The Ocean Blue, Denison Whitmer, Innocence Mission and Sufjan Stevens

Having just discovered The Ocean Blue and Denison Whitmer, I've also been interested to find out about their connections to the very wonderful Innocence Mission, connections which for Whitmer and Innocence Mission have also led to links with Sufjan Stevens.

Getting their start as teenagers in the late ‘80s in Hershey, PA, The Ocean Blue released their self-titled debut on the famed Sire Records label that launched many of their most beloved bands in the U.S., including the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Pretenders. Embraced by alternative radio and MTV, the band quickly made their mark with early singles “Between Something And Nothing,” “Drifting, Falling” and “Ballerina Out of Control,” each Top Ten hits on U.S. college and Billboard’s Modern Rock Radio charts. Early success set in motion a run of four major label albums— The Ocean Blue (1989 Sire), Cerulean (1991 Sire), Beneath the Rhythm and Sound (1993 Sire), and See The Ocean Blue (1996 Mercury). The band continued with string of independent releases in the 2000s, including Davy Jones Locker (2000 March), Waterworks (2003 W.A.R.), Ultramarine (2013 Korda) and Kings and Queens/Knaves and Thieves (2019 Korda). With eight albums and several EPs under their belt, the band continues to perform and record around the world, with work underway on a new album, and shows in cities throughout the U.S. in 2025.

Denison Witmer is an American singer-songwriter who has been crafting introspective folk music for over two decades. Born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he began his journey in recorded music at the age of 19 with his first album, My Luck, My Love - recorded originally as a high school English project and released on 250 cassettes. His official debut album, Safe Away, followed in 1998, setting the foundation for a prolific career. Over the years, Witmer has released a series of acclaimed albums, including Of Joy and Sorrow (2001), Philadelphia Songs (2002), and Are You a Dreamer? (2005), with the latter, produced by Don Peris and featuring Sufjan Stevens, earning critical praise from outlets such as Pitchfork and Entertainment Weekly. Witmer's discography continued to expand with Carry the Weight in 2008, followed by his first release on Sufjan Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty Records, The Ones Who Wait (2012). His subsequent albums, the self-titled Denison Witmer (2013) and American Foursquare (2020), also released on Asthmatic Kitty, continued to showcase his evolving artistry.

For listeners of the innocence mission, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio are beyond a favourite band, more like a beloved companion, such is their intensity and fragility of their sound and vision, spearheaded by Karen Peris’ heartbreaking, breathtaking voice. Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.1999’s Birds Of My Neighborhood kickstarted the innocence mission as we know them today, following three albums as a quartet that drew comparisons to The Sundays and 10,000 Maniacs. But when drummer Steve Brown left to become a chef, Karen Peris (guitars, piano, pump organ, accordion, voice), husband Don (guitars, drums, voice) and Mike Bitts (upright bass) forged ahead with an orchestral, at times cinematic, folk pop sound which they felt was truer to their real nature in any case, a sound rich in atmosphere, innately sad, but ultimately hopeful. 

Sufjan Stevens is a singer, songwriter and composer currently living in New York. His preoccupation with epic concepts has motivated two state records (Michigan and Illinois), a collection of sacred and biblical songs (Seven Swans), an electronic album for the animals of the Chinese zodiac (Enjoy Your Rabbit), a full length partly inspired by the outsider artist Royal Robertson (The Age of Adz), a masterwork memorializing and investigating his relationship with his late mother (Carrie & Lowell), and two Christmas box sets (Songs for Christmas, vol. 1-5 and Silver & Gold, vol. 6-10). In 2020 he shared Aporia, a collaborative new age album made with his stepfather Lowell Brams, and his eighth studio album The Ascension, a reflection on the state of humanity in freefall and a call for total transformation of consciousness. In early 2021 he released Convocations, a five-volume, two and a half hour requiem mass for present times, and then A Beginner’s Mind, a collaboration with singer-songwriter Angelo De Augustine featuring songs inspired in part by popular films. In October 2023, Stevens released his tenth solo studio project, Javelin, which pairs musical sweep with emotional breadth in a way only Stevens can, weaving an entire lifetime of feeling into 42-minutes. 

The members of the Ocean Blue first met in junior high school. They cut a series of demos while in high school, with Scott Stouffer sitting in on drums. They managed to get two of these earliest recordings, "On Growing Up" and "Wounds of a Friend", included on a local radio station compilation in late 1986. The compilation also included very early work from noted local artists the Innocence Mission, who were friends and mentors of the Ocean Blue.

"Do You Still Remember" on Davy Jones' Locker (1999) by The Ocean Blue (song recorded by Don Peris; entire album mastered by Don). Don was credited as the mastering engineer for two EPs released by The Ocean Blue: Denmark (2000) and Ayn (2001).

