Jeff Ling

Thanks to Bob Kauflin, Doug Plank and the Sovereign Grace folks for this reworking of Augustus Toplady’s “Now Why This Fear.”

Now Why This Fear from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Now Why This Fear

Verse 1
Now why this fear and unbelief?
Has not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for us?
And will the righteous Judge of men,
Condemn me for that debt of sin,
Now cancelled at the cross?

Chorus
Jesus, all my trust
Is in Your blood
Jesus, You’ve rescued us
Through Your great love!

Verse 2
Complete atonement You have made,
And by Your death completely paid
The debt Your people owed
No wrath remains for us to face
We’re sheltered by Your saving grace,
And sprinkled with Your blood.

Verse 3
Be still, my soul, and know this peace
The merits of your Great High Priest
Have bought your liberty
Rely then on His precious blood,
Don’t fear your banishment from God
Since Jesus sets you free

Tag
How sweet the sound of saving grace
How sweet the sound of saving grace
Christ died for me

Music and alt. and additional words by Doug Plank, original verses by Augustus Toplady (1772).
© 2011 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

Just for laughs… I’ve never seen Drag and Gary but they’re hilarious. Matt Maher introduces them to “Hold Us Together.”

Back before the costumes, the glasses and the notoriety, Reginald Kenneth Dwight (aka Elton John) released one the best recordings of a brilliant live performance ever, 11-17-70.  I will confess quickly that Elton lost me somewhere between Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Caribou. It was obvious that he had turned his talents in different directions and the culture that was “Elton John” was taking over. Still, his early works remain some of my favorites and 11-17-70 stands front and center.

In 1970, Elton had released two albums in the US; the self-titled debut with the hit “Your Song” and Tumbleweed Connection which included the outstanding “Burn Down the Mission.”  The film score for the movie “Friends” was also floating around though it’s official release wouldn’t be until ’71. On November 17th of 1970, Elton with bassist  Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson entered the recording studio of A&R in New York, for a live radio broadcast. There was a small, but very enthusiastic audience on hand for the 13 song performance.  It was never intended to be released as a LP but the circulation of poor quality bootlegs prompted an official release. Unfortunately, the entire concert didn’t make it onto vinyl. Of the 13 songs, only 6 would be released with a seventh, Amoreena, added to a ’96 reissue.
 

Elton himself has said that this is his best recorded live performance. I agree. It’s also the best opportunity to hear the amazing talents of  Murray and Olsson who just shine. This is also the only live recorded performance of the band as a three piece. A year later Davey Johnstone would join the band as a guitarist.

There are three covers on the LP, a full version of  Honky Tonk Women by the Stones and a nod to Get Back (Lennon-McCartney) and My Baby Left Me (Arthur Crudup) which appear as a medley in the extended (18:20) Burn Down the Mission.  The rest of the tracks are Elton and collaborator Bernie Taupin’s works: Take Me To the Pilot, Sixty Years On, Can I Put You On, Bad Side of the Moon and Burn Down the Mission.

Throughout the show the songs are performed with an energy and an urgency that highlights a band hitting its stride and full of promise. As the story goes, according to announcer Dave Herman who opens and closes the LP, Elton cut his hand at some point in his vigorous playing and by the concert’s end the keyboard was covered with blood. Appropriate. I can’t think of another live recording where the band so completely put all their cards on the table. No overdubs, no strings, no horns, nothing but a grand piano, bass and drums played with more gripping intensity than I have ever heard.

“Every Sunday night in the Dining Commons of Oral Roberts University, hundreds of students gather together to share, worship, and celebrate the joy of knowing Jesus Christ. It is out of this community of believers that we would like to offer this album as an expression of our love for the Lord Jesus and for you. Many of these songs are hymns that have become favorites within the community while others were written by individuals as personal expressions of their love for the Master. Our community echoes those men from Greece who approached Phillip in John’s Gospel with the plea, ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’ As we gaze upon Him our lives are transformed and our hearts break out in praise. Join us as we worship the King. Open our Eyes Lord! We want to see Jesus.” – From the back of the album cover.

The Vespers Choir
Robin Raboy, John Nowacki, Susan McElroy, John Fickett, Ann Tittle, Tom Gilley, Carole King, Greg Wojohn, Diana Hanson, Todd Pettygrove. Chuck Wilson. Glenndy Ose, Gary Left, Sandy Dryden, Karen Deal, Melissa Hubble, Doug Sanders, Dan Borgstadt, Dave Knudson, Lynn Bernsdorf

Side 1

Open Our Eyes 

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Written by Bob Cull. Soloists: Todd Pettygrove, Greg Wojohn and Sandy Dryden
The second verse is not part of the original song. Pretty sure it originated with someone on campus.
1976 Maranatha! Music (Admin. by Maranatha! Music)
CCCM Music (Admin. by Maranatha! Music)

Oh Give Thanks

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Written by Karen Deal. Vocals by Karen Deal and Susan Copenhaver
Copyright 1978 by Karen Deal. All rights reserved. Karen has gone on to be a very successful conductor: http://www.karendeal.com/

Hosanna to the Lord’s Majesty

 Hosanna to the Lord’s Majesty

Written by Sandy Dryden, Solo vocals: Tom Gilley, Diana Hanson, Sandy Dryden and Jeff Ling
Copyright 1978 by Sandy Dryden. All rights reserved.
Sandy has become an accomplished educator: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=566687482&sk=info

I Am Redeemed

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Written and sung by Mary Scott.
Copyright 1978 by Mary Scott. All rights reserved.

