CCM Encyclopedia

By Mark Allan Powell

 

Erick Nelson

http://ericknel.home.attbi.com

1976–Flow, River Flow (Maranatha); 1979–The Misfit [w/ Michele Pillar]; 1980–Pickin’ Up the Pieces: Decade in Review.

 

Erick Nelson was one of the Jesus music pioneers associated with Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California. He was a member of the bands Selah and Good News and also played keyboards and bass guitar with many other groups. Nelson made one classic solo album and recorded another project as a short-lived duo he formed with Michele Pillar. Nelson has said that he felt like something of a “misfit” among the Calvary Chapel “Jesus freaks” since he did not come out of the hippie culture of street life and drug experimentation.

 

He was raised a Lutheran in California and went to Pomona College where he majored in Philosophy. He says that he had come to question the faith of his childhood and was no longer a believer, but came to a new experience of Christianity as a vibrant reality at the beginning of his sophomore year. His testimony includes reference to a mystical dream or vision that he had of Jesus on the cross in shining red and white, but the dominant factor in his “conversion” was the influence of an Episcopalian priest named Cameron Harriot. Nelson describes Harriot as “the first person I ever met who I was certain really knew God.” Harriot also introduced him to such academic influences as C. S. Lewis and St. Francis of Assisi.

 

Nelson had been part of a successful vocal group called Friends but his awakened spirituality led him to leave that group in order to sing about Jesus. This decision was at least in part influenced by visits to Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, where he was impressed by the ministry potential of Love Song.

 

At any rate, he ended up joining Selah for two years (1971-1973) and then formed Good News with Bill Batstone, David Diggs, Yvonne Lewis, and a sixteen-year-old Bob Carlisle. Nelson wrote and sang the best and best-known songs by both of those groups (Selah’s “He Lives”; Good News’ “Pickin’ Up the Pieces”). Around this time, Nelson also sang a solo version of “Set My Spirit Free” on The Praise Album (Maranatha, 1974), the record that was to initiate modern praise and worship music and change Christian liturgical practices in America forever. Most of the Jesus people did not know the song (a traditional spiritual); for them, it became closely associated with the man who introduced it to them and for several years Nelson was misidentified by young pietists as “the man who wrote ‘Set My Spirit Free’.” Even in 2002, his version of the song would remain the best known rendition in contemporary Christian music. He later sang “Christ in Me” on the Praise 2 album (Maranatha, 1976) and “Fairest Lord Jesus” (the hymn better known as “Beautiful Saviour”) on a collection of hymns called Hosanna (Maranatha, 1979).

 

For a time, he played bass and toured with Danny Lee and the Children of Truth and with Harold Brinkley (who he would still describe thirty years later as “hands-down the best speaker I ever heard”).

         

Nelson’s solo album Flow, River, Flow is dedicated to a group of people called The Wheelchair Gang. The latter were a semi-community of disabled persons who shared an apartment complex, rescued persons like them from convalescent homes, and came as a group to many Calvary Chapel concerts and activities. Nelson’s brother David Nelson was stricken with an undiagnosed degenerative disease that ultimately took his life in 1979. Before his death, David Nelson became something of a hero to many Christians, appearing on Robert Schuller’s television program and in other forums. Schuller devoted one chapter of a book about “amazing people” to telling his story and, some twenty years after his death, mentioned David Nelson in a sermon as “the best example he knew” of a person with a positive attitude. The title track of Nelson’s solo album takes notice of such persons and calls upon Christians to remember those who it is easy to forget.

 

Likewise, “Moving On” offers a tribute to the late Bill Sprouse, Jr. (of The Road Home), also something of “a misfit” on account of his physical bulk. The song “Something Happened To You” became the album’s best-known number because it was also included on the popular compilation disc, Maranatha 5 (Maranatha, 1976). It has a rock feel with Traditional Gospel backup (“Glory Hallelu-ya / somethin’s happened to ya”) and soulful saxophone. Lyrically, it expresses wonderment at the spiritual transformation observable in a female friend. “He Gave Me Love,” featured on Maranatha 6 (Maranatha, 1977) is an adult contemporary piano ballad (with choral backing) testifying to the incomparable love of God. “Soldiers of the Cross” (featuring an introductory guest vocal by Michele Pillar, then Michele Takaoka) would receive some attention and later be included on a compilation CD (Best of Maranatha, Vol. 2, 1979). Flow, River, Flow was produced by Lenny Roberts, who had served as engineer on numerous hit singles by Sonny & Cher, Bobby Sherman and Johnny Rivers. David Foster (later to become a legendary Grammy-winning producer in his own right) did the arrangements and played additional keyboards. In 2001, Nelson would recollect that Foster gave him “the greatest musical compliment I ever got” when (while recording “Something Happened To You”) he said, “I can’t play this Elton John (stuff)–let Erick do it!” The well-known title track to the album actually began as a Friends song written by two members of Nelson’s former vocal band--Steve Berg and Don Stalker. Originally, the song conveyed the idea of “the river of success” flowing by a struggling artist. Nelson adapted the words and Berg and Stalker sang background vocals, as they did on much of the album.