Korda Records is a Minneapolis based record label cooperative launched in late 2012 by a number of artists including David Schelzel of The Ocean Blue. The label say of The Innocence Mission: "We are proud to have our friends The Innocence Mission a part of Korda and their 2015 release Hello I Feel the Same (Korda 014) on the label. The guys in The Ocean Blue have a long and deep friendship with Don & Karen of The Innocence Mission that goes back to some of each band’s first shows in Pennsylvania and their major label debut records on Sire and A&M."

Don Peris has worked extensively with Lancaster-based singer-songwriter Denison Witmer, and was first credited as an engineer on his debut release, 1995's My Luck, My Love. After buying his first guitar, Denison sought the teachings of Don Peris. Peris, however, ended up playing a much bigger role in Witmer's career later in life. Peris has gone on to produce several of Witmer's albums, including Safe Away (1998) and Are You a Dreamer? (2005), 'Carry The Weight' (2008), as well as the 1999 EP River Bends. He also engineered the LPs Of Sorrow and Joy (2001) and Recovered (2003), and mixed The '80s EP (2000) and Philadelphia Songs (2004). The latter album additionally features background vocals from Karen, on the song "Rock Run". Karen also assisted with production of Are You A Dreamer? The album also featured Sufjan Stevens.

2011's 'The Ones Who Wait' was originally released under the Mono vs Stereo label but was re-released in 2012 by Asthmatic Kitty, the label owned by renowned singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Denison's 10th album was self-titled and was again released under the Asthmatic Kitty banner (2013). It was produced by Don and Karen Peris, who also feature on the album. American Foursquare (2020) included “Birds of Virginia” which features Karen and Don Peris. Witmer’s latest album, Anything At All, was released on Asthmatic Kitty Records on February 14 2025 and showcases his enduring collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, who produced the record.

Speaking of his cover of The Innocence Mission's "Lakes of Canada", Stevens said:“I’m in awe of big songs, national anthems, rock opera, the Broadway musical, but what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by The Innocence Mission so moving and profound. ‘Lakes of Canada’ creates an environment both terrifying and familiar using sensory language: incandescent bulbs and rowboats are made palpable by careful rhythms, unobtrusive rhyme schemes, and specificity of language.”

When speaking of Karen Peris, it’s clear to see the admiration Stevens holds for her: “What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics are the economy of words, concrete nouns - fish, flashlight, laughing man - which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures. Panic and joy, a terrible sense of awe, the dark indentations of memory all come together at once, accompanied by the joyful strum of an acoustic guitar. This is a song in which everyday objects begin to have tremendous meaning.”

For more on music and faith see my co-authored book 'The Secret Chord'.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Denison Whitmer - Birds Of Virginia.

Seen and Unseen: Belle and Sebastian's suffering singer on the struggle and the hope

My latest book review for Seen and Unseen is on Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch:

'Nobody's Empire: A Novel is the fictionalised account of how Stuart Murdoch, lead singer of indie band Belle and Sebastian, transfigured his experience of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) through faith and music.'

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

My ninth article was 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose.

My 10th article was 'Theresa Lola's poetical hope' about the death-haunted yet lyrical, joyful and moving poet for a new generation.

My 11th article was 'How to look at our world: Aaron Rosen interview', exploring themes from Rosen's book 'What Would Jesus See: Ways of Looking at a Disorienting World'.

My 12th article was 'Blake, imagination and the insight of God', exploring a new exhibition - 'William Blake's Universe at the Fitzwilliam Museum - which focuses on seekers of spiritual regeneration and national revival.

My 13th article 'Matthew Krishanu: painting childhood' was an interview with Matthew Krishanu on his exhibition 'The Bough Breaks' at Camden Art Centre.

My 14th article was entitled 'Art makes life worth living' and explored why society, and churches, need the Arts.

My 15th article was entitled 'The collective effervescence of sport's congregation' and explored some of the ways in which sport and religion have been intimately entwined throughout history

My 16th article was entitled 'Paradise cottage: Milton reimagin’d' and reviewed the ways in which artist Richard Kenton Webb is conversing with the blind poet in his former home (Milton's Cottage, Chalfont St Giles).

My 17th article was entitled 'Controversial art: how can the critic love their neighbour?'. It makes suggestions of what to do when confronted with contentious culture.

My 18th article was an interview entitled 'Art, AI and apocalypse: Michael Takeo Magruder addresses our fears and questions'. In the interview the digital artist talks about the possibilities and challenges of artificial intelligence.

My 19th article was entitled 'Dark, sweet and subtle: recovered music orientates us'. In the article I highlight alt-folk music seeking inspiration from forgotten hymns.

