SONGWRITING
THE CUTTING EDGE … 25 YEARS LATER | Kevin MacDougall
I remember being a kid in church . I especially remember the songs - their sound , their format , and their melodies and chord changes . I remember what “ worship ” sounded like then .
And I remember when everything changed .
I was there .
Maybe you were there , too .
In the mid-90 ’ s a great shift took place in church music . Originating in Littlehampton on the south coast of the UK , the band we now know as ‘ Delirious ?’ had begun to take form in 1992 as ‘ The Cutting Edge Band ’ - named after the youth outreach events for which they provided a soundtrack . Martin Smith , Stu G , Tim Jupp , Stewart Smith , and Jon Thatcher would ultimately prove to be the voice of a generation , and they didn ’ t leave the world the same way they found it .
As with another British Invasion , there was a time when the Cutting Edge music was only known to people in the UK . But it grew , eventually spilling over to America and elsewhere . Suddenly , you could be a suburban kid catching glimpses of these new church anthems , like a sunrise brimming over the eastern horizon .
It was a real moment .
Consider this handful of songs from their early output :
“ I Could Sing of Your Love Forever " “ The Happy Song ” “ Shout to the North ” " Lord You Have My Heart ” “ Obsession ” “ Thank You For Saving Me ” “ I ’ m Not Ashamed ” “ Find Me In the River ” “ Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble ?”
These songs ( and others ) were featured across four separate releases known as the Cutting Edge EPs . It ’ s a staggering output for a band that still had so many other massive songs in them . “ Deeper ,” “ Sanctify ,” and " History Maker " would all be released to the world in 1997 on the King of Fools album , with songs like “ Majesty ,” “ Our God Reigns ,” “ My Glorious ,” “ Rain Down ,” “ God You Are My God ” and others to come on later releases , until the band finished its output as a collective in 2009 .
Some of my favorite work they ever did wasn ’ t even all that “ congregational ” in nature . Their 1999 album Mezzamorphis was aimed at a general audience , and featured tracks like
“ Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble ” “ Find Me In the River ” “ Sanctify ” live at Wembley Stadium