My Top 40 Albums - #12

#12
dc Talk - "Jesus Freak"

Year: 1995
Label: Forefront
Favorite songs: So Help Me God, Mind's Eye, Day By Day, Colored People, Jesus Freak, Like It Love It Need It
Lyric sample: "Saw a man in the desert with naps on his head /  The sand that he walked was also his bed / The words that he spoke made the people assume / There wasn't too much left in the upper room / With skins on his back and hair on his face / They thought he was crazed by the locusts he ate / The Pharisees tripped when they heard him speak / 'Til the king took the head of this Jesus Freak"

If this were a list of the most famous, lucrative, or influential Christian rock records, you'd see this one in the top 10. There simply isn't any question that Jesus Freak has embedded itself in firmly in the Christian youth culture whose battle cry its anthems have become. The title track itself has been covered by local bands nearly as much as all of Relient K's catalog combined, which is saying something. I imagine that many people have heard dc Talk's breakout smash hit so many times that its passages have become simple buzzwords more than a musical experience. For me, these tunes are familiar like my church sanctuary or the back seat of the family minivan. They've been with me since early adolescence. Familiarity can breed contempt, or at very least boredom and shelf-setting. What I think many former youth-group kids may fail to recognize is how good the record really is. Like the fragrance of your own home, it's something you aren't always aware of until you've been away from it for a while and are able to take it in anew. Not simply a shoe-in based on its pedigree, an examination of Jesus Freak reveals to me that it has earned its keep.

One of the things I find most astonishing about this album is that it actually only contains about 8 original songs. "Day By Day" is a cover, and "In the Light" is a reworked Charlie Peacock tune. "Mrs. Morgan" surely doesn't count as an actual song, nor does the silly "Jesus Freak Reprise." I suppose you could count the hidden poem "Alas My Love," bringing us to 9. With dc Talk it is apparently quality over quantity, and it seems that each song is almost something larger than life. It has to be in order for the album to be so cohesive and full.

So what makes Jesus Freak so great? For one thing, it represents a giant leap forward in the development of dc Talk. Their previous release, Free At Last was still primarily a hip-hop record, even though it began to add more rock guitar riffs on songs like "Luv is a Verb." With Jesus Freak, the influences of the early '90's grunge movement are evident. The packaging has taken on the dirty, urban monochrome preferred by rock groups of the time rather than the more expressive colorful displays that often accompany rap projects, signaling a change of form. Indeed, Toby MacKeehan's rapping takes a more minor role while the hooks and guitars become more prominent. The tendency would have been to follow a trend, losing the original appeal of their work and drawing the ire of fans and critics alike with an inferior imitation of a popular sound. That Jesus Freak subverts this gaping trap is a testimony to its success.

dc Talk is one of those rare groups who can simply not be categorized. They almost entirely defy genre grouping, and this landmark album shows their sound at its most diverse. Rock, pop, alternative, grunge, rap, funk.. it's all here in some form. Combining the influences of Toby, Michael and Kevin has always been a strong point for the group. Surprising due to its diminished rap focus is that Toby co-wrote most of the songs on the record. These songs are fantastic in their musical deftness. Melodic, moving, well-paced and well-sequenced, the song chain on Jesus Freak doesn't harbor any weak links. There is no evidence of rushing or filler material. Each and every measure has been carefully, lovingly crafted and tweaked. It absolutely reeks of quality, in some ways an ethereal quality that I can't quite explain. Consider the blistering rap breakdown in "Like It, Love It, Need It," the infectious pre-chorus of "So Help Me God," the dense tapestry of acoustic instruments and harmonies on "Between You and Me." These songs have special moments that invite revisiting. It's raw enough not to sound totally overproduced, but it's clear a lot of work has gone into the making.

The remarkable perfection of these original recordings is accented by recent projects such as Freaked!, a compilation featuring covers of every song on the Jesus Freak record by various Gotee and Mono Vs. Stereo recording artists. Several of them are quite likable, but they can't seem to reach the balance and depth of the originals; what's more, the songs that I enjoy the most are almost always the ones that have changed the least. Of course it isn't really sporting for these young bands to have to compete with the vocal powerhouses of Michael Tait and Kevin Max. Both of these men have stunning vocal range and expression, and their styles mesh extremely well together. The other thing that these homages demonstrate is the resilience of these same songs. They are so well-written that inasumch as their primary melodies and structures remain intact, they pretty much always sound good.

The only song on the album that I just plain don't like is "What If I Stumble." I have never much cared for the song, and I think it has to do with the instrumentation as well as the mostly low-key presentation. Add to this that it's too overplayed on Christian radio stations (along with "In the Light," a great song that I can hardly listen to anymore due to overexposure) and it becomes a section of the disc that I'm prone to skip. I thought perhaps it would be better without the French-sounding instruments, but a brief listen to Sarah Kelly's cover sent me running back to the dc Talk version in a hurry. I do appreciate the humility that the song offers.

Jesus Freak is so well known and liked that it doesn't need me to bat on its behalf.  I consider it dc Talk's question album. Listen to all the questions in the lyrics. "What will people think? What will people do?" "What if I stumble? What if I fall?" "What have we become?" Supernatural in some ways has more answers, as well as completing the transition from rap to alternative rock. I consider both records absolute necessities, dc Talk's zenith before they dropped sharply into murky limbo. Will they ever return? Who knows. In the mean time I can still savor this classic, as well as Kevin Max's occasional release.

dc Talk was always up for combating racism, and Colored People made the message loud and clear. This video captures the feel of the album in my opinion. Good memories.