My 20th article was entitled 'Revisiting Amazing Grace inspires new songs'. In the article I highlight folk musicians capturing both the barbaric and the beautiful in the hymn Amazing Grace and Christianity's entanglement with the transatlantic slave trade more generally.

My 21st article was entitled 'James MacMillan’s music of tranquility and discord'. In the article I noted that the composer’s music contends both the secular and sacred.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Belle and Sebastian - Ever Had A Little Faith.

Seen and Unseen: A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics

My latest article for Seen & Unseen is 'A day, night and dawn with Nick Cave’s lyrics' in which I review Adam Steiner’s Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death and explore whether Steiner's rappel into Cave’s art helps us understand its purpose:

'Steiner is also very good when discussing the influence of the Bible on Cave’s work. He briefly outlines Cave’s journey with the Bible from chorister at Wangaratta Cathedral through his choice at 22 to mine its stories to inform his songwriting and on to his rediscovery of the New Testament and the “seduction of Christianity” when writing an Introduction’ to The Gospel According to Mark for the Canongate Pocket Canons. As Steiner notes, “Early on in his career Cave embraced the vitality and urgency of the Old Testament”, while the New Testament “introduced a more personal revelation … an awakening to the possibilities of self-transformation”.'

Read also my co-authored book with Peter Banks of After the Fire, ‘The Secret Chord’, which has been described as an impassioned study of the role of music in cultural life written through the prism of Christian belief. For more of my writings on music click here.

My first article for Seen and Unseen was 'Life is more important than art' which reviews the themes of recent art exhibitions that tackle life’s big questions and the roles creators take.

My second article 'Corinne Bailey Rae’s energised and anguished creative journey' explores inspirations in Detroit, Leeds and Ethiopia for Corinne Bailey Rae’s latest album, Black Rainbows, which is an atlas of capacious faith.

My third article was an interview with musician and priest Rev Simpkins in which we discussed how music is an expression of humanity and his faith.

My fourth article was a guide to the Christmas season’s art, past and present. Traditionally at this time of year “great art comes tumbling through your letterbox” so, in this article, I explore the historic and contemporary art of Christmas.

My fifth article was 'Finding the human amid the wreckage of migration'. In this article I interviewed Shezad Dawood about his multimedia Leviathan exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral where personal objects recovered from ocean depths tell a story of modern and ancient migrations.

My sixth article was 'The visionary artists finding heaven down here' in which I explored a tradition of visionary artists whose works shed light on the material and spiritual worlds.

My seventh article was 'How the incomer’s eye sees identity' in which I explain how curating an exhibition for Ben Uri Online gave me the chance to highlight synergies between ancient texts and current issues.

My eighth article was 'Infernal rebellion and the questions it asks' in which I interview the author Nicholas Papadopulos about his book The Infernal Word: Notes from a Rebel Angel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick Cave - There Is A Kingdom.

Art and faith: Decades of engagement - 1880s

This is Part 1 in a series of posts which aim to demonstrate the breadth of engagement there has been between the Arts and religion within the modern period and into our contemporary experience. The idea is to provide a brief introduction to the artists and initiatives that were prominent in each decade to enable further research. Inevitably, these lists will be partial as there is much that I don’t know and the lists reflect my interests and biases. As such, the primary, but not exclusive, focus is on artists that have engaged with the Christian tradition.

My listing begins in the 1880s as that decade is generally taken as the beginning of modern art. However, in terms of my interests, the Pre-Raphaelites and the beginning of the Catholic Literary Revival precede my chosen starting point and I have, therefore, sought to reflect that in some of the early entries.

The introduction to the series can be found here.

