Still, the name had been thrown around in music publications, and when I was in junior high school, I happened upon a copy of Harvest Rock Syndicate, which reviewed Red Moon after its release. The name The Call never went off my radar after that.
But little did I know that the band, and their frontman Michael Been, would have a stronger connection to one of the best songs of the 1980s than I realized.
My older sister Nikki usually introduced me to a lot of music that I ended up loving when I was a kid. Being 5 years older than me, she was able to hear better music more readily than I, because her friends were always passing around the newest releases. In 1987, she brought home the eponymous release from Russ Taff, whose music we had known from his album Medals, and I could hear her play the new record over and over again from her room. I'd borrow the cassettes whenever I could, and would occasionally dub them onto a blank tape so I could listen to it anytime I wanted (piracy in the '80s, kids). This happened with Amy Grant's Lead Me On, Michael W. Smith's i 2 (EYE), and the self-titled third album from the man, Russ Taff.
Taff covered song by two artists on his most rock-heavy album to date, a Charlie Peacock number called "Down in the Lowlands", and a strong rock track from Michael Been, the song that's next on my countdown, and deservedly so—"I Still Believe".
Before we look at the song, I'd like to take a moment to study the album as a whole.
I don't think anyone in the CCM world expected what they got on this album, especially after its predecessor, Medals, was chock full of adult contemporary radio-friendly singles with a couple of pop/rock tunes thrown in. Then in 1987, in drops this juggernaut of a release with a decidedly more rock-oriented approach, and the lead song is a thundering number called "Shake". If you weren't awake when you popped this album on and hit Play, you would be very shortly.
Full of heartfelt, searing vocal performances, it felt as though each song in this collection came from a place of struggle, of searching for answers. "Healing Touch", "This Love Is Strong", "Higher", and even the lead single "Walk Between the Lines" all sound like they come from a heart that's aching for something the owner can't attain, the process of walking in faith and not having things come to fruition the way they thought they would. If the follow-up album The Way Home sounded celebratory, then Russ Taff would stand out as the roughest part of the journey to that celebration.
Dropped in the middle of a cluster of phenomenal songs, Perhaps at once the most powerful and the most personal song on the entire album, "I Still Believe" showcases some of Taff's best vocal work on the record (which, on an album filled with powerhouse vocal cuts, might seem like par for the course). Musically, the band does a great job of recreating the original feel of The Call's version while improving on it, bringing a fuller sound and greater intensity to the song.
As for the lyrics and the vocal performance, it's top-notch all the way through. You can feel the anguish, the hurt, the pain, the hope, the struggle swirling throughout Taff's voice, even in the vocalization BEFORE we get to the first verse. It's as though he's daring you to feel what he feels, like he knows that you've struggled with the same thing he has, and this is a shared experience between you.
For people like us in places like this
We need all the hope that we can get
I believe
Through the shame and the grief
Through the heartache
Through the tears
Through the waiting and oh, the years
I still believe
I must believe
I was 11 when I heard this song for the first time, and while I couldn't relate to Taff's experiences, I couldn't deny the power present in what I was hearing. It was a prayer mixed with a declaration, someone understanding what lay ahead of them, but caught in the current of their pain. Even today, this song breaks through any veneer of nostalgia to remind me of the healing, cathartic power of singing your heart out when you feel as though the circumstances of life have you pinned down.
This is the mark of a great artist, I feel, the ability to transform a piece into a definitive moment. As a musician and a performer myself, I know what it's like to take a song and make a completely heartfelt statement out of it, one that transcends the song itself and creates something of its own existence. Taff's version of this song is, far and above, the best I've heard from anyone. As much as I would love to someday perform a cover of this song, I'm convinced it wouldn't be nearly as good as this version.
If I had to put the feeling of this song into a visual, and I'm being completely serious here, it would be similar to the frustrated dancing scene in Footloose . . .
. . . and I'm not saying that to be funny. As cheesy as the movie Footloose is at times, and as lampooned as this setpiece has been over the years (the best is probably this scene from Hot Rod), you can't deny the power of the emotion present here.
Taff's version of "I Still Believe" is perhaps the strongest performance of that song in existence, the best song on that album, and one of the best songs of Taff's career. For all those reasons, and the fact that it's a timeless reminder of clinging to hope while still in the darkness, it stands at #3 on my list of the top CCM songs of the 1980s.
Previous entries in this series:
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #21
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #20
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #19
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #18
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #17
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #16
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #15
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #14
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - Honorable Mention
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #13
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #12
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #11
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #10
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #9
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #8
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #7
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #6
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #5
Top CCM Songs of the 1980s - #4
There Is No Box.
Zach
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