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

512. BLUETREE - GOD OF THIS CITY, 2007. From the album 'Greater Things', Independent.
This tremendous rock worship team from Northern Ireland emerged with the stunning 'Greater Things' album (which was eventually retitled when picked up for record label release). This is the classic from the album, one of the most inspiring worship songs in years. "God Of This City" originally came into being as a spontaneous number while the band played worship songs at an outreach in a strip club in Thailand. This remarkable song retains its spiritual power. The band did a fine job in creating vibey rock with uplifting anthemic moments. It takes no account of what you can see with human eyes but instead pulls the listener into the world of the unseen and the impossible to remind us all that wherever we live, God has his plans and nothing can stop them.
Mike Rimmer

Staple Singers

513. STAPLE SINGERS - I'LL TAKE YOU THERE, 1972. From the album 'Be Altitude: Respect Yourself', Stax.
With an intro lifted from the reggae classic "The Liquidator" and the mighty Muscle Shoals rhythm section of David Hood (bass), Eddie Hinton and Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Barry Beckett (electric piano) and Roger Hawks (drums) the scene was set for Mavis Staples to show off her full repertoire of grunts, gasps, growls and shrieks as she responds to the timeless Southern funk groove. In his Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles book Joel Whitburn wrote the two chord song, credited to its producer Al Bell, is "almost completely a call-and-response chorus" but that doesn't matter as Mavis invites her listeners to seek Heaven. The overdubbed Memphis Horns add the final embellishment and this fully deserves its number one spot in the US R&B charts for May 1972 and its listing in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.
Tony Cummings

514. SHELL PERRIS - EVERY TIME I FALL, 2009. From the album 'Beautiful Life', Authentic.
Anyone who associated Shell's music with the perky teen pop of tbc would have been stunned by this cut. Singing in a higher octave than she normally uses and with an emotional intensity we would never have dreamed of on earlier recordings, this mid tempo song drips with a raw vulnerability that only comes when singers cease to worry about hitting notes and start "living the lyric". And live it Shell does as she sings to her Forever Friend who forgives her failings and mistakes and brings healing and restoration. It was brave of Shell to offer a vocal of such naked emotion and brave of producer Dave Healey to allow it in on the CD.
Tony Cummings

515. LIFEHOUSE - HANGING BY A MOMENT, 2000. From the album 'No Name Face', Dreamworks.
This gem of radio-friendly pop rock was apparently written in a flash. Singer/songwriter Jason Wade, having led worship at Los Angeles Vineyard, decided to make a pitch at the mainstream and he and his musical associates were duly signed to Dreamworks Records. Jason told a reporter, "We were in the studio and were almost finished with the record. I had a melody in my head, so I went into the next room with a guitar and the song poured out in seven minutes." "Hanging By A Moment" reached number one on the US charts. On it Wade claims to be "starving for truth" and surrenders himself to an intangible but very real love interest. The Lord? Sounds like it.
Tony Cummings

516. KEVIN PROSCH - LORD OF THE DANCE, 1996. From the album 'Kiss The Son', Kingsway.
The early music of prophetic worship pioneer Kevin Prosch, momentarily at least, pushed back the boundaries of what we could expect in a worship song in terms of melodies, song lyrics and instruments employed (as indeed his more recent output continues to do). Ever calling believers back to their "first love", his "Lord Of The Dance" is a rousing call to celebrate the goodness of our God in unashamed abandoned worship. More than virtually any other song I know, this one is so carefree and danceable that it virtually demands active participation in the form of body movement. The song is comparable to, though even better than, "Undignified" by Matt Redman (who in fact does a fine take of "Lord Of The Dance" on the 'Soul Survivor Live '96' venture). But it's this original which best captures the mood of exhilarating abandonment to God.
Tom Lennie

517. LARRY NORMAN - READER'S DIGEST, 1972. From the album 'Only Visiting This Planet', Solid Rock.
The stream of classic songs that poured out of Christian rock's godfather in the early '70s remain as sharp and apposite as when they were first launched on a startled Church. "Reader's Digest" is a careering rock ride beginning with acerbic couplets on the state of '70s music, "I don't dig the radio, I hate what the charts pick/Rock and roll may not be dead, but it's getting sick" or "Rolling Stones are millionaires, flower children pallbearers/Beatles said 'All you need is love' and then they broke up" before turning to the state of the world, "We need solution, we need salvation/Let's send some people to the moon and gather information" before ending with another of his timeless finales, "What a mess the world is in, I wonder who began it/Don't ask me, I'm only visiting this planet." Brilliant then and now.
Tony Cummings

The Burn Band

518. THE BURN BAND - JOY, 2006. From the album 'All From You', Vineyard Music UK.
It was my trip to St Albans Vineyard to attend the launch of the 'All From You' album that proved to be one of the most exhilarating musical experiences of 2006. Here was a church band who could truly rock out yet whose powerful songs engaged all who heard them to go beyond the shallow community singing that passes for worship in many a church. "Joy", penned by The Burn Band's singer/guitarist Sam Lane, was a big turntable hit on Cross Rhythms radio - a rare feat indeed for a church ministry band - and a song that asks the most pertinent of questions, "Have you felt his life within you?/Have you felt the truth release you?" before its anthemic chorus declares that it's the Lord who's the love, the hope and the joy. Rock worship of passion and power.
Tony Cummings