• On 22 March 1877 William Morris, Philip Webb and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood hold the inaugural meeting of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in Bloomsbury, London. In 1879, Morris and SPAB join John Ruskin in the fight to save St Mark's Basilica, Venice from restoration and dilapidation.
• The term Arts and Crafts Movement is first used at a meeting of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887, although the principles and style on which it was based had been developing in England for at least 20 years. It was inspired by the ideas of architect Augustus Pugin, writer John Ruskin, and designer William Morris. Morris's thought later influenced the distributism of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Following the first Arts and Crafts church, St Martin Brampton built by Philip Webb in 1878, many more follow, including Broughty Ferry Baptist Chapel (1881), St Chad Hopwas (1881), St Mary Partington (1883), Holy Trinity Bothenhampton (1887).
• In 1880, the Most Holy Governing Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church rules that the church censor could approve the publication of sacred music without the input of The Imperial Chapel. This decision has ground-breaking implications – for the first time in many years, it becomes possible for Russian composers to create sacred music, without being subjected to bureaucratic review. This decision is prompted by the publication in 1879 of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
• Antonin Dvořák's first piece of a religious nature, his setting of Stabat Mater, was premiered in Prague in 1880. The Stabat Mater is an extensive vocal-instrumental sacred work for soli, choir and orchestra based on the text of an old church hymn with the same name. The inspiration for creating the piece was the death of the composer's daughter, Josefa.
• Life of the Virgin murals are created from 1880 to 1887 under the direction of Desiderius Lenz, Gabriel Wuger, and Lukas Steiner for the Benedictine Abbey of Emmaus in Prague.
• In 1881, D.L. Moody and Ira B. Sankey make their second visit to Britain involving mass rallies with full houses in a large number of cities. In 1876, in collaboration with Philip Bliss, Sankey had published a gospel songs collection Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs, consisting of 131 numbers. Over the next 15 years, working with various associates, he produced five supplements to this work, and a complete edition of all six parts in 1894, this last containing 794 numbers.
• In 1881 Wilfrid Meynell accepts Cardinal Manning's invitation to edit the Catholic Weekly Register and continues to do so until 1899. Meynell later founds and edits (1883–94) the magazine Merrie England, in which, in 1888, he discovers and sponsors the poet Francis Thompson, rescuing him from destitution.
• ‘God’s Architect,’ Antoni Gaudi designs a Benedictine monastery and a church dedicated to the Holy Spirit in Villaricos (Cuevas de Vera, Almería) for his former teacher, Joan Martorell, in 1882. He begins work on the Sagrada Familia in 1883.
• Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly publishes Une Histoire sans Nom (The Story Without a Name) 1882, and Ce qui ne Meurt Pas (What Never Dies) 1884. Barbey d'Aurevilly also re-publishes Les Diaboliques (The She-Devils) in 1882, a collection of short stories originally published in France in 1874. Each story features a woman who commits an act of violence, or revenge, or some other crime. It is considered Barbey d'Aurevilly's masterpiece, but he was sued for an affront to public decency when it was originally released. He agreed to remove the book from sale and the charges against him were dismissed. Léon Bloy, a defender of and proof-reader for the novelist, said that Barbey d'Aurevilly was, "The man to whom I owe the most, after my mother and father".
• Hilma af Klint studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Sweden from 1882 – 1887. There, she meets a group of artists who share her ideas. "The Five" (De Fem) are Anna Cassel, Cornelia Cederberg, Sigrid Hedman, and Mathilda Nilsson. They embrace a combination of the Theosophical teachings of Helena Blavatsky and spiritualism. They open each meeting with a prayer, followed by a meditation, a Christian sermon, and a review and analysis of a text from the New Testament. This is followed by a séance. From 1896, Klint creates experimental automatic drawings, leading her toward an inventive geometric visual language capable of conceptualizing invisible forces both of the inner and outer worlds. Her paintings are now considered among the first abstract works known in Western art history.
• Coventry Patmore and Gerard Manley Hopkins correspond from 1883-1888.
• Joris-Karl Huysmans' 1884 novel À rebours begins a return to Catholicism.
• In 1885, James Tissot has a revival of his Catholic faith, which leads him to spend the rest of his life making paintings about Biblical events. He travels to the Middle East in 1886, 1889, and 1896 to make studies of the landscape and people. His series of 365 gouache illustrations showing the life of Christ are shown to critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences in Paris (1894–1895), London (1896) and New York (1898–1899), before being bought by the Brooklyn Museum in 1900. They are published in a French edition in 1896–1897 and an English one in 1897–1898, bringing Tissot vast wealth and fame.
• The Victorian Association of Spiritualists in Melbourne arranges an exhibition as a celebration for the 37th anniversary of the birth of Modern Spiritualism which had begun with the Fox sisters in 1848. The event took place from 31 March to 2 April 1885 and includes original spirit drawings by Georgiana Houghton, Houghton, who had died in 1884, created under the guidance of 70 archangels which reflected her faith as a staunch Christian Spiritualist. The subjects of her work, taken as a whole, included The Trinity, The Lord, The Apostles, God, Spirit, Peace, Wisdom, Truth, Love, Salvation, and Unveiling of the Heavens.
• Birmingham born Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones designs windows for St Philip’s Birmingham (now Birmingham Cathedral) beginning in 1885 with The Ascension window and continuing two years later with The Nativity and The Crucifixion. The windows are manufactured by William Morris & Co.
• In July 1886, the Austrian Emperor decorated Anton Bruckner with the Order of Franz Joseph. In addition to his symphonies, Bruckner wrote Masses, motets and other sacred choral works, and a few chamber works, including a string quartet. Bruckner died in Vienna in 1896 at the age of 72. He is buried in the crypt of the monastery church at Sankt Florian, immediately below his favorite organ.
• Paul Claudel experiences a sudden conversion at the age of eighteen on Christmas Day 1886 ‘while listening to a choir sing Vespers in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris: "In an instant, my heart was touched, and I believed." La Vierge à Midi (The Virgin at Noon) is a poem by Claudel inspired by his conversion but with the setting of the poem moved to midday.
• Léon Bloy's first novel, Le Désespéré, published in 1887, is a fierce attack on rationalism and those he believed to be in league with it.
• Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem is first performed in 1888. It is not composed to the memory of a specific person but, in Fauré's words, "for the pleasure of it." Fauré also said of his Requiem, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest."
• James Ensor takes on religion, politics, and art with his 1888 scene of Christ entering contemporary Brussels in a Mardi Gras parade. After rejection by Les XX, the artists' association that Ensor had helped to found, the painting is not exhibited publicly until 1929. Christ's Entry Brussels in 1889 is a forerunner of twentieth-century Expressionism.
• From 1888 – 1891, Stanisław Wyspiański starts his career by working together with Józef Mehoffer, under the supervision of Jan Matejko, on St. Mary’s Basilica in Kraków. He also restores late medieval frescos in the choir of Holy Cross Church.
• In an 1888 letter to his close artist friend, Emile Bernard, Vincent Van Gogh confesses to “a longing for the Infinite, of which the sower and the sheaf are the symbols still enchanting me.” In a letter to his brother Theo from the same year, he wrote “When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.“
• In 1888 Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin work together in the village of Pont-Aven experimenting with a new style that emphasized suggestive colour rendered in flat planes surrounded by dark outlines, which came to be known as Synthetism. Bernard painted The Pardon (Breton Women on a Meadow) and Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), both depicting the Catholicism of Breton women.
• In 1888 Paul Sérusier shows the painting now known as The Talisman, made under the guidance of Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven, to the group of young painters called The Nabis (The Prophets). As well as Sérusier, The Nabis comes to include Maurice Denis, Paul Ransom, and Jan Verkade, all of whom work with spiritual themes.
• Oscar Wilde writes The Happy Prince and Other Tales in 1888. Taught by Walter Pater, his circle includes Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson and John Gray, each of whom joined the Roman Catholic church in either 1890 or 1891.
• During the summer of 1889, Émile Bernard was alone in Le Pouldu and began to paint many religious canvasses. He wrote about symbolism saying it was of a Christian essence, divine language.
• Paul Gauguin's exhibit at Les XX in 1889 is an important early display his works, and adds to the recognition that he had begun to receive in 1888. The exhibition includes the first showing of his Vision after the Sermon, the painting that, in his 1891 article on Gauguin, leads Albert Aurier to identify an 'idealist, even mystical, reaction' to naturalism and claim that Gauguin is the leader of symbolism. 
• Hubert Parry received many commissions which included choral works such as the cantata Ode on Saint Cecilia's Day (1889), the oratorios Judith (1888) and Job (1892), and the psalm-setting De Profundis (1891).
• Gerard Manley Hopkins dies in Dublin in 1889.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhiannon Giddens - Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi).

