Bruce Von Stiers

There is a large faction of Jews that believe in Jesus Christ. This is called the Messianic Jewish Movement. One thing that stands out the music that the talented artists in this movement have provided for others. One such artist is Joel Chernoff. He is the former leader of a musical group known as Lamb. Joel’s latest effort is called Come Dance With Me. It is a wonderful album of praise music.

The album was produced by Bill Cuomo and Yochanan Ben Yehuda, Dove Award winners. This album is the 13th release for Galilee of the Nations. The album will be released in July of 2002 by Provident Music Distribution.

There are 12 songs on Come Dance With Me. 10 of the songs were written by Joel and the other 2 by him and others. Joel’s 19 year old daughter Sharon shares a few of the vocals with her father.

The first song is Sing Hallelujah. It has a lilting guitar intro and then Joel starts singing the word “Hallelujah.” The song says that God will save the chosen people to bring up into heaven.

The second song is Unfailing Love. This song, like the one before it, has a light, lilting rock flavor in the intro. The chorus tells us that the love of God is true for those trusting in him.

When You Rise Up starts out with a bluesy type of guitar and moves into a nice rhythm. Baruch Adonai starts with some hand clapping and some bebopping guitar. It then moves into a rock tinted Mediterranean type of song. This song features some Hebrew lyrics.

Fall On Me begins with Sharon’s beautiful voice. She reminds me a little of Rebecca St. James. Then Joel kicks in and together they alternate verses in the song. It is a song that has great background vocals.

Come, Dance With Me is the title track. The song begins with the haunting words “yeshua, yeshua.” The song is a light melodic tribute to God. The third verse is in Hebrew.

Love One Another is a ballad that speaks about the love of God for us. In the middle Sharon kind of kicks it up and then the song settles back into a light medley.

Let If Flow begins with a little bit of saxophone. Then it is a little bit of maracas and drum beat, along with the sax and Joel’s vocals. Not By Might is about living by the spirit of the lord. It has a ‘70’s lounge singer type of tone to it.

The Sacrifice lamb is about Jesus and the death he suffered on the cross. It is done more or less as a ballad. It also has some good saxophone music in it.

There is an orchestra type of prelude to Be Still My Soul. The song itself lends a sense of panoramic landscapes in its music. The song is about keeping your soul at rest by believing in God.

The last song on the album is Save Us O Lord. It has an almost Gaelic beginning. It asks the Lord to save the world from the wages of sin and sorrow like he has for those who came before us.

I have to say that before receiving Come Dance With Me, I had never even heard of Joel Chernoff. My exposure to Messianic music has been pretty limited. But after listening to this album, I’m kind of wondering what else in this style of Christian music that I have been missing. Praise songs like Save Us O Lord and the great saxophone of Let It Flow will make only two of the many reasons that this album should become a big hit. Joel’s vocals are great and Sharon may well become a top female performer not too long in the future.

As I mentioned earlier, Come Dance With Me will be available in July of 2002. Check with your local Christian music retailer to get a copy of it.