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The Jesus Record | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 21, 1998 | |||
Recorded | 1997–1998 | |||
Studio |
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Length | 78:36 | |||
Label | Myrrh | |||
Producer | Rick Elias | |||
Rich Mullins chronology | ||||
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The Jesus Record is the ninth and final album by American singer and songwriter Rich Mullins, released posthumously on July 21, 1998, ten months after his death.
The first disc of the album, entitled "The Jesus Demos", consists of nine rough demos Mullins recorded for the album in an abandoned church on September 10, 1997, nine days before his death. The songs were meant for a concept album based on the life of Jesus Christ, to be called Ten Songs About Jesus. [1]
The second disc was recorded after Mullins' death by a Ragamuffin Band (Rick Elias, Mark Robertson, Jimmy Abegg and Aaron Smith), with guest vocals by Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Ashley Cleveland, and Phil Keaggy. Orchestration for the album, arranged and conducted by Tom Howard, were recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios. The album ends with the rough demo version of "That Where I Am, There You...", with added instruments and vocals by the Ragamuffin Band, Michael W. Smith and a large choir of family and friends. The last thing heard on the album are the faint sounds of "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus", played by Mullins on the Hammered Dulcimer. The recording, which was made during a 1997 concert performance in Green Bay, Wisconsin, barely made it onto the final album. Two men, who were helping Elias find potential recordings, searched countless church video libraries, bootleg tape traders lists, professional video tapers, music message boards, email discussion lists and other sources, before someone came forward with a tape that was made at the Green Bay church. This person was able to rush the tape to the two men doing the extensive search, who then rushed it to Elias who was mastering the album. The tape arrived on the final day of mastering, just barely in time to be included.
Much of the album was performed live at the 1998 Cornerstone Music Festival by a Ragamuffin Band, who then embarked on "The Homeless Man Tour" as a tribute to Mullins' memory.
Disc One: The Jesus Demos
Disc Two: The Jesus Record
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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1998 | "My Deliverer" (A Ragamuffin Band featuring Rick Elias version) | U.S. Christian | 1 |
1998 | "Nothing is Beyond You" (A Ragamuffin Band featuring Amy Grant version) | U.S. Christian | 1 |
1998 | "That Where I Am, There You Will Also Be" (Rich Mullins, Michael W. Smith, A Ragamuffin Band & Friends version) | U.S. Christian | 6 |
Additional musicians
Production
Richard Wayne Mullins was an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter best known for his worship songs "Awesome God" and "Sometimes by Step". Some of his albums were listed by CCM Magazine in their ranking of the 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music, including A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band (1993) at No. 3, The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One (1991) at No. 7, and Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988) at No. 31. His songs have been performed by numerous artists, including Caedmon's Call, Five Iron Frenzy, Amy Grant, Carolyn Arends, Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, Chris Rice, Rebecca St. James, Hillsong United and Third Day. During the tribute to Rich Mullins' life at the 1998 GMA Dove Awards, Amy Grant described him as "the uneasy conscience of Christian music."
A Ragamuffin Band was a musical group founded by Rich Mullins in 1993, when he gathered friends from other bands to back him on his A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band album. The band continued to record and tour with Mullins, and even carried on after his 1997 death. The group's name is derived from Brennan Manning's 1990 book The Ragamuffin Gospel, which defines ragamuffins as "the burdened, the wobbly and weak-kneed, the inconsistent, unsteady disciples... the smart people who know they are stupid... the honest disciples who admit they are scalawags".
Richard Robert Elias was an American singer and songwriter based in Nashville.
Jimmy Abegg, also known as Jimmy A, is an American musician who grew up in Alliance, Nebraska and is currently living in Nashville, Tennessee.
A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band is the seventh album by American singer and songwriter Rich Mullins, released in 1993. The album was very well received and received the third place in the book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music (2001).
Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth is the third album by American singer and songwriter Rich Mullins, released in 1988. The album received 31st place in the book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music (2001).
Worship Again is Michael W. Smith's seventeenth album. This is Smith's second album of worship music. The bulk of the album was recorded on July 19, 2002, at Southeast Christian Church in Middletown, Kentucky before a live audience. The album won Smith his third Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.
Redemption Songs is the sixth full-length studio album by Jars of Clay. It was released by Essential Records on March 22, 2005.
Rich Mullins' first, self-titled, solo album was released in 1986 on Reunion Records.
Pictures in the Sky is the second solo album by songwriter Rich Mullins and was released in 1987 on Reunion Records.
Never Picture Perfect is the fourth solo album by songwriter Rich Mullins and was released in 1989 on Reunion Records. The album features a new recording of “Hope To Carry On.”
