'You're Not A Ghost Anymore (Faith)' by Joseph Arthur

I recently reviewed for International Times Joseph Arthur's recent gig at West Hampstead Arts Club together with Melanie Gabriel and Gonzalo Carrera:

'Highlights from a stellar set included ‘No Weapon’, based on the freedom that is found through forgiveness – ‘faith is hard but the only solution in a world full of spiritual pollution’; ‘Nobody’s War’ – ‘Nobody here wants your war’ and ‘More money, more death, more greed, makes the children bleed’; as well as the raucous singing of a Ho’oponopono mantra together with the crowd during the encore – ‘I love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, And thank you’.'

Today Arthur's latest album You're Not A Ghost Anymore (Faith), which he has been promoting through his latest tour, was released. The album is the latest in a stream of recent releases on secular labels that reference religion and engage with Christianity in particular. These include: Wild God by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lux by Rosalía, Days of Ash and Easter Lily by U2, Holy Island by Sister Ray Davies, Sad and Beautiful World by Mavis Staples, Hallelujah! Don’t Let The Devil Fool Ya by Robert Finley, Troubled Horses by Martyn Joseph and the reissue of Fire Of God’s Love by Sister Irene O’Connor.

Paul Cashmere writes that:

'Arthur has announced You’re Not A Ghost Anymore, a sweeping new body of work conceived as a single narrative and revealed in three connected album movements titled Faith, Heart, and Fight. The first instalment, You’re Not A Ghost Anymore: Faith, will be released on Friday, April 2 via Arthur’s own Lonely Astronaut Records, marking his first new solo project since 2019’s Come Back World.

Rather than a conventional album cycle, Arthur has structured the project as a long-form arc written across six years, shaped by personal collapse, recovery and creative renewal. Each chapter reflects a state of being rather than a musical category, with Faith establishing the emotional and spiritual foundation of the wider work.

The album opens with I Wanna Know You, a stark and searching song that sets the tone for what follows. The track is accompanied by an official music video filmed by Arthur himself, captured in a single continuous take while travelling through Europe. The unplanned footage, centred around an image of Jesus Christ mounted on the back of a truck, became a visual extension of the song’s themes of attention, presence and chance encounter.

Arthur’s writing on Faith leans into spiritual inquiry without offering easy conclusions. Across twelve tracks including Hey Satan, Bear Your Own Cross, Thank You Is My Mantra and In The Shadow Of The Cross, he examines belief, doubt, endurance and responsibility with the unfiltered directness that has defined his career since the late 1990s.'

Arthur says:

'The 36-song album I’m releasing over the course of this year, You’re Not a Ghost Anymore, unfolds in three sections:
Faith.
Heart.
Fight.
I could have begun anywhere.
But for me the story starts with faith.
When you’re at the bottom of life, when things feel uncertain, faith is often the only thing left. Not as an ideology. Just as a quiet decision to keep going.
Heart and fight came after that.
This is a reflection on why I chose to begin there.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.'

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Joseph Arthur - Hey Satan.

Rock gets Religion

Mark Joseph is an American multimedia producer, author, and founder/CEO of MJM Entertainment Group and Bully! Pulpit. Joseph is also an award-winning record producer who has worked with artists like Lauryn Hill, P.O.D., Switchfoot, Lifehouse, Sixpence None The Richer, Scott Stapp of Creed, MxPx, Dr. John, ZZ Top, Blink 182, Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Andrae Crouch, and others.

Joseph is the author of a trilogy of books about Christians in Rock Music beginning with The Rock & Roll Rebellion, continuing with Faith, God and Rock 'n Roll: How People of Faith Are Transforming American Popular Music and ending with Rock Gets Religion: The Battle for the Soul of the Devil's Music. Joseph says younger Christian artists are having unprecedented success as mainstream musicians. In turn, their songs are having an impact on popular culture in ways that contemporary Christian music never could.

In The Rock and Roll Rebellion, Joseph asks is there such a thing as Christian music? Fans of what is now called Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) might think so, but not Joseph. In this well-researched work, he argues that Christian music is not a separate genre, and that by creating a separate marketing category, Christian musicians removed themselves from pop culture—to their own detriment as well as the culture's. Through profiles of leading Christian musicians and producers (including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pat Boone, Run-D.M.C., and U2), Joseph explored Christianity's place in American popular music, concentrating in particular on the rise of CCM as a commercial power. For anyone interested in the tension between sacred and secular in modern American music, or for fans of popular artists who have struggled with these issues (such as Amy Grant, Sam Phillips, T-Bone Burnett, Mark Heard, and dozens of others), the book makes for fascinating reading.

