Jerry Garcia Band, ‘I Shall be Released’. One of the best versions ever performed of this song. Fit Jerry’s incredible style ‘to the t’.
Religious music for less than devout
We have a thread " Jazz for someone who doesn’t like jazz. " In a similar vein perhaps "Religious music for the less than devout".
"people get ready" - Rod Stewart
"Amazing Grace" - Jessye Norman
2009 "Duets" - Five Blind Boys of Alabama, The - entire CD
1988 "Sweet Fellowship" - Acappella, the entire CD
In 1989 I was working in NJ, I may have been the only guy on the job who did not know he was working for the Irish Mafia. I would lend people the CD "Sweet Fellowship" and they were willing to pay for it but never return it:
"Here is $20 kid, go buy yourself another cuz youz can’t have mine back. Now don’t ever ask me again."
"people get ready" - Rod Stewart
"Amazing Grace" - Jessye Norman
2009 "Duets" - Five Blind Boys of Alabama, The - entire CD
1988 "Sweet Fellowship" - Acappella, the entire CD
In 1989 I was working in NJ, I may have been the only guy on the job who did not know he was working for the Irish Mafia. I would lend people the CD "Sweet Fellowship" and they were willing to pay for it but never return it:
"Here is $20 kid, go buy yourself another cuz youz can’t have mine back. Now don’t ever ask me again."
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Religious music for less than devout, indeed. If you are not familiar with The Louvin Brothers, check their "Satan is real" album, listen to the lyrics, and when you are done with it, read about them. Preferably in that order. Just the album cover is worth the price of admission. Don’t get me wrong, it is some fine spiritual country music. It is quite brilliant. This is from Wikipedia (quote from elsewhere, though)... Mark Deming stated in his AllMusic review: "You don’t need to share the Louvin Brothers’ spiritual beliefs to be moved by the grace, beauty and lack of pretension of this music; Satan Is Real is music crafted by true believers sharing their faith, and its power goes beyond Christian doctrine into something at once deeply personal and truly universal, and the result is the Louvin Brothers’ masterpiece." "There is a reason why songs from this album have been performed by the more commonly accepted genius of artists such as Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, and Emmylou Harris." |
Before Buddy & Julie Miller were recording and performing together, Julie had a career as a Contemporary Christian artist. I have her Meet Julie Miller album on the Myrrll label. Iris Dement was raised in a Pentecostal home, and her albums are filled with Christian themes and references. The Christian Right did not take well to her criticism of GWB (give a listen to her "Wasteland Of The Free"). Her Lifeline is a Gospel album, and if you haven’t heard her sing, when you do you will see why Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, and Joan Osborne are big fans of hers, as was John Prine, with whom she collaborated and toured. So am I; I saw her live in a smallish theater just before the pandemic shut down social gatherings. She told some great stories, including one involving John. She’s much funnier than you would expect, very self-deprecating. I recorded an album with a real good Christian songwriter in 1975-6, which remains unreleased. I have the master tapes (I engineered), if anyone wants to put it out ;-) . He employed the chord progression, and melodies and harmonies of J.S. Bach, Mozart, and Brian Wilson as fodder for his songs. One spooky one is entitled "Who'll Be Ready For The Big Surprise?" |
Album from 1996. European group Vox. The album; Diadema. On this album the group Vox imaginatively adapt the 12th century Mystic Hildegard Von Bingen’s profound religious musical compositions. Stunning, haunting and utterly brilliant. Much of Mozart’s church music, while not as well recognized, is sublime. I love the comment a poster made a few months back, that his wife doesn’t like Mozart. She thinks it sounds like elevator music. LoL! She is in a profound minority. People from Arabic countries have started to adapt Mozart to their instrumentation, such is the effect of his music on them. One thing for sure, I will be listening to Mozart until the day I kick the bucket. |
Amg, you wanna see someone that knows how to make money, try Lady Gaga. Or Britney Spears in her heyday. Or Michael Jackson in his. Geez, how many kazillion albums did ABBA or ELO or the Beatles sell? Bdp, I was going to mention Buddy and Julie Miller. Dirty Water is the best recorded track I have. I also have most of Julie Miller’s solo career. They marketed her as the Cindy Lauper sound alike. I always felt that the “sounds like” description marketing of Christian artists was goofy. Anyone, look up dirty water on YouTube, it’s got a really excellent guitar solo. |
