Customer Reviews

The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume 1

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I love Rich Mullins' music. All of his recordings are among my favorites. Yet, "The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume 1" is something special. Rich Mullins didn't make any mediocre or bad music. That said, I believe that this could possibly be my favorite Rich Mullins album. All the songs have something to do with the sometimes hidden, sometimes quite visible presence of God in the world. There isn't a bad song on the disc. Each one is excellent.

The opening track, "Step by Step," begins with the lone voice of a child. Rich then repeats what the child has sung as instrumentation is slowly added. The song is about following God in a "step by step," day by day way. This theme is picked up in the next song: "boy like me/Man like You". It is a wonderful song about trying to find out what Jesus was like and trying to grow up (in our faith) to be like Him.

The song "Where You Are" is not only a favorite of mine, but also of my daughter. She likes it because it sets easily grasped biblical imagery (Jonah in the whale; Daniel in the lion's den; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo in the furnace...) to a great tune. I like it for that too...but I love it for its lyrics. Two examples: "Oh you'll meet the Lord in the furnace / A long time before you meet Him in the sky" and "And where you are ain't where you wish that you was / Well your life ain't easy and the road is rough / But where you are is where He promised to be / From the ends of the world to every point of a need."

While I'm on the topic of beautiful lyrics...One would be extremely hard pressed to find more beautiful lyrics than those of "Jacob and 2 Women." It is a touching song about the biblical story of the relationships between Jacob and his two wives: Leah and Rachel. "The Howling" is another very moving song. It mixes lyrical references to Christ as our redeemer and imagery of the U.S. government's oppression of native Americans. I don't claim to fully understand the song, but to me at least, the key verse is: "'Cause I can see a people dispossessed / Broken and brave in the face of so much fear / Driven from their homes by the greed of a nation / Whose treaties were as good as the litter Along the trail of their tears / I can see the Covenant colors / The sun and the rain have woven against the blue of the sky / And I know if we live we will live by His promise / I know He who made it and / I'm sure that He would not lie." I may be way off base here, but this sounds like a call to live as the people of God rather than as followers of an all-too fallible man-made nation.

"Calling Out Your Name" is a masterpiece of a song. Rich was great at writing songs that praised God through use of nature imagery. "Calling Out Your Name" is one of the best songs in this genre. "Who God is Gonna Use" reminds me a lot of Rich's song "Screen Door" from his earlier "Pictures In The Sky" album. It takes a lesson from scripture and explores it in a musically inventive and entertaining way.

"The River" is a melancholy love song. It contains some of the most beautiful lyrics and piano playing on the disc. The song "I See You" is the climax of the disc. It begins faintly--much like "Step by Step" did to open the disc. The choir's echoing of Rich is wonderful. The song speaks of just how visible God can be when we have eyes to see. It also echoes the truth of Isaiah 40:8 "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." The disc then closes with a reprise of "Step by Step."

I love this disc. You will too. I not only recommend it; I urge you to get a copy.

I have most of the Rich Mullins collection. I have to say that this one is by far my favorite. Each song is masterfully done and each has a deep meaning, something I have noticed with all the works of Rich. I have enjoyed hearing his Christian journey expressed through his music. While I like each song on this album, the first three are my favorites.

I love how this CD starts with a young male tenor with extreme clarity singing "Oh God you are my God..."(Step by Step). It is simply beautiful.

The next selection is "boy like me/man like you" where Rich likens his birth, childhood and growing up years with what Jesus' life was like. The comparisons really make you think about Jesus really being God and a Man; a man like you and me.

The third selection is "Where are you." It talks about different "insignificant" people of the Bible who did powerful things for God and how God protected them.

This CD gets an A+ rating. You will not be disappointed with the purchase of this great CD.

A great album from the first song, "Step by step", to the last. It's wonderful to have someone write lyrics that's not sugar-coated like so many of today's christian music. Rich doesn't go for cliches in any of his albums and especially does a great job of talking about the stories of the Bible in this album. No other person with the exception of Carmen can do it but Rich does it with his "best rhyme and rhythm" as he sang in "Here in America". He was the only writer who can write such lyrics with utter depth, honesty, and truth.

I could just feel the yearning for Jesus in these songs; especially in "the howling", "calling out your name", and "I can see you". I love to sing in "I can see you" along with the children choir who echoes Rich. This one ranks up there with the Jesus Record and Liturgy, legagay, and a raggamuffin band.

A musician's album. Why this collection isn't more universally recognized by critics for its musical and lyrical genius is anyone's guess.

This is yet another triumph in the catalog of Rich Mullins. Rich recorded some of his finest work on this CD and its companion. The more noteworthy tracks on this album include:
Where You Are
Jacob and 2 Women
Calling Out Your Name
Who God is Gonna Use
I See You
A must have for any Christian music fan!

Rich was a master of music, and this album is proof. From the beautiful praise song "I See You" (which became one of his anthems) to the heart-wrenching "The River" to faster songs such as "The Howling", this album has everything, and is one of the best ones he ever did.

Exceptional talent. Listening to this album is a spiritual experience. Every song speaks volumes.

Rich released some of his best music on The World As Best As I Remember It, Volumes 1 and 2. He always had fresh, new ways of looking at old ideas, and challenged traditional thinking, presenting new and profound ideas, which were perhaps, rather than new, old ideas and truths reborn. I genuinely wish I would have had the chance to meet this man who gave his life and his earnings to helping them less fortunate than himself.

Common wisdom has it that "A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band" is Mullins' masterpiece, and "The World as Best as I Remember It, Vol 1" is a slightly less great album that points to his magnum opus. I disagree. For one thing, an artist is capable of more than one masterpiece (see Dylan, Stones; or, among Christian artists, Larry Norman, Daniel Amos, Mark Heard)... Personally, I prefer this album over "A Liturgy" (which IMO has a great first half and some weaker songs on "side 2"). The AMG review states that it would have been better if, instead of releasing 2 volumes, the "best songs" from each would have been combided into one CD. I strongly disagree; there's not a weak song on Volume 1 (unlike Vol. 2), and holds together very well as a unified album (again, unlike vol 2). There's so much going on here: the beautiful, evocative piano melodies, the restless percussion work, the differing tonal colors of various acoustic instruments, the nice hybrid and melange of differing folk styles (African chorus, Celtic melodies, Appalachian folk, etc.). A beautiful album.

The world as best as I remember it vol 1 blew me away. Right from the first note I was hooked. If I was forced to pick out two favourites it would be track 6 and 9 but they are all so moving. I am quite new to Rich's work. I saw a documentary about him on the God Channel and felt an affinity with him. When I play this album I feel as though he's with me which helps me when I am writing my own songs. I will buy all of his albums one by one as I just love his work (it's no wonder God took him early).