Published on Dec 31, 1999
Over the past 12 years, Margaret Becker has recorded 10
remarkable albums. Generally in a career of that length there’s
been at least one clunker. Not for Becker. Not only has each album
built upon the success of the next, but she’s never been afraid to
mix and match styles and genres as desired.
For
What Kind Of Love, Becker has taken elements from the
success of her last two albums, 1998’s
Falling Forward (orchestrations) and 1995’s
Grace (synth-pop) and combined them in new, exciting, and
arresting ways. When was the last time you put in a new disc and
found yourself unable to go about your normal daily routine because
the sounds, textures, and words of the songs playing had you
entranced?
Such an album is
What Kind Of Love.
Allowing for Becker’s songwriting and singing talents, much of
the credit for the auditory pleasures of this release, must go to
producer Tedd Tjornhom, who came on board to shake things up with
Falling Forward and thankfully has stuck around for the
follow up. Tjornhom has deepened, and simplified, Becker’s sound –
while adding new sounds and textures she never tried before.
And Becker’s voice, always an otherworldly, earthy, and sensuous
pleasure, absolutely captivates. Her singing is as assured as I’ve
ever heard her, but more than that, it’s authoritative in way
that’s non-demanding. She doesn’t have to sing with authority – she
simply has it.
In “Friend For Life” Becker sings to a friend in crisis that she
wants to introduce her to someone who will be a “friend for
life.”
“I want to be the one to tell you/To tell it like it is/To let
you know the God of love will never leave your side.”
But, the song realizes that a relationship with God cannot be
forced and the friend in pain is assured that belief in God is not
a prerequisite of the friendship continuing.
“I don’t want to force you to have faith/And you know no matter
what you do/I’m gonna love you anyway/The only thing that
matters/Is that you know you’re not alone/’Cause Love will stay
here with you/Long after I’m gone”
The theme of the disc is finding the treasures in the darkness
as described in Isaiah 45:3. In other words, finding the good that
comes out of the suffering we encounter in our lives. Becker calls
the project “an upbeat album about suffering.”
Margaret Becker, the songwriter, has also matured over the last
decade or so. Whether writing alone or co-writing with the likes of
Chris Eaton, Robbie Nevil, and Lowell Alexander, Becker takes
reality and infuses it with spirituality in a way many Christian
songwriters can’t – or won’t.
What do I mean? In the title song, Becker writes, with Eaton,
about the marvel that the God of Heaven would choose the human
heart as His habitation – the same heart that scorned and murdered
His son.
“I’ll spend my lifetime wondering why/The beauty of heaven chose
here in my heart/To pour out His perfect gift/What kind of love is
this?/The beauty of heaven would pierce His own heart to give me
this perfect gift.”
The song is enhanced by the jazzy feel of the keyboards (Byron
Hagan) that run in and out of the song.
The song that best expresses the theme of “treasures in the
darkness” is the gorgeous ballad “I Won’t Be Persuaded.” Written
with Henk Pool, this song admits that humans cannot always make
sense out of why God, who could make all the hurt and suffering in
our lives stop, doesn’t. Why does He allow suffering when He could
take it away?
The song offers no answers to that question other than faith —
faith in the One who has brought you through so many other
difficulties — but faith is the only answer.
“Sometimes I’m lost/In the land of questioning/And I rub
together timeless truths/Like flint and stone in the rain/And I
don’t understand where You are in all this/Still I wait and hope
and pray and wish.”
That’s a lyric about suffering.
The answer, if we can have one, is provided in the very next
song, “Love By Your Side.” Sung from God’s point of view, the song
asks the listener if they really want to know God because if they
do, He is always right there with them – even in the midst of
suffering.
“All this time I’ve been waiting/I’ve been waiting in the
wings/Hoping you would look at Me and let Me in because/All your
life/I wanna be the one you run to/I wanna stand by you/In
everything you go through, tell me/What will it take until you
believe in Me?/’Cause I’m hoping that you’ll look My way.”
It’s always tricky to try to write a song from God’s point of
view – kind of presumptuous if you know what I mean – but this
simple mid-tempo pop song seems to capture the care, love, and
concern of God tempered with His insistence that He will not force
a relationship.
“If you wanna feel love by your side/If you’re looking for
someone you never seem to find/Turn around and look in My
eyes/’Cause I’ve always been right here by your side.”
Wow. If we can hang on to that thought with all the faith we
have, however much that is, what a comfort it can be. Even – and
especially – when we don’t see Him, God is right there if we just
look for Him.
Other highlights:
· A remake of the Staples Singers song, “Hope In A
Hopeless World” that grooves righteously
· “One More Reason” written with Nevil, which is a
straight-ahead pop song written as a love song to God.
· “All That’s Left” about being willing to be completely
broken in order to move closer to Christ’s side.
Becker is as fresh a voice in the CCM industry now as she was 12
years ago when she first appeared on the scene with her
rock-oriented
Never For Nothing. The fact that
Never For Nothing is still a great listen, even though
Becker has moved far from that initial rock and roll posture, only
makes the accomplishment of
What Kind Of Love seem all the more significant.