@lsteel1, I did not know that Kingfish Ingram's mother had died. I saw him perform in an old bank building in Clarksdale, Mississippi a few years ago. He was brilliant and mesmerizing. And his mother was right there sitting behind him just off the stage area. It was my understanding that she was always close by. Such a loss is hard on anyone but I got the impression that he really depended on her. @slaw Atheists Aint Got No Songs is hilarious. Here is the answer to that song. Also hilarious: https://youtu.be/26nJjNDsbmkhttp:// |
@213runnin, and Buddy's recordings (he converted the couple's Nashville home's front parlour into a studio, and records there. When Julie isn't feeling well, he runs a mic upstairs and records her in bed!) have a very unique, "alive" sound. Sometimes a little brash, like live music. I forgot to mention the recordings of Minneapolis church choirs and organists made by speaker designer Robert Fulton, released as LP's on his ARK label. INCREDIBLE sound quality! Very transparent, with great inner detail (you can hear each individual voice in the choir), and very deep bass. The pipe organ's pedal notes will made your listening room walls shudder! |
May I second "Christo Redemptor" this time by Charlie Musselwhite. His version is much longer (11 minutes) and has many changes in tempo. It is a very complex and sophisticated piece This thread will cost me some funds as I send all my money to Amazon. Thank you to every one for their recommendations. I had 4 CDs arrive this morning, I have been "mining" this topic. The suggestions are not going to waste. |
@pfeiffer It seems to me that Imagine is the antithesis of religious music since he is asking us to imagine what it is like with no god, no religion. I've always liked it as a song. I never liked the assumption that things would somehow be better if there was no god. Another song along those lines (which I also like) is Joan Osborne's song What If God was One of Us. Like Imagine there seems to be an irony that the artist completely missed. Osborne says: What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us Just a stranger on the bus Tryin' to make his way home? To a Christian these lyrics are a little shocking. Not because they are somehow blasphemous but because what she is asking for and looking for is exactly what Jesus was. According to Christian theology Jesus was God and also one of us. A stranger. Poor. Common. Probably filthy and hungry most of the time. I always wondered if Osborne was aware of this irony. |
Here’s a surprise to many. "After Forever" , Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSF3HviqlPk Lyrics https://genius.com/Black-sabbath-after-forever-lyrics |
@jpwarren. What I understand Lennon to be saying is that the world would be a better place without the concepts/beliefs in God, hell or heaven. While religion associated with those beliefs have surely been a source of trouble and suffering in the world, they have also been a source of many many good things. And the 20th century has also given ample evidence that the abandonment of those beliefs has not ushered in any sort of improvement. Anyway, probably not the right place for this discussion. I just thought some of the themes expressed were ironic.....much like Alanis Morrisette's examples of irony......none of which were ironic. ;-) |
And in the category of Christian themes without overt lyrics, Tonio K. Another Christian busting his hump in the industry. His best were the releases Notes From the Lost Civilization, and 'Ole. An excellent lyric word smith. Check out The Executioner's song; The monster walked out of the garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N9D7sHYTEk |
@n800 My favorite Led Zeppelin song is In My Time of DyingIndeed mine too. I have it in an early will to have it played at my funeral. Also a John Bonham protege, its one of my favorite songs of theirs to play. I remember Resurrection Band, later shortened to Rez. I have about 150 -200 christian rock albums from the ’80’s & ’90’s. As someone else has pointed out, the shake up happened in the 90’s and I lost interest. I used to go to the Creation Festival as well as Fishnet (now defunct) Great times there. better than church service...and I’ve been to a lot of good ones too. I also had a Christian Blues band for a short time. I was the vocalist. |
An inversion of the question, it’s a wonderful track by Vienna Teng called “Hymn of Acxiom”. She sings it in a religious choral gospel style but it’s really a hymn about Google and ‘Big Brother’ surveillance. She won the thirteenth annual Independent Music Awards for best A Cappella song. It sounds like a choral group but it’s really her singing solo through a vocoder. You can find it on Tidal and several great covers are on Youtube with my favorite by the Parkway West Jazz Choir, real singers in that case, not a vocoder. |
