As implausible as it may seem in the current era of rapidly-disappearing Christian record labels, Word Records' history winds back some 50 years to its starting point in east central Texas. Word was founded in the spring of 1951 by Jarrell McCracken, a 23 year-old radio sportscaster for Waco's KWTX, and two of McCracken's fellow Baylor University graduates. The label's first release was the 1951 single "The Game of Life," which featured McCracken's narration of an imaginary football contest between the forces of good and evil. In the decades that followed, Word formed a host of auxiliary labels to cover particular subsections of the expanding sacred music genre, including Southern gospel, contemporary Christian music and black gospel. In 1984, largely as a result of Amy Grant's enormous success in the Christian music arena, Word inked a pioneering deal with A&M Records for distribution of Word product in the general market. The company formed a similar alliance with Epic/Sony in 1990. In 1992, Word Records was bought by Thomas Nelson Publishers and moved to Nashville.
Beginning with a clip of McCracken's "The Game of Life," Word Gold features 35 tracks culled from the label's massive back catalog. As much as anything else, the double-disc compilation bears testimony to the overall commercial success enjoyed by Word's stable of artists. First Call's engaging blend of a cappella-styled vocals and pop-minded compositions has placed 19 of the trio's songs, including Gold's "Undivided," in the Top 20 since the group's formation in the early 1980s. Likewise, the heart-wrenching 1993 anthem "I Will Be Free" serves as a souvenir of the year that Cindy Morgan garnered five Dove nominations and an equal number of Top Five singles. "Circle of Friends" is one of an unprecedented string of 21 consecutive Number One hits for Point of Grace. And, of course, Amy Grant, whose worship classic "Thy Word" now appears in church hymnbooks nationwide, has amassed accolades and awards far too numerous to count during her two and a half decades as Christian music's most successful artist.
Perhaps more importantly, though, the collection serves as an invaluable timeline of religious music, tracking its stylistic metamorphoses and highlighting many of its most important artists. The austere, folky atmosphere and spiritually direct lyrics of former coffeehouse singer Honeytree's wonderfully minimalist "Clean Before My Lord" hark back to the blossoming stages of the early '70s Jesus movement. Swedish pop singer Evie's "Special Delivery," on the other hand, is fitted with the glossier soft rock textures that filled adult contemporary radio during the latter part of the decade. "Praise the Lord" marks the Imperials' infusion of contemporary pop elements into their trademark Southern gospel textures at the onset of the '80s. Bruce Carroll's "Who Will Be Jesus" and Petra's "Beyond Belief" serve as worthy tokens of Christian radio's full-on embracing of country and arena rock by the early 1990s. And "Heaven," from the 1995 Live ... He Will Come release, bears witness to Shirley Caesar's unrelenting vitality some 40 years after her career start with the Southern gospel ensemble the Caravans.
Of course, it goes without saying that anyone other than the album's compilers would probably have chosen a different array of songs for the Gold collection. Such potential divergence is likely due, at least in part, to the fact that, while 144 minutes is certainly a hefty running time for the two disc anthology, a musical logbook as extensive and diverse as the Word Records catalog arguably warrants a full-blown boxed set in order to cover it effectively. The compilation does lean a bit heavily on newer artists, too, pulling over half of its tracks from the 1990s and 2000. But given the relatively recent upsurge in the popularity of Christian music, such a choice of songs, while somewhat lacking in its chronological breadth, is at least representative of the genre's proliferation over the last decade and a half. All in all, Word Gold strikes an amicable compromise between length and listenability, and its extensive, well-written liner notes add nicely to the set's already solid sense of organization. For casual listeners, Gold offers a generous serving of familiar favorites together with a nominal sampling of older songs to pique their interest. For the well-seasoned devotee, though, the Gold compilation is an indispensable historical guide which faithfully maps the important and intriguing course that popular Christian music has navigated over its first fifty years.
4.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2001Reviewed by Zik JacksonIt's hard to believe that Word Records is fifty years old, but it's true. It was in 1950 that Baylor University student Jarrell McCracken recorded "The Game of Life" on vinyl records and made copies for friends who requested them. Since that first project, Word has continued to produce quality music and over time has become the premiere record company in the Christian music space. Celebrating old…
