Description
Jesus Music Again is a collaborative side project by the American singers/songwriters Bob Bennett and Bill Batstone with percussionist Alex MacDougall, self-released in November 2011. The album was recorded at Bill Batstone’s home studio in Costa Mesa, California; and was produced by Batstone with Bob Bennett. Post-recording production and mixing by Roy Salmond of Salmond & Mulder fame at Whitewater Productions in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Featuring Bob Bennett on guitar and vocals, Bill Batstone on guitar, mandolin, bass, and vocals, with Alex MaxDougall providing almost all percussion and cymbalism.
Trivia: Billy Batstone and Alex MacDougall actually were former bandmates from Rebirth, a band active in the beginning of the 1970s (the other members were David Diggs, Paul Johnson, as well as Alex’s brother Beau), before MacDougall became a member of the Calvary Chapel associated bands Selah, and later The Way; while Bill Batstone joined Good News. Alex MacDougall also played on the first three albums by Bob Bennett. Percussionist MacDougall also toured with singer/songwriter Bennett for a year in the beginning of the 1980s as a part of a trio as well featuring John Patitucci on bass.
This trio not only mines excellent cover songs from the late 1960s to early 1980s Jesus music era but also refines and polishes a number of gems so they sport a brand-new sparkle. Most notable is the iconic «Your Love Broke Through», as Bennett joins Batstone mid-song in a striking minor-key, ethereal vocal round/call-response that becomes an arresting, dusky coda – a lovely addition to the otherwise sunny, familiar melody. Indeed the Batstone/Bennett vocal blend often bewitches when it pops up from track to track – far and away the highlight across consistently imaginative treatments of already legendary tunes.
Style: Mellow acoustic; compare to John Michael Talbot and Michael Card
Top tracks: «Your Love Broke Through», «Presence of the Lord», «Soon and Very Soon» [Dave Urbanski, Christianity Today, November 8, 2011]
While Bob Bennett came more toward the end of the original Jesus Music movement, all three members of this trio, also featuring bass player/vocalist/guitarist Billy Batstone and percussionist Alex MacDougall, have roots in the nascent movement, with Batstone and MacDougall being particularly omnipresent in the early 70’s making appearances on records by many early Maranatha bands, most notably Love Song and Daniel Amos.
‘Jesus Music Again’ is a labor of love for these three as they choose to re-make several classic songs and worship choruses of that era, as well as a few spiritually themed, general market hits and dress them in new refinery, so to speak. It speaks volumes to the talent of the combo that none of the cuts lose the original spark that made them so memorable in the first place, while their imaginative arrangements breathe new life into quite a few of the warhorses.
Particularly affecting are the two Keith Green penned songs, starting with «Your Love Broke Thru» (written with Randy Stonehill and Todd Fishkind) as a unique, roundelay type vocal arrangement, midway through, coalesces into a striking, minor key coda that offers a neat contrast to the major key, “happy” sound of the rest of the number. Likewise, «There Is a Redeemer» features counter melodies and reworked harmonics that provide a welcome “facelift” to the original.
Bennett’s guitar playing is remarkable throughout the project and he and Batstone form an appealing “smooth/rough” vocal dynamic that brings depth and breadth to the lyrics. MacDougall is, perhaps, the least utilized throughout, but his contributions on various percussion instruments such as egg shakers, bongos and conga, vibes, tambourine and more are precise and elemental to the overall effect. Just listen to his masterful performance on sundry noisemakers throughout «Oh, Happy Day» and try not to be impressed by his sensitivity and feel.
Also featured on the album are re-furbished classics by the likes of Larry Norman, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Blind Faith and Bob Dylan. Not just an exercise in sentimentality, Jesus Music Again is a lovingly and imaginatively conceived love letter to an era that is largely ignored by today’s market and artists. Let’s hope it inspires other current artists to seek out the catalogs of our industry’s forefathers on a regular basis. [Shawn McLaughlin, Christian Musician, March/April 2012]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/jesus-music-again/490795097)
CDr tracklist:
01. Oh Happy Day – 4:11
02. There is a Redeemer – 3:11
03. Until Your Love Broke Through – 4:34
04. Little Country Church – 4:05
05. Every Grain of Sand – 4:25
06. Soon and Very Soon / To God Be the Glory – 3:35
07. Communion Song – 4:29
08. UFO / He Will Carry Us Away – 4:47
09. Presence of the Lord – 5:14
10. More Than Halfway Home – 3:41
11. Scripture Medley – 9:22
12. Easter Song – 3:18
The November/December 2012 issue of Christian Musician Magazine featured a cover story on Bob Bennett.
MY DINNER WITH LARRY — I think I might have quickly shaken his hand once but never got to hang out with him on – or offstage. Of course when I was new to most all things “Christian” (including the then-recently minted idea of rock/pop music expressing the Gospel), I became aware of Larry Norman. No way not to hear about him back then. The first album I heard was In Another Land.
Flash forward to 2010. I came up with the cockamamie idea to approach early Jesus Music as if I was Alan Lomax mining the depths of Appalachian Folk Music. In other words, I was on the hunt for songs that I thought I could interpret in an acoustic way, consistent with what I can do. By definition, the arrangements would be far enough afield from the original tracks to be their own thing. Besides, me trying to rock out would never, never do! To me, a well-executed cover of a well-known song can be a wonderful thing for both the reinvention and the remembrance and appreciation of the source.
The first song I started to play around with was Larry Norman’s «U.F.O.». It may have something to do with the fact that my developing interest in Church and Bible reading happened in my early twenties during what I now call the “Don’t Miss the Rapture ’70’s. There was a lot of soundtrack music to hear from that time. To my ears, «U.F.O.» was written and sung with the same sort of imminency as «I Wish We’d All Been Ready». But interestingly and understandably, U.F.O. “sang” a little differently some 34 years down the line. I thought, “Trying to update a Larry Norman song is pretty doggone presumptuous. What if I simply try to write a faithful coda … a kind of here-and-now end-piece? That led to «He Will Carry Us Away» which forms the second part of the medley.
To my great good fortune, my pals Bill Batstone and Alex MacDougall caught the vision and we recorded an album we called JESUS MUSIC AGAIN. They were, pun slightly intended, instrumental in making it so much better than I could’ve ever managed alone. Billy owns our covers of «Every Grain of Sand» and «Presence of the Lord». I’ll post ’em sometime. Alex doesn’t know how to not play great, we had a blast, and he was fully on board with the concept.
My fondest hope was to take this selection of older-but-somewhat-reimagined songs out to folks who fondly remember the originals. The idea was not simply to be nostalgic (unavoidable) but to also say, “We are not to settle for the armchair, these old songs still call us to be fully present in our present time … even if, for some of us, the eschatology didn’t quite line-up as we hoped it would.” Alas, no one else thought that was a very good idea. The album was never released as a CD … only as a download. A tour never materialized. But I still have great affection for what we tried to do.
The track, of course, features Messrs. Batstone (upright bass, background vocals) and MacDougall (muy bueno percussion). The sublime harmony vocals throughout are from Anne Barbour and the “gosh I wish I could play that cool” electric guitars were from Bob Somma. My pal Roy Salmond fixed it all in the mix. [Bob Bennett, 2018]
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