         

In 1979, Nelson joined with friend Michele Pillar to record a concept album. The Misfit tells the story of a person who “doesn’t fit in,” of how he finds Christ, and of what happens to him thereafter. CCM chose the record as one of their Ten Best Albums of 1979 and, more than twenty years later, no less authority than Bob Bennett would relate, “The Misfit was an album way ahead of its time. The songs were challenging and sophisticated lyrically, in many ways open-ended as to interpretation . . . in short, the album gave listeners a lot of credit for having brains and taste and the ability to sort through for themselves. Perhaps not novel today, but back in prehistoric 1979, it’s a wonder the album even got made.” The record has a pop/rock sound consistent in quality with products by male-female duos of the era (The Captain and Tennille, The Carpenters, Peaches & Herb).

 

“Carry Me Along” is a gorgeous melodic ballad sung by Pillar about discovering guidance through the unpredictable ways of life. “Stand” is an upbeat rocker with lots of electric guitar. “Take Me To the Light” sounds like the sort of genetically engineered surprise that one might expect to result from a cross-fertilization of Elton John’s “Grow Some Funk of Your Own” with Larry Norman’s “Shot Down”–a piano-based rocker that extols resilience and persistence in the face of trials and temptations. The album also has three two-song medleys that present tunes that are thematically linked: 1) “Sail On” and “Can’t Find My Way Home” (not the Blind Faith song) seem to describe the loss of direction that can come upon those who plot their own course in life, seeking only freedom and independence; 2) “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” and “He’s Asleep” both have a certain (though perhaps ironic) lullaby quality. The first is one of the earliest recordings of what would ultimately become a classic Jimmy Webb song (voted one of “the ten most perfect songs of all time”). Nelson says that Larry Norman played Joe Cocker’s rendition of the song for him at a Vineyard Bible Study and suggested he do it. The second (“He’s Asleep”) was written by Nelson’s cousin Alf Clausen, who would later achieve some fame doing music for the television series The Simpsons; 3) “Love Hurts” and “He Gave Us Love” presents one of rock’s classic statements about the pain of love (a Top Ten song by Nazareth in 1976) in tandem with an affirmation of Christ’s sacrificial love for humanity. The album concludes with “The Martyr Song,” an anthemic tribute to persecuted heroes throughout the ages that is musically reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.”

         

Nelson and Pillar played college settings rather than churches and met with reasonable success. The Misfit was actually released by Maranatha on their new A&S imprint with hope of generating some crossover sales in the general market. Though that did not happen, the project did not go unnoticed. At one point, The Carpenters expressed interest in covering the duo’s “Moon’s a Harsh Mistress/He’s Asleep” medley (The Carpenters were very big on medleys) but they wanted to change a few words to the latter song and Clausen was reluctant to grant permission; negotiations were forestalled by Karen Carpenter’s tragic death.

         

Nelson developed a strong interest in the field of apologetics (offering rational defense for Christian beliefs and doctrine) in the early ‘70s and in 1978-79 he wrote a year-long research paper for John Warwick Montgomery at the Melodyland School of Theology. He taught a semester course on “Critical Thinking” (a class in logic) at Simon Greenleaf Law School and gave many presentations on the topic, “Why I Think Christianity is True.” For a time he hosted a radio series for station KYMS, interviewing college professors about why they thought Christianity was false and then offering his rebuttal.

 

In the early ‘80s, Nelson attended Claremont Graduate School and earned an M.A. in Philosophy. In 1983, he married and moved to Seattle, Washington where he pursued a career as a computer programmer. He has written an Internet book titled The Metaphorical Gospel Theory (posted at his website), which offers insightful critique of certain trends in modern “historical Jesus” studies and New Testament interpretation. As of 2002, Nelson was serving as Systems Development Project Manager for Airborne Express, performing only occasionally on request. He has, however, been more intentional than most of the Jesus music pioneers in keeping alive the traditions of that revival and providing a personal history of what happened and why. Nelson has posted a lengthy personal account of his remembrances, with access from his website or from www.one-way.org/jesusmusic/interviews/nelson.