Something New and Old

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Author and friend
Mark Buchanan

“How good and pleasant it,” the Psalmist exclaimed, “when brothers dwell together in unity.” And then he evokes an image whose appeal, at first blush, is hard for us to grasp: “It’s like oil,” he says, oil poured over a man’s head, running down his beard, soaking into his clothes. Isn’t that what they do at stag parties and hazing rites? But this is an image of priestly anointing – being set apart for God, marked out for His purposes.
Oil, the newest Russ Rosen CD, is a fitting tribute to the image. As “musician-aries,” Russ and his team over the last 10 years have travelled across Canada and around the world, bringing Christ’s message of reconciliation. How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. But how difficult, too. Apart from the oil of anointing, apart from the priestly acts of mercy and forgiveness and sacrifice, apart from the active work of the Spirit convicting and consoling, apart from the cross, all reconciliation falls woefully short.
The new CD grows out of the band’s wounds and prayers and victories in that ministry. The songs have to them the rawness and freshness of testimony. They are like desperate prayers, like dispatches from the front lines. From the rolling war drums of the opening track “Watchmen,” to the battle cries and urgent rhythm of “Warriors,” to the bluesy sassy rocker “Something’s Rattlin’,” to the serene perfection of “Radiant Beauty,” these songs themselves seem anointed, drenched and glistening and fragrant with oil. Russ has an earthy voice. Sometimes he moans with an aching like Jeremiah must have had when he saw Jerusalem plundered. Sometimes he hollers like David must have done when he ran toward Goliath. That voice, and his wife’s Sandy’s richly textured background vocals, and Kathleen Nisbet’s dazzling fiddle work – all add to the unguent quality of the whole.
The title track is particularly effective. Opening with a mournful harmonica riff like a distant train’s whistle, gathering steam with Russ’s percussive guitar, and building into one of Kathleen’s wild dizzying Irish reels breaking free like a runaway caboose, the song is at once both wistful and brimful of promise. By the end, you feel like you’re running headlong to catch that train, the wind with you.
The Russ Rosen Band manages to combine sounds at once festive and combative, a dancer’s jig, a warrior’s cry. This is music for a party or a battle. Or both. Which is exactly what it takes - a battle, a party - to see the Kingdom come.
Feeling a bit rusty? Get Oil, and use liberally.

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Sandy Rosen

the Northern Combine Tour in our bus Hector. Graham Ord and I travelled north from Vancouver to Fort Nelson with Callum Rees on Drums, John Bews on Bass, Brett Ziegler on Keys and Dave Vanderkwaak behind the wheel.