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| SWB by Scott Wesley Brown (1981) Sparrow Records | SPR 1049 |
Producer:
Dan Collins
File Under: Inspirational / MOR / CCM
Time Capsule-Worthy Track:
This Little Child
SWB.
Is this the only CCM album to ever be titled after the artist's initials? You'd think Michael W. Smith might've put out MWS at some point, but I don't think he ever did. And to my knowledge Steven Curtis Chapman never released one called SCC...did he?
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| 1974 |
Scott Wesley Brown is in a small club that's getting smaller all the time: he got his start during the Jesus Movement and he's still active today. Sometimes compared to Gordon Lightfoot, Brown was a shaggy-haired singer-songwriter who stood alongside Larry Norman, Randy Matthews, and other Jesus Rock pioneers in the 1970s.
As he matured, his music did as well, providing airplay fodder for the growing number of Christian radio stations that began to pop up around the country in the 1980s. Easy listening ballads and worship became his forte.
Vocally, Brown was sort of an everyman. He did not possess the pipes of a Matthew Ward or a Bob Carlisle, nor could he hit the high notes of a Greg X. Volz or Bryan Duncan. But his warm baritone was the perfect vehicle for the comforting lyrics that flowed from his songwriting pen. Brown became a prolific songwriter, with no fewer than nine #1 songs on Christian radio. His songs were covered by artists as diverse as Petra, Pat Boone, Sandi Patty, Amy Grant, the Imperials and even Plácido Domingo.
By the time SWB hit store shelves in 1981, Scott Wesley Brown had left rock and roll in the rearview mirror. This album fits squarely into the world of Inspirational CCM. CCM historian Mark Allan Powell said that "SWB displays more of an orchestrated pop style reminiscent of artists like Neil Diamond." Lyrically, most of the songs are experiential and testimony-driven. Close To You, written by Bruce Hibbard, was also covered by Andrus, Blackwood & Co. on their album Soldier of the Light.
Two songs off this record caused it to stand out: My Treasure and This Little Child.
Brown had a knack for writing good love songs from a Christian perspective, and My Treasure is fondly remembered as one of them. It's been sung at countless weddings over the years including the nuptials of one of President Reagan's daughters. The words are beautiful:
I don't need to follow any rainbow
Search the world to find my dream come true
I don't need a lucky star to guide me
I found my treasure in You
I don't need to climb another mountain
Set my sail across the seven seas
The paradise that I was always longing for
Is found when You love me
And now my greatest joy is loving You
The hope I lost was found and made anew
Now my lonely days are finally through
I have found my life in loving You
I don't need to pray a prayer unanswered
Make a wish that will never, never come true
For I have found my every answer
My every wish is You
This Little Child presented Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords...in a very powerful and comprehensive way. Despite clocking in at just under 6 minutes, the song became a smash hit on radio airwaves. It's a song that audiences insist that Brown still performs to this day.
He begins with Jesus' birth and earthly ministry:
Who would have thought that long ago, so very far away
A little Child would be born and in a manger laid
And who would have thought this little Child was born the King of kings
The Son of just a carpenter, but for Whom the angels sing
And who would have thought that as He grew and with other children played
This Child with Whom they laughed and sang would die for them someday
And who would have thought this little Child could make a blind man see
Feed the hungry, make rich the poor, and set the sinner free
Oh who would have thought this little Child was who the prophets said
Would take away the sins of man and rise up from the dead
Oh, I believe and I will always sing
This little Child is the King
Oh, I believe and I will always sing
This little Child
He is the King of kings
Then he transitions into a description of ills plaguing America in modern times and how Jesus is still the answer:
Many years have come and gone, yet this world remains the same
Empires have been built and fallen, only time has made a change
Nation against nation, brother against brother
Men so filled with hatred, killing one another
And over half the world is starving while our banner of decency is torn
Debating over disarmament, killing children before they're born
And fools who march to win the right to justify their sin
Oh, every nation that has fallen has fallen from within
Yet in the midst of this darkness, there is a hope, a light that burns
This little Child, the King of kings someday will return
And I believe and I will always sing
This little Child is the King
And I believe and I will always sing
This little Child
He is the King of kings
Who would have thought this little Child is Who the prophets said
Will return to judge this world, the living and the dead
Oh, can't you see that long ago, so very far away
This little Child, our only hope, was born a King that day
And can't you see that here and now, as unto Him we pray
This Lord of lords who is our hope is still King today
He's still the King today
This Little Child would certainly be included on any list of the top CCM songs of all time.
SWB was voted one of the Top 5 releases of 1981 by Campus Life magazine. Meanwhile, CCM magazine said it was "a treasure of well-wrought MOR/inspirational songs arranged with high drama yet delivered with obvious and simple sincerity."
Scott Wesley Brown later developed an intense awareness and keen focus on missions, playing concerts in countries around the world and ministering to people who were hungry for Jesus, not just seeking an autograph. He has also pastored a church and is an ordained minister.
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| L-R: Dallas Holm, Barry McGuire, Scott Wesley Brown, Matthew Ward and Michael Card on a "Christian Classics" cruise |
Brown has recorded more than 25 albums over the past 4 decades or so. He still plays concerts, preaches, leads worship, pens blog posts, even plays on CCM-themed Alaskan cruises.
Scott Wesley Brown continues to faithfully proclaim the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen.
Scott has never impressed me as a guy who cared much about awards shows, #1 singles, and the like. "I would say my greatest highlights have taken place overseas where I've been privileged to minister in third world countries and seen the dedication and faithfulness of believers who are in the midst of tremendous suffering yet worship with total abandon," Scott told Timothy Yap in a 2014 interview. "Even though they are poor or persecuted they have humble and grateful hearts. This has shaped my entire approach to ministry. Being in fellowship with these precious brothers and sisters is greater than any award or commercial success I could have in the Christian Music Industry."
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| Scott and his wife Belinda |
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