In Faith, God, and Rock & Roll, Joseph profiles the surprisingly long list of bands and artists who signed with secular labels but still make music that speaks of faith in God. Among the topflight acts he writes about are Jars of Clay, Lenny Kravitz, U2, Creed, Lauryn Hill, Sixpence None the Richer, Destiny's Child, Lifehouse, and P.O.D. This book explores in detail the more sophisticated version of religion now permeates the airwaves and dance clubs through a history of the movement and interviews with some of its most prominent purveyors, from U2 to Lenny Kravitz to Coldplay. Included is information on which bands with "God on their side" have reached the Top 10, as well as photographs, and profiles of 60 artists whose work is fueled by religion or spirituality such as Bono, Donna Summer, and Bob Dylan.

In Rock Gets Religion Joseph notes that the religious and religiously influenced are now commonplace in the music scene (Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Katy Perry, 21 Pilots). Joseph explores the tensions caused when religious youth are thrown into the world of rock 'n' roll. He weaves thoughtful commentary amidst the stories of devout and not-so-devout rockers along with a warning about the inherent dangers of sanctifying rock.

He argues that four major trends caused this phenomenon: (1) Dozens of rookie artists are bypassing the CCM scene altogether going directly to mainstream labels; (2) established Chrisitan artists are switching to mainstream recording companies; (3) Those popular artists who experience religious conversions are staying in mainstream music instead of leaving for the church circuit; and (4) the American Idol phenomenon resulted in pop stars being picked by the American people instead of music industry gatekeepers who selected the stars of yesteryear. As a result, while sales of Christian music as a genre may have been in a steady decline, the religious influence on rock has never been greater.

Rock Gets Religion lays out the case for people of faith to continue to make their music in the middle of popular culture, and updates the scene with dozens of successful (and not so successful) stories of Christians who have done just that. "Mark Joseph has been a key voice in the transformation of American popular music," says former Van Halen singer Gary Cherone. "In this book, his final in a three-part series, he shows us how the transformation happened and outlines a vision for the future of the unlikely alliance of rock music and serious faith."

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Switchfoot - Live It Well.

Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor

'Along with Bush, Live was among the earliest adopters of post-Nirvana “bubblegrunge,” which infiltrated rock radio in the mid-’90s and paved the way for the eventual dominance of Creed and Nickelback.' (Grantland)

'Together for more than 15 years, Live's quest for faith and truth is fascinating. Though lead singer and lyricist Ed Kowalczyk apparently grew up in a Christian home, he came to resent the religion in the years leading to the formation of Live. With the band's 1991 debut Mental Jewelry, based on the writings of Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, Kowalczyk – who had apparently embraced Eastern religion – blasted Christianity in the song, "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)."

Rejecting Christianity would not prove permanent, however. The band's 1994 breakthrough sophomore effort, Throwing Copper, marked a seemingly reluctant return to Christian imagery, though offering a few mixed messages in the process–the cover art is an indictment of Christians too pious to show love and compassion. Not until Live's fourth album, 1999's The Distance to Here, was there a seemingly dramatic turnaround in Kowalczyk's beliefs. "Where Fishes Go" is a solid illustration of evangelism, "Run to the Water" a powerful testament of grace and renewal, and "Dance with You" is virtually a prayer of thanks and surrender. Such themes continued to a lesser extent into Live's fifth effort, 2001's V, with such faith–based songs as "Hero of Love" and "Call Me a Fool."' (Christianity Today)

'Kowalczyk's first solo album, Alive, ... is as equally dramatic and anthemic as Live but with more of an intimate singer-songwriter feel to it ...

perhaps the biggest change is with the singer's Christian faith coming to the fore. There are songs like Soul Whispers, with the line "My stained-glass heart lay shattered on the floor of the church"; first single Grace is about repentance and moving on ("every saint used to be a sinner ..."); and for Kowalczyk, a song like Rome is not only his tribute to the city's beauty but a homecoming of sorts.

"I have ventured back into the Christian faith of my youth, and I was brought up in a Roman Catholic Christian background, so going to the Vatican and St Peters, the depth of that heritage was really in a way coming home for me because I grew up with it in a such a strong way. It's a very full circle spiritual moment, and very powerful."' (The New Zealand Herald)

'There are many factors contributing to the uplifting feel of “The Flood and the Mercy,” the second solo effort from ex-Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk.


There’s the gently jangling production of Jamie Candiloro; the singer’s spiritual lyrics, rooted in his Christian faith and a synthesis of other beliefs; and the appearance of vocalist Rachael Yamagata and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck on three tracks: “Supernatural Fire,” “All That I Wanted” and “Holy Water Tears.”
But there are bigger, albeit unseen, influences at work here, says Kowalczyk, 42 — his three daughters and baby Paul, born in August.

