Mark D. Conklin- The Gospel According to Mark
An unlikely southern gospel debut featuring a disco legend on Bible-reading duty
Every once in a while you see something that makes you go “HUH?!”, followed by “WOW”. Consider the platypus, a mammal with a large duck-like bill, webbed feet, poisonous spurs, and egg-laying capabilities. I’m willing to bet that your first time seeing a picture of a platypus was a baffling experience, but by now you acknowledge how awesome it is that our Creator allowed us to live in the same world as these guys:
In the same way, consider The Gospel According to Mark by Mark D. Conklin, an artist manager now pursuing a second career as a southern gospel musician. Conklin’s background may have helped him get connected with a lot of musical talent, but even the best music manager has no business debuting with a sweeping, ambitious, hour-long southern gospel/R&B/rock/soul text-to-tune version of the book of Mark. Thus, making this album was already an unhinged move, but the real kicker is the pedigree of musicians he pulled in to contribute to this thing. The producer, Mark Prentice, is an experienced touring and session musician who has worked with the likes of Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and John Fogarty. The guest vocalist list includes five Grammy winners and three Grammy-nominated artists such as Mike Farris, John Berry, The Fairfield Four, and The Fisk Jubilee Singers. Then there’s the narrator Conklin brought on to read 12 spoken-word passages, who is none other than…GLORIA GAYNOR?! Yes, the Gloria Gaynor of “I Will Survive” fame is here to read the Bible for a man who had no music to his name prior to 2020. As I’m writing this, I admit that this sounds more like a direct-to-TV Blues Brothers knockoff than an actual album, an impression entirely reinforced by the word-for-word quote Conklin pulled out as his driving motivation:
Seriously, how are you not listening to this album already?
Fortunately, unlike the Blues Brothers, Conklin has some real musical talent. Many of these songs are genuinely catchy as stand-alone tracks, his electric guitar playing works pretty well in his chosen southern gospel sound, and as a vocalist he can carry a tune nicely. He’s at his best when the song calls for smooth singing rather than grit, and he sounds great on the power ballad “Oh, Lonely Day”. The leadoff track “Make Way” is similarly effective, and he hits some impressive notes with conviction during the mid-song breakdown. As easy as it would be for the numerous celebrated collaborators to completely overshadow him, this is primarily Conklin’s project, and he holds his own with the best of them. The only time he’s completely blown out of the water is on the bluesy interpretation of Mark 21:12-16, “Devil in the Temple”. In his verse, Mike Farris (the frontman for the fabulously-named band Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies) threatens to bring down fire and brimstone, and his performance packs enough heat that I actually believe him. This guy can sing, and I wish that Conklin kept him around for longer than one verse and some background vocals because his few contributions blew me away.
In talking about a project like The Gospel According to Mark, it’s easy to throw around the word “surprise”, but the biggest surprise to me is that I really enjoyed listening to it. Grandiose concept albums are cool in theory, but I have found that too often artists fall so in love with a concept for an album that they forget to write the album itself. The songs in these kinds of projects generally have a homogeneity that makes genuine enjoyment of the music difficult. Not so with The Gospel According to Mark, which stands up well as both a body of work and a collection of songs. In addition to the aforementioned features, highlights such as “Through the Storm”, “Rise (Faith of Jairus)”, and the rollicking closer “Good News” are all easy to get into and deliver small portions of the book of Mark at the speed of Southern gospel sound (which is not very fast, but it’s a fun journey).
Naturally, anyone who takes on a whole book of the Gospels in the form of a concept project begs comparisons to other, more successful works that attempted this far earlier. If you are looking for anything as memorable as the highlights from other “gospel story in song form” projects like Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar, just listen to Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar instead. If, however, you have room in your heart for more of those kinds of projects, or are dubious of the creative liberties taken by the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Mark D. Conklin has your back. His edition is certainly more straightforward and less operatic than the other two, perhaps making it easier to digest for anyone who doesn’t consider the standalone music from musicals to be their cup of tea.
Above all else, The Gospel According to Mark is refreshing. This is the kind of crazy swing for the fences that we need more of from new artists faithfully drawing inspiration from the Bible. Do I think that Conklin has a ways to go before he really hits his stride as a singer and songwriter? Yeah, probably, but that should not get in the way of acknowledging the craft and dedication that went into this thing. Much like the platypus, its existence alone is a beautiful thing, and the sum is far greater than the individual parts.
BONUS RECOMMENDATION
Mike D. Conklin doesn’t have much else in the way of a discography (yet), so instead of bringing up one of his few country songs, here’s a great song by Mike Farris:
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