Ha-la-la-la

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This song certainly showed the innocence and simple joy that was part of the time. Perhaps to childish for today’s worship leaders but we sang it with joy. Interesting side note, the song was written by David Graham who helped to found the YWAM base in Lakeside Montana. For the past 20+ years I have been going to the base to teach on worship in their School of Worship. David and I have not yet met.

Written by David Graham. 1978 C.A. Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)

Side 2

Lift High the Banners of Love

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Solo vocals: Chuck Wilson, Sandy Dryden, Diana Hanson, Greg Wojohn

One of the really popular songs that originated in the Catholic Charismatic Movement.
Written by Richard Gillard. 1975 West Wind Music. Used by Permission

In Green Pastures

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Written and Sung by Janelle Causey
Copyright 1978 by Janelle Causey. All rights reserved.

I Am Risen

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Written by Dave Stackable, Vocals by Dave Stackable and Robin Raboy
Copyright 1978 by David Stackable. All rights reserved.

Abba Father

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Written and Sung by Jeff Ling.
Copyright 1978 by Jeff Ling. All rights reserved.
Wish I could tell you who the bass and lead players are on this song and the rest of the album. Suffice it to say they’ve recorded with Keith Green, Andrae Crouch and many others. Union regulations wouldn’t let us list them.

Our God Reigns

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One of the great praise songs of the time. The original has 8 verses but hardly anyone knows that. Most churches and this recording only included the first verse and chorus. The song ends with a cross fade into a string reprise of Open Our Eyes including a soft “Amen” by Chuck Wilson at the end.

Written by Leonard E. Smith Jr. Used by Permission.
1974, 1978 New Jerusalem Music (Admin. by New Jerusalem Music)

 
Credits:
Executive: Producer Jeff ling
Producer: Larry Benson
Associate Producer: Chuck Wilson
Choir Director: Jeff ling
Session Director: Larry Benson
Guitars: Doug Sanders, Dan Borgstadt, Dave Knudson
Flutes: Karen Deal, Melissa Hubble
Accordian: Lynn Bernsdorf
Piano: Larry Benson
… and the Benson Sound Musicians
String and Brass Arrangements and Conductor: Barry Kelsey
Engineers David Cline, Gary Duggan
Recorded at Benson Sound Studio, Oklahoma City
Photography and Cover Design: Chilton &. Rhodes, Inc.

The really great news here is that these services even exist. We all knew that, given the polifieration of smart phones, high speed internet and massive storage operations, that the cloud was going to be a reality and now it is in a big way. On the storage side of things you’ve had services like Carbonite but one of the major drawbacks of services like that is that they refuse to store anything on their servers that is not on your computer’s internal hard drive.  For those with significant collections of music this is entirely unrealistic. As for streaming, forget it.

Enter Google and Amazon. I’ve been using both and I’m excited about the possibilities these services offer. The jury is still out on who has the best service primarily because Google is still in beta stage. Uploads are currently limited although I’m sure that will change and a pricing package similar to Amazon’s will be offered. Both services do an adequate job of delivering your content to your desktop and have standard playlist and shuffle options. What sets them apart from each other? Here is my analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the these cloud storage and streaming sites:

 Google Music (Beta)

Pro:

• The Android app: I have found it to load faster than Amazon’s cloud storage which will be important for impatient listeners.
• Free for now – although that will change soon.
• Ability to edit album and song info after uploading. This is huge! Amazon does not offer this at the moment and it’s a serious omission. If things aren’t tagged correctly then you can edit the info on the spot rather than having to delete, retag and upload. Amazon does a particularly poor job of matching artwork with uploads so, unless you’ve got the right artwork already embedded you can get some really bizarre match-ups. With Google Music you can simply change the graphic inside the system. This feature is the single biggest thing Google Music has going for it. I’ve had to repair and replace too much on Amazon so if you’re going to use their service, get a good tagger program and do the prep work beforehand. Even then you’ll occasionally miss something and then will need to repair and reload.

Con:

• Limited storage- but that will change. If the pricing plans are equivalent to Amazon then that’s a big mark in Google Music’s favor.
• The interface – not as nice looking as Amazons and a tad awkward. Hopefully that’s being re-tooled.
• Upload time- Your mileage may differ but I have found Amazon’s upload times to be much faster than Google’s. Not a real big deal long as you’re willing to start large uploads and walk away for awhile.
• No social media sharing – Really? Surely they are going to fix that. How can I narcissistically inform the world of what I’m listening to?

Amazon Cloud Player

Pro:

• Upload time – Amazon is really fast on the upload/download side. You can upload a ton of music in a relatively short time.
• Pricing and Storage- Amazon is bundling unlimited free music storage with a fee for storing files like pictures and documents. Kinda odd but who can complain about 20 bucks a year for 20 gigs of file storage and unlimited gigs for music storage? You can buy more file storage (up to 1000 gigs) if you need it but again – there is no limit on music regardless. If Google doesn’t match this or do better, then it’s no contest.
• The interface – looks good and easy to get around.
• Social Media Sharing – tell Facebook and Twitter what you’re listening to complete with a preview.

Con:

• The Android app – my experience has been that it’s slow loading and gets hung up easily.
•  No editing after uploading – like I said above, this is HUGE!  You’re limited to only moving files and renaming them. You can’t fix artist, genre, album name, etc.. and you can’t change the artwork. Why is this bad? Because Amazon has a blind monkey somewhere matching up album names with the correct artwork. So, if you don’t have it tagged right before uploading, you’re going to end up with some weird stuff.

For now I’m leaning heavily toward Google Music  because of the editing option. If Google gets the pricing right then its a done deal and hopefully they will get the social media links up and running. On the other hand – if Amazon will just add the editing feature then I think they leap into the lead even if Google matches the pricing. Good look, social media, fast uploads and editing – I’m there. Just fix that Android app.