Bob Dylan: Trouble No More

I’m enjoying listening to Bob Dylan’s Trouble No More, live recordings from 1979 to 1981 commonly known as Dylan’s Gospel period, albeit without agreeing with the Christian Right political views and prophetic interpretation that he adopted at this time. 

This installment of The Bootleg Series has received primarily positive reviews mainly due to the quality of the band Dylan assembled at this time. However, those reviews almost exclusively repeat the lazy stereotype that Dylan’s “Christian trilogy” comprises three albums – Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love – and that ‘by the end of 1981 the Gospel era was over: Dylan's next album, 1983's Infidels … included no overtly religious material,’ being secular and political.

This is a stereotype for several reasons. First, the album that preceded Slow Train Coming and which Dylan was touring when his conversion began, Street Legal, features much Christian imagery from 'Changing of the Guards', which describes a conversion (the changing of the Guards) that could be individual or corporate, to 'Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)', where the central character experiences a new day after leaving town with Marcel and St. John, strong men belittled by doubt, while fighting with the enemy within and following a pathway that leads to the stars.

Next, Infidels includes much overtly religious material. In the political songs on Infidels, for example, there is a strong degree of continuity with lines from 'Slow Train'. ‘Union Sundown’ essentially expands on the Trumpean argument found in the lines: ‘All that foreign oil controlling American soil / Look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed / Sheiks walkin’ around like kings / Wearing fancy jewels and nose rings / Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and Paris.’ ‘Man of Peace’ is essentially an explication of the line ‘the enemy I see / Wears a cloak of decency.’

