Sacred Wonders 1997 Saw Several Artists Taking A Successful Turn At Creating Spiritually-Influenced Music

It’s been a strange year for pop music, but a handful of sacred wonders held it all together. Here, then, the Spirit 10 the year’s most spiritual recordings.

Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation, “God’s Property” (B-Rite/Interscope). There are those who think that what Franklin does - mix traditional gospel with funky breaks and hip-hop attitudes - is wrong, that it somehow makes a mockery of spirituality. The naysayers contend that the listener should rise to the level of sacred music to find its message, that the other way around is merely a bastardization that advertises salvation as commonly as an episode of “Moesha.”

Such pigheaded thinking is exactly why so many have steered clear of previous religious efforts - even gospel ones, the most immediate and accessible. Speak to people in their own terms, in their own sounds, and you’ll be surprised at how open they are to devotion. The sight of this thoroughly uplifting wonder near the top of the Billboard charts over the summer was as heartening a sight as a glimpse at Halley’s Comet is rare.

Erykah Badu, “Baduizm” (Universal). Badu didn’t just rechannel the whole of R&B into a new laidback form this year. She also gave it a transfusion of catholic soul and understanding, something that had long been banished out of Slow-Jam Land. “On & On” was day-to-day, I’llget-by living at its most comprehensible, but “Next Lifetime” and “Otherside of the Game” formed the album’s introspective core. Moving and passionate.

Beth Nielsen Chapman, “Sand and Water” (Warner Bros.). The world was fascinated by Elton John mourning Diana, Princess of Wales, in song; meanwhile, John was inspired by Chapman’s grieving over the death of her husband on this startling work, so much so that he forbade “Candle in the Wind 1997” from his live shows and substituted Chapman covers instead. It was the smartest move he made all year. This is a brave, learned meditation on sadness and loss bettered only by Patti Smith’s ominous “Gone Again.” Seek it out.

Wally Brill, “The Covenant” (Six Degrees/Island). It was a risky move, combining cantorial recordings from the ‘30s with modern techno and worldbeat flourishes. But production wiz Brill pulled it off spectacularly on this uneasy work and left a healthy-sized expanse open to our imaginations.

U2, “Pop” (Island). As critic Chris Willman put it, that’s pop as in “Hey, Dad,” as much as it’s pop as in “Pop Muzik.” U2’s latest wasn’t perfect - I still think it would have been far more wrenching had it been turned in sparsely - but its best moments (“Please,” “Mofo” and the bitter “Wake Up Dead Man”) were Bono-vs.-God questioning at its most intricate.

Sounds of Blackness, “Time for Healing” (Perspective/PolyGram). And what better way to get thyself healed than to chant Sly Stone’s “You Can Make It If You Try” at the top of your lungs? An inspired, culturally knowing effort.

The Supertones, “Supertones Strike Back!” (Tooth & Nail). At last, a Christian pop record - a lively ska one at that - whose message isn’t buried but also doesn’t hit you over the head with an anvillike thud. Some of the band’s intentions were plenty muddled, and it would be well-served by a history course or two, but the sound was pure joy.

Wingless Angels, “Wingless Angels” (Island Jamaica). Who would’ve thought that one of rock’s greatest hellions, Keith Richards, would bring to light something as heavenly as this troupe from Steer Town, Jamaica? The nayabinghi Rastafarian drummers communicate in a language so rich and textured you can’t help but be drawn to its rhythms.

Barbra Streisand, “Higher Ground” (Columbia). No, it’s not because Babs’ spiritually themed disc arrived with the same name as this column. It’s not even because she made the best record of her career. (Hardly.) It’s because that voice alone can reaffirm that there is a God. And her version of “Avinu Malkeinu” ain’t bad, either.

Seven Day Jesus, “Seven Day Jesus” (Forefront). The best thing you didn’t hear in Christian rock this year. It’s marvelously catchy through every track and spools out its underlying purpose in a relatable, down-to-earth manner. Should be on radio. A crime that it isn’t.