipped himself into a soulful frenzy that dominates the track and has ensured that decades on "Take Your Burdens There" is popping up on vintage gospel compilations.
Tony Cummings

616. EARTHSUIT - ONE TIME, 2000. From the album 'Kaleidoscope Superior', Sparrow.
A melange of rock, electronica and, on this track, reggae, the New Orleans band brought something completely fresh to the CCM table before calling it a day in 2003. This cut from Earthsuit's debut is a gem. An undulating JA groove, a metallic riff and a shouty chorus which gets you every time make for a cut that still gets Cross Rhythms radio play today.
Tony Cummings

617. REND COLLECTIVE EXPERIMENT - TRUE INTIMACY, 2012. From the album 'Homemade Worship By Handmade People, Kingsway.
Bring together a sound that takes the stomping, rollicking pop folk which occasionally vaguely resembles the work of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Pogues but has the purity of heart and abandonment of soul of true worship and you have a sound which understandably is capturing a Church tiring of pop rock worship formulae. The Belfast collective's passionate and Christ-centred music is a blessing to the Church and is suited for worship in church hall, festival stage or car.
Tony Cummings

Mat Kearney

618. MAT KEARNEY - ANNIE, 2009. From the album 'City Of Black & White', Inpop.
Kearney has made some of the most memorable pop music of the last few years. The wistful lilt of "Annie" refuses to leave the listener's head. The song, full of enigmatic images about a girl who's "walking the backbeat out of the grey" before the memorable chorus "Well, it's one love in the morning/Three days in the grave/Fall back in the evening/Now our lives will change" hints at salvation rather than spells it out, but it works all the better for that. The simple skipping arrangement, Mat's laid back, huskily poignant vocal, everything here is perfectly focused and skilfully executed. Acoustic pop perfection.
Tony Cummings

619. JOANNE HOGG - THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD, 1998. From the various artists album 'Liturgy Of Time', Word.
I'm not a big fan of worship compilation albums. There have been way too many of them released and often they're poorly packaged. But sometimes they serve a very useful purpose in bringing to light recordings which, despite their quality, were largely missed on their original release. Such is the case of Joanne Hogg's goosebump-inducing version of the 23rd Psalm. When originally issued on the 'Liturgy Of Time' album, which was subtitled 'Original Interpretations Of Ageless Classics' and featured artists like Mal Pope, Adrian Snell and David Fitzgerald, the dazzling quality of Joanne's "original interpretation" was hardly noticed. But since the inclusion of "The Lord's My Shepherd" on a couple of compilation albums, more and more fans are coming to recognise that this could well be the definitive version of King David's words and the Scottish Psalter's melody. Producer Mark Edwards captures a magnificent performance from the Iona singer and the whole track brings home that faith-building Scripture like no other I know.
Tony Cummings

620. PRODIGAL - NEON, 1984. From the album 'Electric Eye, Heartland.
Prodigal were a quartet from Cincinnati who put out three albums between 1982 and 1985. Fronted as they were by keyboard whiz Loyd Boldman, the band really caught the sound and spirit of '80s technology-driven bands like Styx. 'Electric Eye' is an ambitious concept work with many tracks addressing the dehumanising effect of a society caught in the spell of continuous technological development and "Neon" is the album's most pointed song, depicting a hellish scenario not unlike that imagined in a novel by Philip K Dick. An important work from an underrated band.
Tony Cummings

621. J MOSS - AFRAID, 2007. From the album 'V2', GospoCentric.
James Moss is, of course, part of a gospel dynasty as talented as the Winans and the Clarks. But it's James' skill as a producer of streetwise urban sounds with the PAJAM team which has established him in the urban gospel upper echelons and makes this track such a dazzling tour-de-force. Half rapped singing (or if you prefer, half sung rapping) has never sounded better and the electronic effects on the voice give the track a rolling robotic insistence which demands you pay attention and catch as many of those staccato lines as you can before the studio maestro sings in a joyful burst of faith, "Not gonna be afraid no more/Pain just walked out the door." Seldom has studio technology on a gospel song been used to better effect.
Tony Cummings

622. ANDREW PETERSON - COME BACK SOON, 2012. From the album 'Light For The Lost Boy', Centricity.
The renaissance man from Monticello, Illinois has worked at his songwriting craft steadfastly down the years so that today Andrew is, to my mind, one of the most eloquent and talented songwriter on the whole music scene, not just the one populated by Christians. Peterson's ability to deliver entrancing narrative and haunting melody is second to none while the production team of Ben Shive and Cason Cooley, who worked on the 'Light For The Lost Boy' album, have surely never produced a better album. As the Cross Rhythms reviewer wrote, the arrangements have "more variety, textures and layers than the clothing collection of Ann Boleyn." Over the shimmering soundscape the master storyteller here weaves his images of "the Tennessee flood/The sound of the scream and the sight of the blood/My son he saw as the animal died. . ." Yet, as Christianity Today wrote, this song displays "a throbbing hope even in lament" as the songsmith explores the bleak truth of mortality and the transcendent hope of the old, old story. Former Audio Adrenaline man Tyler Burkin's electric guitar work is magnificent and the whole track shimmers with life while grappling with death.
Tony Cummings

Andrew Peterson

623. ANDREW PETERSON - THE CORNERSTONE, 2012. From the album 'Light For The Lost Boy', Centricity.
When an artist records a classic and puts it as the opening track on his latest album it is reasonable to expect the rest of the album to sound weak by comparison. But the stunning partnership of literate singer/songwriter and producer Shive and Cooley followed on the moody magnificence of "Come Back Soon" with this equally dazzling second track. Over a densely woven interplay of guitar parts and eerie synths, Andrew bluesily delivers his confessional "I saw the desert wind tear across the wilderness/I felt it blowing off the page/The teacher told me 'Son, always remember this'/And I have always been afraid." It doesn't stop there as the singer lays bare his realisation that the "God is my best mate" utterances of shallow evangelicalism or the "Jesus is my boyfriend" sentiments of some modern worship simply doesn't get close to articulating the majesty and mystery of God. Andrew sings, "I read about the God of Moses/Roaring in the holy cloud/It shook my bedroom window panes/I did not understand then/I do not understand now/I don't expect you to explain." And then we have that confessional chorus, "You've been a mystery since the moment that I met you/You never move but I can never seem to catch you/The Cornerstone." Wonderful stuff.
Tony Cummings