The period from Shot of Love to Infidels was an exceptional period of songwriting in Dylan's career which it is worth exploring in more depth; although many of the best songs from this period didn't make it onto the released albums. What characterised this period of Dylan's songwriting was that his faith came to inform his imagery/lyrics and was integrated into their subject matter instead of forming the subject matter as occurs in the earlier Slow Train Coming/Saved period when his faith was the sole content of the songs. It is a move from preaching back to poetry but this change doesn't mean that his faith is any less sure or apparent in the songs that he writes.

Throughout his career Dylan has written songs that depict the apathy of humanity in the face of the coming apocalypse. From Slow Train Coming onwards he equates the apocalypse with the imminent return of Christ. The return of Christ in judgement is the slow train that is 'comin' up around the bend' and in the face of this apocalypse he calls on human beings to wake up and strengthen the things that remain. Similarly, in ‘The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar’, he sees the apocalypse coming ('Curtain risin' on a new age') but not yet here while the Groom (Christ who awaits his bride, the Church) is still waiting at the altar. In the time that remains he again calls on human beings to arise from our slumber: 'Dead man, dead man / When will you arise? / Cobwebs in your mind / Dust upon your eyes' (‘Dead Man, Dead Man’).

In the light of this thread in Dylan's songs throughout this period, it is consistent to read ‘Jokerman’, from Infidels as another song in this vein; as a song depicting the apathy of humanity in the face of the apocalypse and one which is shot through with apocalyptic imagery drawn from the Book of Revelation. We are the jokermen who laugh, dance and fly but only in the dark of the night (equated with sin and judgement) afraid to come into the revealing light of the Sun/Son.

‘Jokerman’, though, is a greater song that any of those mentioned previously because its depiction of humanity is more nuanced. There is much that is negative: we are born with a snake in both our fists; we rush in where angels fear to tread; our future is full of dread; we are doing no more than keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within; we are going to Sodom and Gomorrah only knowing the law of the jungle (the law of revenge from the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy - 'an eye for an eye'). But these negatives are not the whole story as we also experience freedom, dance to the nightingale tune, fly high, walk on the clouds, and are a friend to the martyr. We have an inherent dignity and beauty to which only the greatest of artists such as Michelangelo can do justice. In 'Jokerman', Dylan captures well the Biblical portrait of humanity as made in the image of God but marred by our rejection of God with our potential for beauty and compassion perverted into a selfish search for self-aggrandisement.

The final verse comes straight from the Book of Revelation and describes the birth of the AntiChrist who will deceive humanity into following him rather than Christ. The accusation and challenge that Dylan puts to us in the final lines of this final verse is that we know exactly what is happening (after all, it has all been prophesied in the Book of Revelation) but we make no response; we are apathetic in the face of the apocalypse. Our lack of response is what is fatal to us because it is only through repentance and turning to Christ that we will be saved from the coming judgement. These final lines are both an accusation and a challenge because, in line with the prophecy of Revelation, Dylan clearly believes that humanity as a whole will be apathetic and unresponsive but they must also be a challenge because, if there is no possibility that any of us will respond, why write the song at all!

In ‘Sweetheart Like You’, also from Infidels, we see the possibility of response through a wonderfully contemporary depiction of Christ's incarnation. The song is written from the perspective of a misogynist male employee in an all-male workplace that is literally a hell of a place in which to work. To be in here requires the doing of some evil deed, having your own harem, playing till your lips bleed. There's only one step down from here and that's the ironically named 'land of permanent bliss.'

Into this perverted and prejudiced environment comes a woman, the sweetheart of the song's title. She is a Christ figure; a sinless figure entering into a world of sin and experiencing abuse and betrayal (is 'that first kiss' a Judas kiss?) from those she encounters and to whom she holds out the possibility of a different kind of existence. Dylan makes his equation of the woman with Christ explicit by quoting directly from Jesus: 'They say in your father's house, there's many mansions' (John 14: 2).

The song's narrator is confused and challenged by her appearance. He wants to dismiss her out of hand and back to his stereotypical role for her - 'You know, a woman like you should be at home / That's where you belong / Watching out for someone who loves you true / Who would never do you wrong' - but he can't simply dismiss her as she is really there in front of him and so he begins to wonder, 'What's a sweetheart like you doin' in a dump like this?' All the time he asks that question there is the possibility that he may respond to her presence without abuse or dismissal.

In ‘I and I’ Dylan gives an honest depiction of the difficulties of response (based no doubt on his own inability to keep the moral standards that he seems to have perceived God to have expected of him and which, no doubt, his church at the time expected of him). The central character in this song has taken the untrodden path where the swift don't win the race (Matthew 7: 13 & 14 - 'Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.'). He has looked into justice's beautiful face and yet as we meet him we discover that he has just slept with a strange woman (i.e. he has had sex outside of marriage).

