Walk the Talk

Description

Walk the Talk, sub-titled An Album of Worship Songs, is an album by the British singer and songwriter Garth Hewitt, released on Myrrh Records in 1993, a division of Word.

Whereas Garth’s recent recordings have detailed the afflictions and injustices suffered by the poorer communities of the world, this new ‘alternative’ worship album celebrates the spirituality of caring he has discovered there. Joining the anti-triumphalism bandwagon, his sleeve notes describe the songs as “related to life and the hurts of a needy world”, setting personal faith in the context of the world-wide body of Christ. The theme is summed up by the cover picture, showing Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, and Garth’s observation that this was the only time in the Gospels Jesus called himself ‘Lord’. The album is musically similar to ‘Lonesome Troubadour‘ and Garth’s tracks on ‘Blood Brothers‘, with the addition of some soulful backing singers. Garth’s music relies on the strength of his lyrics striking chords in the listener’s heart, needing repeated playing to reap its full rewards. However, the last track, «Lament (Psalm Of Desolation)», written by Ray McCloughry, is a marvellous description of how God breaks through into our suffering world, sung with a minimum of guitar and BGVs. The whole is a celebration that Garth’s faith has survived and strengthened through a deeper understanding of the incarnation, and is recommended to anyone who fails to find ‘conventional’ praise and worship spiritually satisfying. [Brian A. McAdie, Cross Rhythms, October 1993]

Walk The Talk (Re-issue), Digital Only Album

Activist and singer/songwriter Garth boldly states on the original sleevenotes that this now digitally re-released offering from 1993 is an “alternative worship album” before brashly going on to say that many worship albums are “triumphalist and concerned only with personal faith and ignore how this relates to life and the hurts of needy world.” With this in mind, it comes as no surprise to find Hewitt singing about justice and the oppressed in «For A Fairer World» and «We Hear Your Cry Lord» and other songs influenced by Third World churches and his own encounter with Christ. For the most part though, this Ben Okafor and Gladstone Wilson-produced release lacks the punch delivered by previous, more directly protest-focussed albums such as ‘Scars‘ and ‘Lonesome Troubadour‘ and he seems to have been musically neutered in order to fit into the contemporary worship sphere that he was trying to be an alternative to. In addition, Hewitt’s vocal performance is a shadow of the gutsy conviction that had previously been his trademark – not helped by the inclusion of a largely needless and ever present choir – whilst cheesy and clich’d songs such as «Chain Of Love», «Bread Of Life» and «Rise Like The Sun» are simply not strong enough have stood the test of time. A superb rendition of Ray McLoughry’s «Lament (Psalm Of Desolation)» ends proceedings on a thought provoking high and, had Hewitt adopted this approach for the rest of this brave but faltering diversion, the result would certainly have been a more groundbreaking and memorable release. [Lins Honeyman, Cross Rhythms, February 2012]

> Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/2hzMKjBA7KTCQqJ0QvAd6U)

CD tracklist:

01. Walk The Talk – 3:24
02. We Need Your Mother Love, O God – 5:21
03. Rise Like The Sun – 3:50
04. Bread Of Life – 3:40
05. For A Fairer World – 4:13
06. Jesus Taken Joyful – 3:01
07. We Hear Your Cry, Lord – 3:36
08. The Living God – 4:07
09. The Father’s Song – 3:54
10. Chain Of Love – 5:04
11. Lament (Psalm Of Desolation) – 3:24

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Myrrh Records.

CD Liner Notes:

This is an alternative worship album. Many worship albums are triumphalist and concerned only with personal faith and ignore how this rates to life and the hurts of a needy world. This album aims like the Psalms to pick up some aspects of lament and pain and include songs and prayers as a response to these situations. It also includes joyful and hopeful songs that reflect the values of the Kingdom of God – of resurrection rising even amidst the crucifixion of struggle. The songs are my way of reaching for a spirituality that has been shaped by what I have seen in the Third World church and by my encounter with Jesus Christ in the pain and suffering of so many people around the world.

In the end the model is Jesus – the servant – who, when washing his disciples’ feet, refers to himself as ‘Lord’ (the only time he does this) – thereby redefining the whole concept of ‘Lord’. He is the one who comes riding in on a donkey as their King instead of on a warhorse, therefore redefining the whole concept of “king”. Born in a stable, he is the God who comes as a powerless child, to life up the weak, to suffer with the broken-hearted and to show us how to be a community that brings healing to a divided world. These are songs to help us to be part of that community and to remind us of the character of the God we worship – not a personal pietism that takes us away from the world, but a warm spirituality that is born out of the struggles of the world, where we have discovered Christ going before us and that leads us on to the hope and joy of following in his footsteps.