Rich Mullins: Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988)

Tracks:

1. The Other Side of the World
2. With the Wonder
3. Awesome God
4. If I Stand
5. Home
6. Such a Thing as Glory
7. ...and I Love You
8. Ready for the Storm
9. One True Love
10. How Can I Keep Myself from Singing?

According to Rich Mullins himself, Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth was going to be his last album.  After his first two decent efforts, he felt that if the third time wasn't the trick, he was heading off to the reservation.   And really, who could blame him?  I mean, first he tried to rock, then tried to have soul, and his one big hit "Verge of a Miracle" was one of his tamest songs.  Trying to translate the quiet passion and power of his solo performances into radio-friendly pop had proven to be an insoluble formula.  So this was it, as far as he was concerned.

I guess the third time was the charm.

With his third album, Rich and Reed Arvin have finally figured out how to best present his music in a way that was marketable and listenable and still fanned the glowing fire that crackled in the heart of his folky/traditional/sacred musical soul.  By simplifying arrangements and instrumentation, positioning backup vocalists and mini-choirs to supplement instead of drown out the man, and adding a noticeable "world" vibe to the songs, Winds managed to present Rich Mullins as something of a rustic choir leader, whether its members be Navajo children, professional groups, or friends in the studio.  This was Rich including us in the journey, bringing us to different spots on the globe, preaching, confessing, worshiping.  

Of course, the songs are showing ever-increasing maturity and depth, flourishing in the more open surroundings.  The album has two of his signature songs, which brought him into the spotlight, and may have even eclipsed him: "Awesome God" and "If I Stand."

They're really polar opposites, stylistically and emotionally.  "Awesome" has one of the greatest worship choruses ever written.  Period.  And Arvin and Mullins put that chorus in the only setting that could have supported it: On the lips of a large choir and the driving, brooding sound of a string section.  It's over the top, because it has to be.  And Rich sings his head off, leading the choir and the band in its almost martial procession to the gates of heaven itself.  

And yet, it's not the best song for a church service.  That's because as epically anthemic as that chorus is, Rich has surrounded it with fast-talking, slang-ridden verses that really sound strange coming out of a worship leader's mouth.  "Puttin' on the ritz...the Lord wasn't jokin'...you better be believin'..."  This isn't church music, is it?  (I say that even as I recall the innumerable times I led children's worship with this song, and how even I had trouble keeping up with all those words).  Of course, it is church music, but not the quiet pew kind of church.  Rather, it's the church bringing love to a dying world.  Now that's some ritz!!

As bombastic as "Awesome God" is, "If I Stand" is down the other side of the road.  It's a quiet mid-tempo piano ballad, with a big chorus full of confessional lyrics that almost serve as a missional prayer for the singer's life.  With just a small choir and some strings to back him up, he packs as much fire into this simple tune as the glorious conflagration of "Awesome."  The chorus is just as powerful, too, with that tag line, "If I weep, let it be as a man who is longing for his home."  Ever the ragamuffin, that Rich...

If the album just had this one-two punch of anthems, it would be a winner.  But Mullins fills out the record with some great songs, with an emphasis on missions and world evangelism that integrates ethnic motifs to the music.  The album opens with a children's choir singing in their native language (Navajo, I believe), and "The Other Side of the World" talks about how the gospel has made the world smaller and more accessible to truth.   In "Such a Thing as Glory," the title is insistently chanted by a youthful group of singers with an East Asian feel; the song "...and I Love You" has a big chorus "whoa-oa-oa" that sounds like a Native American chant.  Rich is expanding his sound even as he expands his listeners' horizons.

The other common thread is a new emphasis on worship.  The aforementioned songs all have a sense of awe and wonder, as do "With the Wonder" and the album closer, "How Can I Keep Myself from Singing?"  These tunes begin to speak of the role of nature as a setting and a voice for worship that is rooted in the Franciscan traditions that Mullins had begun to embrace.  This trend would continue through songs like "Calling out Your Name," "The Color Green," and "The Howling."  

So, it was a good thing that Rich gave it one last shot, as Winds is the record that made him a household name.  Not that it changed the way he went about his work; he didn't become a star, in fact, he became even more idiosyncratic and rough-hewn, bringing old time instruments and esthetics into his art from then on.  And "Awesome God" has become part of the tradition and worship lives of so many believers, even though it really isn't a true "congregational" song--as long as the congregation stays inside four walls.