Brother's Keeper is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Rich Mullins, released in 1995. This would be the final album of all-new material released by Mullins prior to his death in 1997.
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Songs is a compilation of well-known songs by American singer-songwriter Rich Mullins, released on July 30, 1996. It was the last album to be released by Mullins before his death in a car accident on September 19, 1997. A follow-up hits compilation, Songs 2, was released in 1999.
Live the Life is an album by Michael W. Smith. One notable song on this album was "In My Arms Again," which Michael W. Smith wrote for the film Titanic. There were 26 songs written and completed for the album, whose release date was pushed back twice as Smith wasn't fully satisfied with the track list. Along with the 12 songs which eventually made it on the album, the tracks "Greater Than We Understand" and "Evening Show" were released on the B-sides of the CD singles for "Live the Life" and "Love Me Good" respectively. The remaining 12 songs appeared in some form on Smith's 1999 album This Is Your Time.
There You Go Again is the twenty-fourth studio album by American singer Kenny Rogers, released in 2000. It is his second studio album on his own Dreamcatcher Records label. It produced the singles "There You Go Again", "He Will, She Knows", "Homeland" and "Beautiful ".
Here in America is a CD compilation of early songwriting demos and rare live recordings of concert performances given by American singer-songwriter Rich Mullins as he toured across America in 1987 with song collaborator Steve Cudworth (vocals/guitar) and Kyle Stevens (drums/vocals). Released posthumously on May 6, 2003, six years after his death, "Here in America" allows listeners to enjoy excerpts from Rich Mullins concerts prior to the release of "Awesome God" in 1988, which inevitably propelled him, as a recording artist, to a higher level of recognition by the CCM industry. The album comes with a Bonus DVD with two parts – "Live at Studio B", a 1997 concert with a Ragamuffin Band; and "12 Short Stories", which was recorded in February 1994 during a two-day seminar led by Rich Mullins and Beaker at Family Broadcasting Corporation in South Bend, Indiana. Several segments of footage left off the release were made available publicly in 2018 on YouTube due to the efforts of a Mullins fan online petition the previous year.
The World as Best as I Remember It is a two-volume album series by songwriter Rich Mullins. The first volume was released in 1991 on Reunion Records and the second was released in 1992. The first volume was listed at No. 7 in CCM Magazine's The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.
"Step by Step," written by Beaker, became a popular contemporary worship song among Christians. Mullins added new verses to the song for the second volume.
Mark Robertson is an American musician and record producer. Robertson is most well known for being a member of Rich Mullins' backing band, A Raggamuffin Band, the frontman of This Train, and bass player and producer of Legendary Shack Shakers. He has also played bass for Brighton, Altar Boys, Flesh Vehicle, JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers, The Dixiecrats, The Eskimo Brothers, Derek Hoke, and his newest band Prayer Flags, in which he is the frontman. His primary instrument is upright and electric bass, though he has performed lead and backing vocals for notable projects, including Rich Mullins' final album The Jesus Record and This Train. He co-produced Rich Mullins' Canticle of the Plains album, Mitch McVicker's first solo recording, Without Looking Down, as well as albums by This Train and The Legendary Shack Shakers.
Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil is an American alternative rock supergroup formed in 2010 by singer Steve Taylor with drummer Peter Furler, guitarist Jimmy Abegg, and bassist John Mark Painter. Taylor formerly saw success as a new wave singer during the 1980s and early 1990s, and also fronted the short-lived band Chagall Guevara. However, by the mid-1990s he abandoned performing music and transitioned into work as a record producer, songwriter, and film-maker. In 2010 Taylor, who was frustrated at the slow pace of his fundraiser for his feature film Blue Like Jazz, collaborated with Furler, Abegg, and Painter to record the song "A Life Preserved" for the film's soundtrack, and began recording other material. Taylor, Abegg, and Painter then featured on the Peter Furler song "Closer", under the name "Steve Taylor & Some Other Band", on Furler's album On Fire. With those collaborations as a starting point, Taylor relaunched his career as a performing musician, and the lineup was branded as Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil. The group released a studio album entitled Goliath on November 18, 2014 to critical acclaim and modest commercial success. In 2015, Daniel Smith of Danielson, with whom the band had been touring, joined on in a collaboration touted as Steve Taylor & The Danielson Foil. Under this incarnation, the group released the EP Wow to the Deadness on February 5, 2016, and toured until February 12. A live album under this incarnation of the band was also released, and the band also contributed to the soundtrack for the 2020 film Electric Jesus.