While T Bone Burnett’s music and lyrics are not overtly Christian, he’s a believer. He was a member of the church Dylan started attending during his conversion, the church where the two met, I believe. T Bone was a member of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue cast. T Bone’s now-ex-wife Sam Phillips had a career in the Contemporary Christian field (under her real name, Leslie Ann Phillips) before going secular. Speaking of Bob, Lennon was extremely critical of Dylan gettin’ religion. Guess he hadn’t listened all that closely to Bob’s lyrics. My God, had he not heard the John Wesley Harding album?! |
Terry Evans and Hans Theessink with an assist from Ry Cooder, Delta Time is a great album. "Heavens Airplane" and "Walk on Home" both in a very traditional gospel tradition. Paul Butterfield Better Days has a cover of the Blind Willie Johnson's "Nobody's Fault but Mine". I always note the gospel influences on the blues albums I love. |
One of my all time favorite Christian songs is Bob Dylans "In the garden". Absolutely beautiful music & lyrics (shown below). When they came for Him in the garden, did they know? When they came for Him in the garden, did they know? Did they know He was the Son of God, did they know that He was Lord? Did they hear when He told Peter, “Peter, put up your sword”? When they came for Him in the garden, did they know? When they came for Him in the garden, did they know? When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear? When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear? Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn’t be seen by men Saying, “Master, tell me why a man must be born again” When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear? When He spoke to them in the city, did they hear? When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see? When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see? When He said, “Pick up your bed and walk, why must you criticize? Same thing My Father do, I can do likewise” When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see? When He healed the blind and crippled, did they see? Did they speak out against Him, did they dare? Did they speak out against Him, did they dare? The multitude wanted to make Him king, put a crown upon His head Why did He slip away to a quiet place instead? Did they speak out against Him, did they dare? Did they speak out against Him, did they dare? When He rose from the dead, did they believe? When He rose from the dead, did they believe? He said, “All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth” Did they know right then and there what the power was worth? When He rose from the dead, did they believe? When He rose from the dead, did they believe? |
I saw the above mention of Jerry Lee Lewis, so I looked him up. Apparently he had a stroke in February 2019, and lost the use of his right hand. He wanted to do a gospel album after his brush with death, and it’s due for release I think, soon. T Bone Burnett is producing, and when Lewis started playing the ivories, his hand came around. Hopefully it’s one for the ages... another artist who deserves a mention is Ashley Cleveland. She started releasing music in the 90’s, and had some pretty good releases of gospel rock. Look up Denomination Blues on YouTube. It’s off the CD God Don’t Never Change, which is a collection of really really old gospel songs that she rockified. And if you really want to rock out one time, look up I’m Not Made That Way. |
It may be mentioned here, I haven’t read the whole thing, but Jonathan Schlitt of Head East went to Petra and John Elephante of Kansas went solo Christian, It is good music. DC Talk had a couple of songs hit the top 40 Charts.... I’m thinking of "Flood".... Jars of Clay had a couple get in there. PFR & Audio Adrenaline rocked quite well. Jon Anderson from Yes, did a song with 4 Him called "The Only Thing I Need" Also, Mumford & Sons has alot of Christian overtones. There is actually a fair amount of Christian music that is good music regardless of the emotional connection. |
There is also Pie Jesu done by many and written by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the loss of his father, sung well by Anna Netrebko on her Souvenir album and by Sissel. Both can be heard on u-tube. A gorgeous song. O Magnum Mysterium written by Morton Lauridsen is also beautiful. It can be found on Lauridsen’s CD Lux Aeterna on the RCM label and also it is done by Robert Shaw on the CD named O Magnum Mysterium on Telarc. Again, anything Bach. To Bach,” The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” I would self-label as devout, but, like n80, I really don’t like popular Christian music, though the old hymns still stir the heart. John |
All Things Must PassI was wondering when someone was going to bring George Harrison into the conversation. Most all his music (single performer) post The Beatles was religious in a very strong, yet sometimes subtle way, and sometimes not: ‘My Sweet Lord’, as example. He became a Hindu during the last years of the Beatles, and stayed so until his death. |