In creation, Dylan sings, we neither honour nor forgive. Instead we take; our nature is the survival of the fittest. When we encounter God, our sinful, selfish human nature encounters the demand for pure perfection - "no man sees my face and lives." 'I and I' is about the difficulty of living between these two poles; of having started out on the untrodden path but then having slipped back. The song is an evocation of the guilt that the protagonist feels; a guilt that forces him to leave the woman, to go out for a walk into the narrow lanes, pushing himself along the darkest part of the road to get himself back on track and then hearing the accepting, forgiving words of Christ in his heart, 'I made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot.'

‘I and I’ is again set in the context of the apocalypse: 'the world could come to an end tonight.' The protagonist is responding in the face of the apocalypse. Even though he has sinned he is leaving that sin behind, pushing himself along the road and listening to Christ in his heart. Another song in which the protangonist becomes aware of the coming apocalypse while being in the wrong place is ‘Tight Connection To My Heart’ (originally recorded during the Infidels sessions as ‘Someone's Got A Hold Of My Heart’). Here the protagonist grabs his coat because feels the breath of the storm that is the apocalypse. He is in the wrong place with the wrong person having valued the wrong things (lulled to sleep in a town without pity where the water runs deep, it's all been a charade, a big joke that he'll remember to forget) and now, when it may be too late, he is searching for his true love (his 'first love' - see Revelation 2: 4). His issue has been that he could not commit: 'Never could learn to drink that blood / And to call it wine / Never could learn to hold you, love / And to call you mine.' Like the foolish virgins, he may be left outside in the cold when the bridegroom arrives because he was not faithful to his true love at the moment of the second coming (Matthew 25: 1 - 13).

It is not possible to understand these songs without understanding the biblical material on which they draw. Without this, as is the case in much contemporary cultural comment, the work of art is actively misunderstood. This was the case with reviews of Infidels at the time which used ‘Sweetheart Like You’ as an example of Dylan's supposed misogyny. So these reviewers were using a song that actually critiques and undercuts misogyny as an example of misogyny itself and this fundamental misunderstanding was the result of a failure to recognise and understand biblical references and imagery.

Finally, gospel songs continue to feature frequently on subsequent Dylan albums (e.g. ‘They Killed Him’ and ‘Precious Memories’ on Knocked Out Loaded or ‘Death Is Not The End’ and ‘Rank Strangers to Me’ on Down in the Groove) in addition to many of the later classic albums such as Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind and Tempest being Gospel albums in essence, both in style and content. The argument that Dylan leaves Gospel music and religious content behind with Shot of Love is, therefore, fallacious.

What does this mean for Dylanologists? Firstly, that many critics fail to recognise and understand biblical references and imagery in both pre-Gospel era Dylan and post. Second, that Dylan recorded, at least, a quartet of Gospel albums, rather than a Trilogy. Third, that the questions and challenges raised by Dylan in his explicitly Gospel period remain relevant throughout his subsequent career and, in the case of his preoccupation with the Apocalypse, throughout his entire career.

Read my co-authored book The Secret Chord for more on this aspect of Dylan’s songwriting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob Dylan - Slow Train.

St Stephen Walbrook - family-friendly visits

At St Stephen Walbrook today we held the first of an occasional series of family-friendly visits to the church designed to enable church members with young families to have an opportunity to come to the church together, which, as our ministry is primarily weekday, is generally impossible for them to do.

We began with a Treasure Hunt ... various clues led each family to different parts of the church ...

... before the treasure was found.

The treasure included the wonderful Step Outside Guide - London's Splendid Square Mile.

Then we made sheep at the craft table just using cups, cotton wool and pipe cleaners. This was followed with a game herding sheep balloons into the sheep pen.

We enjoyed a welcome break for snacks ...

... and then finished the session with the story of the Lost Sheep, the Butterfly song ...

... and prayers thanking God for his love.

A good time was had by all and our next such visit will be organised prior to Christmas.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Butterfly Song.

Searching for music is like searching for God

"Searching for music is like searching for God. They're very similar. There's an effort to reclaim the unmentionable, the unsayable, the unseeable, the unspeakable, all those things, comes into being a composer and to writing music and to searching for notes and pieces of musical information that don't exist." David Bowie

"In rock music, especially in the performance arena, there is no room for prayer, but I think that so many of the songs people write are prayers. A lot of my songs seem to be prayers for unity within myself. On a personal level, I have an undying belief in God’s existence. For me it is unquestionable." David Bowie

"All I've done
I've done for me
All you gave
You gave for free
I gave nothing in return
And there's little left of me

All the days of my life
All the days of my life
All the days I owe you

In red-eyed pain I'm knocking on your door again
My crazy brain in tangles
Pleading for your gentle voice
Those storms keep pounding through my head and heart
I pray you'll soothe my sorry soul"

Days - David Bowie

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Bowie - Word On A Wing. 

