The latest part of the ongoing series chronicling the greatest 1001 recordings made by Christian artists

581. T-BONE, NATALIE LARUE, DJ MAJ - KING OF MY LIFE, 2001. From the various artists album 'Soul Lift', Flicker.
Unquestionably one of the most underrated talents in the entire Christian music scene is Nashville-based songwriter, engineer, producer and occasional artist Rick Altizer. In 2001 Rick was the creative driving force behind a set of astonishingly diverse artists (from Mike Rowe of the 77s to Southern gospel matriarch Vestal Goodman) performing Altizer's top rate worship songs. The tracks came on the 'Soul Lift' package complete with Bible studies. As it turned out, fusing such a wide range of styles into a dance and R&B-tinged selection was way too radical for conservative Christian radio and without airplay this groundbreaking album slipped the notice of Joe Public. But this gem, with a sinuous vocal hook from one half of that great LaRue duo, some gutsy rapping from The Man With The Mad Skills and a compulsively funky pop rock groove, got to take worship music into a whole new sphere. 11 years on "King Of My Life" still sounds great and more contemporary than much of the "modern worship" getting released today.
Tony Cummings

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

Super Sweet Talks International

583. SUPER SWEET TALKS INTERNATIONAL - THE LORD'S PRAYER, 1981. From the album 'Adjoa: The Lord's Prayer', Ofo Bros.
Highlife, that joyfully infectious music that originated in Ghana with its jazzy brass rhythms and multiple guitar parts, remains one of the most rhythmically compulsive of all music forms. Fronted by singer/composer A B Crentsil, Super Sweet Talks made a major impact in the highlife scene, their debut album 'Adam And Eve' being released in 1975. Crentsil and the band often explored biblical themes that mirrored the spiritual revival that was gripping Ghanaian churches at that time. Not all the theology they sang about was particularly orthodox (for instance Super Sweet Talk's 'Moses' album was banned from radio play on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation after protests from the clergy) but when the band regrouped as a smaller unit and added International to their name in 1981 they recorded this highly successful recasting of the Lord's Prayer. Play it loud at any party and it still holds sway.
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 "More Love, That's What We Need', 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

...to be continued
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The Complete Spirit Of Rock And Soul As So Far Published In Chronological Order
As published in CR1, 1st May 1990
Dave Marsh was a colleague of mine; way back when hair was long and party-nights were longer. We didn't know each other too well though well enough, through sharing the same book publisher, to have a lot of respect for someone who, as they used to say in the music biz back then, had 'good ears'.

That meant he knew the difference between the brilliant from the merely good and could find songs, out of the hundreds and thousands of records that pour into the lives of professional rock journalists that had that glimmer of creative genius. Sometimes Dave was even able to locate and codify in words (always a frustrating mode of expression when dealing with music!) why they were brilliant. A good reliable reviewer of Dave was.

Now 20 years on he's gone rock music legit and got a book of rock reviews, published by Penguin. It's called The Heart Of Rock And Soul. What you get are Dave's reviews of a thousand and one tracks hyped on the book cover as 'the greatest singles ever made'.

All lovers of pop music should investigate the book. Dave's ears are as good as ever and though there's just a touch of the portentous about some of his writing, the veteran journalist does do a good job in flagging down plenty of classics in the millions of songs recorded in the post-war years. But what is sorely missing in Dave's tome, as the author himself admits, is gospel music. "There are no gospel singles in The Heart Of Rock And Soul quite simply because I could find no way of contextualizing them without trivializing them," he writes.