519. FIVE BLIND BOYS - WHEN GOD DIPS HIS PEN OF LOVE, 1948. From the various artists album 'Get Right With God: Hot Gospel 1947-'53', Krazy Kat.
In Newark, New Jersey in 1948 the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi recorded 10 songs for the Coleman Brothers' Coleman label. This was their finest. The late Alexis Korner once played "When God Dips. . ." on the Beeb and its frenzied expression of Holy Spirit fervour caught the ear of art rock icon Richard Thompson. Mr Thompson subsequently recounted his reaction on hearing the track in Q magazine, "I thought, this is unbelievable. I must get some more of this. So I got this record and other Five Blind Boys records. They had a famous screamer: Archie Brownlee was the original screamer from whom Little Richard and James Brown took the scream into R&B and popular music. But Archie Brownlee does it more sensationally than anyone has since. And the Rev Percell Perkins was the other lead singer - they'd swap lead singers. It's quite devastating stuff."
Tony Cummings

520. CODE OF ETHICS - WITHOUT REASON (House Mix), 1994. From the EP 'Code Of Ethics Extended Play Remix', Forefront.
In their early days Barry Blaze and buddies put in quite a bit of Depeche Mode and Human League into Code Of Ethics' sound but it was when they remixed a song or two to become full on electro house floor fillers that they were most effective. This remix from 1994 has a delicious groove which was as good as anything out there in clubland. Shame it never came out on vinyl.
Tony Cummings

521. AUDIO ADRENALINE - SOME KIND OF ZOMBIE, 1998. From the album 'Some Kind Of Zombie', Forefront.
The 'Some Kind Of Zombie' album marked the completion of AA's steady move away from the singalong pop of "Big House" to a multi-layered, grunge-tinged sound which was altogether darker. The title track was inspired by vocalist Mark Stuart's observations of voodoo worship in Haiti where he was raised as the son of missionaries. Here the songwriter brings out a parallel about Christians being dead to sin and though the point of the song is somewhat obscure, the lurching funk rock rhythms make it possibly the most inventive and rhythmically dense track the CCM hitmakers ever attempted.
Tony Cummings

522. PHILLIP LARUE - CHASING THE DAYLIGHT, 2009. From the album 'Let The Road Pave Itself', BEC Recordings.
I've always liked Philip LaRue's huskily expressive voice since those memorable CCM hits he and his sister cut as LaRue so I was delighted when he returned to the vocal mic with the 'Let The Road Pave Itself' album. And in a collection of haunting, understated, lovingly crafted songs this is my favourite. The arrangement is simple enough, chugging mid tempo rhythms over which Philip declares a new found dimension of faith. He declares, "There's still arrows in my heart/There's still time I fall apart/And all I am left with is whys." But then God's healing love falls like rain. As I said, a beautifully crafted song of faith.
Tony Cummings

Waking Ashland

523. WAKING ASHLAND - SHADES OF GREY, 2005. From the album 'Composure', Tooth & Nail.
Waking Ashland were a San Diego-based band influenced by such diverse elements as Joe Jackson, The Pixies and Husker Du who in singer, songwriter and pianist Jonathan Jones had one of the most underrated talents in recent rock history. His band's ability to create brooding emotional piano melodies underpinned with sonic distortion guitars was a riveting listening experience and this track, the opener on the second of Waking Ashland's releases (two albums, two EPs), is a haunting confessional ("I, and I am to blame/I sit here in shame/I threw you away again"). When the wall-of-sound guitars burst in after the extended voice and piano start the effect is electrifying.
Tony Cummings

524. ARKANGEL - WARRIOR, 1980. From the album 'Warrior', Joyeuse Garde.
To quote from Mark Allan Powell's Encyclopedia Of Contemporary Christian Music, "'Warrior' sets new standards for artistic quality and innovation; at a time when many Christian artists were blatantly trying to imitate the sounds of successful secular performers, ArkAngel came out with a rock masterpiece that sounded nothing like anything that anyone had ever heard before - in either arena." As it turned out, at the time of release the Christian public didn't get 'Warrior''s fusion of deft acoustic folk, Pink Floyd style art rock and medieval instrumentation and textures and it was many years later that the album began to be praised as an innovative classic and the band's creative driving force Kemper Crabb was recognised for his writings and occasional solo releases. Back in 1980 it was, ironically, only secular radio stations in Houston who noticed this track, part of an opening suite of songs which praises the Lord's might in spiritual battle. Amazingly, it became a number one regional radio hit. Inspired by Revelation 19:11-12 the track is a powerful reminder of the Lord's power and that "he gives strength unto his people" and "the angel of the Lord camps around the ones who fear him." Today it still carries the ring of authentic biblical militancy.
Tony Cummings

525. SENSATIONAL NIGHTINGALES - BURYING GROUND, 1956. From the album 'Songs Of Praise', Peacock.
For many this is possibly the greatest "death record" ever recorded. The Gales were one of gospel's greatest quartets and this hit for Peacock Records in 1956 shows them at their peak. It's a simple ring shout: "I wonder can you hear," rasps the Rev Julius Cheeks in his resonant baritone and the group's unique harmonies, featuring Jo Jo Wallace's high skinny tenor, all slurs and off notes, and John Jefferson's rolling bass, respond accordingly. "Cancha hear, cancha hear, cancha hear" they sing before Julius completes the line "the church bell toning. . .way over yonder in the new burying ground." Then the group sing high and loud, leading to a piercing plateau of "way over yonders", Rev Cheeks enumerates all those who've already passed on ("I got a mother, I've got a father") before Jo Jo changes the key on "yonder" and the climax sees the group feeling the Spirit and responding with spontaneous shouts. As Cheeks gracefully drops from a screamed "way over yonder" to a husky, final "in the new burying ground" he, in the words of gospel authority Anthony Heilbut, has "summoned up any Tony Cummings