Sentimental Journey

We enjoyed a sentimental journey this afternoon at St John's Seven Kings with a sing-a-long featuring songs from the 30s and 40s led by pianist Eileen and MC Iris and supplemented by solos from Margaret Streeter and Santou Beurklian Carter. In addition, to joining in with the likes of 'White Cliffs of Dover', 'Roll Out The Barrel' and 'Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner', among many others, we also feasted on cakes and cream teas. This very English of occasions was our latest social and fundraising event, raising funds not only for the church but also for our Christian Aid Partnership Project.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vera Lynn - White Cliffs Of Dover.

You can’t have faith if you think you know what’s true

Some very sane views expressed here by Alan Sparhawk of Low:

"Everything should make you feel closer to God, but music tends to be a particularly good conduit."

"Music in general has been the fiber of my faith from the beginning.  Everything I know about God was taught to me in songs & the spiritual milestones of my life have almost always been musical experiences. I think the process of writing songs has helped me learn to listen to the spirit, which then testifies of Christ & His Father."

"Music & art give us license to say, “What if everything you thought was true was actually a lie?!!”  It let’s you dream.  You can’t have faith if you think you know what’s true."

"The world of music, especially rock ‘n’ roll, is filled with religious people - the best kind - the ones who just do good things & don’t fly a flag."

"I think a person can address/express their deepest darkest fears in a way that brings light & redemption. It’s part of telling the truth.  Sometimes a prayer is ugly, but God still wants to hear it."

"I’m not an intentional writer. Ideas come usually in fragments & I’m left to fit them together, sometimes having to consciously fill in empty parts.  I’ve learned to trust what comes to you."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Low - Holy Ghost. 

How music makes us feel (2)

This morning I took the funeral service of a parishioner who had been an active member of the Michael Ball fan club and, as a result, incorporated the titles of many songs recorded by Michael Ball into the tribute I gave as part of the service. This was appreciated by many of those present, including other fan club members, who not only recognised the songs this lady loved but also the connections with her own life story.  

All this was a reminder to me that people can identify very deeply with songs. We see this in the way that people choose particular songs to mark major milestones in their lives (like weddings or funerals). We see it in the way that teenagers will play one song over and over and over again and we see it in the way that concerts can become corporate singalongs as the crowd knows all the words and takes over the singing from the band.

We do all this because there is something in the combination of the music and lyrics that connects deeply with what we are thinking and feeling at that time. When that connection is made the link can stay with us for a lifetime. Great songs therefore are not propaganda or sermons they are essentially about empathy and making emotional or intellectual connections that reveal to us something about ourselves and our world. In other words, the best songs are like epiphanies; moments of revelation in ordinary life which reveal something of either the wonder or the depravity of life.

For more on epiphanies and music, try reading 'The Secret Chord', the book I have co-authored with Peter Banks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Ball - Bring Him Home.

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Today I gave a funeral address based on aspects of creativity and making:

There’s a song called ‘Lights’ by one of my favourite singers, Victoria Williams, in which she reflects on the experience of making things. Whatever you are making, she sings, “you wanna make something good,” something that you can look on that will give you lots of pleasure. But then she reflects on what happens when this thing you’ve made turns out wrong in some way, not quite perfect, and she says that you still love it just the same because it is some thing that you made.

Those of us who make things ourselves – whether it’s dresses or rocking horses or whatever – will probably know that feeling. The maker knows where the flaws are in the things she or he has made. Others might not be able to spot them but we know and it bothers us but what we’ve made may well be wonderful nevertheless.

In the song, Victoria Williams likens this experience to that of God and his creation, human beings. Psalm 139 tells us that we are created by God, fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are wonderful as a result.

That was true of ____ and you loved the wonderful person – fearfully and wonderfully made – that she was. In our prayers, we have been thanking God for making her the way he did; for giving her the gifts and talents that he did – her needlework skills in particular but, more so even than those, the way in which she showed her love for each one of you.

The reading from Wisdom 11. 24 - 25 then reminds, like Victoria Williams’ song, that God loves everything – everyone – that he has made. As a result, the Christian hope is that, in God, all he has made lasts and endures and continues. That is the hope that I wish to share with you today. Just as you will always treasure the wedding dresses ____ made or the rocking horses ________ has made, so God also keeps and treasures those he has made, including ____.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria Williams - Lights.