“With every kid, there has just been a deepening of my humanity, because there’s no more of a feet-on-the-ground moment than having a child,”

Fatherhood has forever changed him as a writer. “There’s the beauty of it, the extraordinary depth of it, and all the challenges of it,” he says. “The fact that you’re taking care of these vulnerable creatures, these new people, is amazing. And when I listen to the music, particularly in my solo career, I can feel that change.”' (SF Examiner)

Scott Stapp, lead singer of Creed, has been on a similar journey. Mark Joseph writes that:

'In Sinner's Creed, Stapp's finally comes clean, offering explanations for his zig-zaggy behavior, revealing himself to be the type of follower whom the good Lord might have had in mind when he remarked of the prostitute who washed his feet with her tears that she loved Him much because she'd been forgiven much.
Even for people like me who call Scott a friend, the book is full of surprises and stunners. Who knew that the lead singer of one of the biggest-selling rock bands in the world grew up listening to Take 6 because his Dad wouldn't allow for non-black forms of Christian rock? Or that as a young boy he was taken to a Benny Hinn crusade whereupon the faith healer prophecied that Stapp's voice would be heard by millions and then lightly touched his head, causing him to fall backwards, slain in the spirit. Or that his stepfather was a twisted fundamentalist who once humiliated Stapp by pulling down his pants and spanking him in front of his siblings and on another occasion spanked his own wife in front of her children.

Stapp's book is brutally honest and pulls no punches. He's no Bono, but he may just be the Johnny Cash of our era, a restless soul who loves both God and rock and roll, but battles his demons in a manner that brings to mind Al Green's admonition to his girl "Belle:" "It's you that I want but it's Him that I need."

And just like Johnny, Stapp has his June, a marketing executive named Jaclyn, a devout Christian woman who has worked hard to keep her husband on the straight and narrow. Stapp recounts their chance meeting with obvious joy, but readily admits that even with her at his side, the road hasn't been easy, and has included a few run-ins with the law.

Sinner's Creed is about many things: the excesses of fundamentalism and the victims that are sometime left in its wake, the nature of sin, the ups and downs of a rock and roll lifestyle and the value of faith in God to keep a person in the spotlight grounded in reality. But at its core it's about one man coming to terms with the incongruity of the vocation he's chosen and the faith he refuses to give up.'

'Scott Stapp’s Proof of Life is a poignant snapshot of the artist, showcasing his journey over the past several years. It doesn’t shy away from encountering the dark places that he’s wandered into, acknowledging those missteps nor does it neglect highlighting the faith-filled elements that have helped to draw the artist back into the light. Proof of Life is an insightful and honest record, capturing Stapp at his best lyrically and musically, proving to be a great listen.' (soul-audio)

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Ed Kowalczyk - Angels On A Razor.

Greenbelt diary (5)

Adrienne Chaplin had a go at defining art in her session exploring why we should bother with art. She did acknowledge the difficulties of definitions but suggested that what artists do is to make sense of the world as it appears and feels to us. So that good art teaches us to see, hear, sense and feel better; articulates the way we experience life as felt. Or, perhaps, as Richard Harries puts it in his introduction to Forms of Transcendence: The Art of Roger Wagner (a book I bought at the Festival and read in the queue for The Rising) "every work of art is a deeply felt response to life seen in a particular way."

The most interesting idea which Chaplin posited was that of the importance of touch. Touch, she suggested, is the foundation of the senses. Touch is the first and last sense for us in birth and death, sensations via our skin cannot be avoided or eradicated, and touch is the basis of many lingual metaphors such as tough, smooth, prickly, warm etc.

I saw the Cloud of Witness installation and Gethsemene data projection but wasn't impressed or moved by either. I enjoyed Meryl Doney's guided tour of the Visionaries exhibition where I caught up with Martin Wilson and heard a little about the photographic project he had worked on at this year's Festival to be shown at next years.

Martyn Joseph conversed and performed with three emerging and engaging artists in The Rising and then with poet and lyricist Stewart Henderson. Humourous and profound by turn and in tandem, this was a performance littered with lingual brilliance. At the end they took questions from the audience which led both to state why Greenbelt is so important to them. As for many who go, the combination of friendships, art, questions, and challenge make it 'church' for them (for a similar statement from a punter, click here for a post by Steve Lawson).

While waiting for Athlete I made what for me this year was a rare foray over to the Performance Cafe but was rewarded by a short but sweet set from Sister Jones. Their folk/r&b style was fused with gospel lyricism to great effect and in a seemingly effortless fashion.

Athlete played a great gig but are in need of some U2-style reinvention. The new album, Black Swan, has more light and shade than Beyond the Neighbourhood but both are locked into the anthemic template of the excellent Tourist without tapping into the originality of Vehicles and Animals. Maybe they need to take their own advice and make some magical mistakes. Despite this, they sent me home on a high with the sense that it will be alright and that hope is never light years away.

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Athlete - Black Swan Song.