Last week someone featured a song from Eric Clapton’s, “Journeyman” album. It had been awhile since listening to it, so I pulled it out this morning while doing the dishes. It’s a very enjoyable easy listening album. When I got to the song, “Running on Faith,” it gave me an idea to do a playlist with faith as the common thread. I’m thinking of a couple of good songs that have faith in them. If you can think of any I missed, please post them in the comments section. We can make this a Faith Fest. As one of my favorite inspirational religious figures, Robert Schuller, says, “Tough times never last; tough people do.” Have faith!

“Journeyman” is the eleventh solo studio album by Eric Clapton. Heralded as a return to form for Clapton, who had struggled with alcohol addiction and had recently found sobriety, the album has a 1980s electronic sound, but it also includes blues songs like “Before You Accuse Me”, “Running on Faith”, and “Hard Times.” “Bad Love” was released as a single, reaching the No. 1 position on the Album Rock Chart, and being awarded a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1990. “Pretending” had also reached the No. 1 position on the Album Rock Chart the previous year, remaining at the top for five weeks (“Bad Love” had only stayed for three weeks). The album reached number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and 16 on the Billboard 200 chart, and it went on to become double platinum in the US. Clapton has said Journeyman is one of his favourite albums.

Looking at wikipedia, there are a ton of musicians who contributed their talents to the album!

Running on Faith is my choice, written by Jerry Lynn Williams.

 

 

I played the grooves off the next album, “Faith,” by George Michael. What a perfect title track. If this album isn’t on Rolling Stones’ list, it should be.

Faith is the debut studio album by the English singer George Michael, released on 30 October 1987 by Columbia Records and Epic Records. In addition to playing various instruments on the album, Michael wrote and produced every track on the recording except for one, “Look at Your Hands”, which he co-wrote with David Austin. A “black” inspired pop-R&B album, Faith’s songs include introspective lyrics, which generated controversies about Michael’s personal relationships at that time.

Faith peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart and US Billboard 200. It stayed for 51 non-consecutive weeks inside the Billboard 200 top 10, including 12 weeks at number one. It was also the first album by a white solo artist to hit number one on the Billboard Top Black Albums chart. Faith spawned four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “Faith”, “Father Figure”, “One More Try”, and “Monkey”, making Michael the only British male solo artist to have four number one hits from one album on the Billboard Hot 100.

I bought Bruce Springsteen’s “Lucky Town” and “Human Touch” together as they came out the same day. Although I’ve listened to “Human Touch” way more than “Lucky Town,” this one from “Lucky Town” sticks out for me.

Lucky Town is the tenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released on March 31, 1992. Lucky Town peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, with “Better Days” (paired with Human Touch’s “Human Touch”) peaking at number one on the Mainstream Rock and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lucky Town has since sold over one million copies in the United States.

“Leap of Faith” is my choice from this album, written by Bruce.

 

 

Pearl Jam music has been a source of strength for me for a long time. They’ve been through a string of drummers but the rest of the group has been the same for 20+ years. Their songs are inventive and have the ring of truth about them.

“Lightning Bolt” is the tenth studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Produced by long-time Pearl Jam collaborator Brendan O’Brien, the album was released in the United States on October 15, 2013, through the band’s own Monkeywrench Records, with Republic Records handling the international release.

“Getaway” is my choice, the opening track for an album with several excellent songs on it.

 

 

“Gord’s Gold,” is one of my favorite albums, one that’s been played infinity-plus-one times.

Gord’s Gold is a compilation album released by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in 1975. Originally a vinyl double album, it was reissued on CD in 1987 (with one track, “Affair on 8th Avenue”, omitted to allow the collection to fit onto a single disc).

The first Lightfoot compilation to feature music from his 1970s Reprise Records albums, Gord’s Gold also includes re-recorded versions of several songs from his 1960s United Artists output (Sides 1 and 2). This served to update the earlier songs to the same style as his later work and gives the album a level of consistency often lacking in similar compilations. Lightfoot’s reasons for re-recording the United Artists tracks were explained in the liner notes as being because “he doesn’t like listening to his early work”.

Despite covering only the first decade of his career (and lacking one of his biggest hit singles, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, which was recorded the following year), Gord’s Gold has remained the most commercially popular Lightfoot compilation. Of note, the 45 remix of “If You Could Read My Mind” appears here. In 1988 Lightfoot released a second volume, Gord’s Gold, Vol. 2, which also featured re-recordings of earlier hits.

“Cold on the Shoulder” is my choice from it, written by Gordon.

 

I will leave you with this gem that I just found by chance on youtube: