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Ryan Gosling: Hollywood's Finest

Nick Johnstone

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Acclaimed for his good looks as much as his searing acting ability, Canadian actor Ryan Gosling...

Notes from the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest

Donald Cozzens

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Now in paperback with a new epilogue--the widely discussed call for a new and open Catholic church...

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

David Platt

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WHAT IS JESUS WORTH TO YOU? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers...

Emeli Sande recommended track Amazing Grace by Aretha Franklin in Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings by Aretha Franklin in Music (curated)

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Amazing Grace by Aretha Franklin

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"Aretha is another phenomenon. The thing I love, now that we have YouTube, is watching the divas talk about one another. There seems to be this real respect for one another, and a real hierarchy! Every diva knew that Aretha was the queen, and she would give her blessing to the others. I love that there was this order! ""Aretha – she’s amazing – with her roots in gospel music. That was such a big influence to me. I loved listening to her gospel album, and you can really see where the freedom that you hear in her pop songs comes from. They’re riffing and she’s letting the Spirit take over her, and she’s so good at playing piano that it translates into the keys as well, similar to how it did with Nina. There are lots of different versions of “Amazing Grace” out there, but I really felt like the lyric had this new gravitas once I’d heard her sing it. ""Recently I went to see the movie Amazing Grace, about the recording of her gospel album. To actually see footage of her giving that performance was pretty mind-blowing. She’s just in the moment; sweating from the energy she’s giving the crowd, and the choir! It was a beautiful moment to watch, and Aretha will forever be a massive influence in everything that I do. ""My Dad is Zambian, and when I go and visit, my aunties and my Grandma and cousins often sing together. The harmonies and the ensemble gives me the same feeling as when I hear gospel music. If you’re ignoring or suppressing emotions, this music and these sounds will just pull everything up and give you this incredible cleansing. ""There’s something about gospel music. When I was younger and listening to the divas, I hadn’t really heard much gospel music. My Dad played me a Kirk Franklin album, and for me initially, it was just the crunch of the chords that the choir was singing and this mass of people singing so perfectly in such unusual harmonies, and then on top of that, these are people singing with belief they’re singing to God. ""When I step inside a church, I feel different. I think it’s just the energy and the intention that people are singing with and have come together in. Whatever faith you have, I think that makes a world of difference. Gospel music is just such a special, higher form of music for me, and it can really make me so emotional. It’s such a great thing that, regardless of your beliefs, we can still come together through music and vibrations of love."

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