Rich Mullins: Rich Mullins (1986)

Tracks:

1. A Few Good Men
2. A Place to Stand
3. Live Right
4. New Heart
5. Elijah
6. Nothing But a Miracle
7. Both Feet on the Ground
8. These Days
9. Prisoner
10. Save Me   

Richard Wayne Mullins was an artist out of his time.  He had the misfortune to launch his solo career in one of the worst years in music history, setting sail into the vortex of synthesizers, big hair, and digital overload.  He was also an artist out of his element.  He had the audacity to ply his trade as a Christian Contemporary Artist even though he was deliberately single, essentially homeless (Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Kansas, and Arizona could all lay claim to him as native son), and conscientiously frugal.  He drove to his own gigs, played the hammer dulcimer, often dressed like his favorite store was the Salvation Army, and could sometimes come off as austere and monkish.  He embraced Catholicism as a religious heritage, admired St. Francis of Assisi, and generally seemed to be allergic to the Music City culture that fostered his very livelihood.  He seemed more like some itinerant backwoods evangelist who made a wrong turn at the fork in the road back in 1804 and somehow traversed the space-time continuum into the world of Beemers, parachute pants, and MTV. 

And yet, Rich Mullins was a modern-day songwriter through and through.  He knew how to come up with stirring melodies and catchy hooks, wrote down-to-earth if sometimes strange lyrics, knew how to surround himself with musicians and collaborators who understood what he was about, and most of all, had the ability to challenge himself as much as his audience to love Jesus with all of their might.  Even if that love asked questions of its Maker that most good Christians would have left within the walls of whatever cloister from which they had sprung.

 So, what about Rich Mullins, the album?  As stated above, it entered the world at a particular time when the likes of Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant--who had "discovered" Mullins--were the top of the pops of CCM.  Not that they had anything to do with the writing or production of the record, although Amy does make a cameo appearance on "Live Right."  But their influence can be heard in the room as the songs bop, pop, and snap to hard beats punctuated by electronic drums and Seinfeld-worthy bass patterns.   On the uptempo numbers, the arrangements tend to cast Rich as a workingman's rocker, with chunky, driving guitars and brassy keyboards.  

Setting aside the dated production and arrangements, the songs that resonate the most are the most intimate ones, where it's just Rich and the listener, and not the stadium rockers.  When Rich rocks out, as on the opener "A Few Good Men," it's not bad, but it feels crowded and overdone.  But when it's just him and the piano, the gap is bridged and he connects with almost brutal immediacy.  It's in this environment that the two best songs rise to the top, "Elijah" and "These Days."  The former has some the most moving words and phrasing on the record, especially with that expansive chorus.  The last line of the second verse struck me as I listened last night: "If they bury me with my fathers, or let my ashes scatter on the wind, I don't care."  Because of his sudden death, this has become something of a theme song for his work, but back in '86 it was just a statement of faith, as if the quasi-rocker told the band to take five and the simple believer stepped up to the keyboard.  "These Days" has a lot of the same qualities:  Deeply personal lyrics, big chorus, gruff epic vocals.      

In the end, Rich Mullins presents the singer and the songwriter in the context of his time and place.  It's not the best fit, as later records would reveal, as the artist would take back some of that context and turn it back to a simpler time.  Yet, the confessional songwriting, the warm, quiet power of the vocals, and the connection he is able to make even at this early stage all speak well for an artist in spite of his slightly wacky surroundings.