The Champion

Carman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• ASIN: B000244BR2
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,261 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Carman Classic, September 27, 2001

By 

mjanke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Champion (Audio CD)

Teaming with producer Keith Thomas, a relationship that would successfully continue through 1991, THE CHAMPION was Carman's best-produced and slickest sounding album of his career to that point. It was also the first time that we began to see him begin to change his style in an attempt to be relevant to his target youth audience. That morph was evident from the very first note of the record. The hip-hop Carman of the 90's had yet to appear, but Carman was ready to rock here in the mid-80's. "Prepare To Die" was one of three songs on the project where Carman adapted a synth-rock 80's style which he later admitted was an uncomfortable fit. The song is an affront to "disease, hatred, jealously," and other enemies of the Cross, and it was a snapshot in the development of Carman's spiritual warfare discography.

"Abundance Of Rain" follows and the jazzy, First Call-backed track is a sharp u-turn in style. With speedy delivery on the verses and an upbeat message it is one of the most fun songs Carman has ever recorded. Carman co-wrote "Revive Us, Oh Lord" with Steve Camp. It still stands today as one of his best-ever anthems and has been embraced by many churches in their worship. "A Little Bit More Conviction" could've been co-wrote by Camp, with its bold lyric demanding holiness and a new attitude of seriousness in one's Christian faith. The song borders on legalistic for some, but at its heart the message is dead-on, saying "I'm telling you something's wrong/When holiness don't belong/In living day to day 'cause it ain't fun." A contemporary message if there ever was one.

"It Happened To Me," which relates Carman's conversion experience, is still a musical misfire. "The Destination Is There," one of the three rockers, was one of my favorite songs as a kid but today sounds dated. "Fear Not My Child" is a duet with Kim Boyce, who was a rising star at the time; she shines on her delivery and the song works. "Love Can" is largely forgettable.

The album closes with the title track. Elaborately produced by Thomas, it is a fictional story of a cosmic confrontation between Jesus Christ and Satan, in a boxing match setting. Carman had experimented with story songs before, on "Sunday's On the Way" and "Lazarus Come Forth," but neither had the "epic" feel that "The Champion" did, and it remains perhaps his best known and loved song. It's one thing to hear it on the album and quite another to hear it live.

That story song began the incredible run that Carman experienced up through the mid/late 90's. Never a critical favorite, he nonetheless won over the crowd with his genuine spirit and passion for the Lord. Where his path might be headed now remains to be seen. But THE CHAMPION continues to stand as a pivotal point in the career of this remarkable man, and as such it was named to the 100 Greatest CCM Albums list, coming in at #99. I give it FOUR STARS, on a heavy dose of nostalgia.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the #1 song sets the stage for the album, May 8, 2002

By 

"caryiliff" (Wilmington NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Champion (Audio CD)

"Prepare to Die" is the first song on the album. Carman wrote this song after a brief conversation with Rev. Dake (author of the Dake Study Bible). Dake was sick and Carman was trying to help Dake prepare for the afterlife through a song of encouragement. Fortunately the only thing that afflicted Dake at the time was a bad case of the gout; Dake ended up living quite a few years after that.

Carman wrote this song (a fact unknown to many people) when he was only 5 years old. He dictated the words to his mother because he could not yet write.

Take this glimpse into Carman's earliest beginnings in Dake-Bonoism and cherish it.

3.0 out of 5 stars Charismatic comfort music, January 29, 2012

By 

DMDutcher - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Champion (MP3 Download)

Odd album, but one that is a classic among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. Ironically the briefest review here was the best to describe him-Carman is very much a lounge-style singer, with a playful twist to him. This album has a lot of 80s style synth fused on to 70s? style lounge or ballads, and it's really hard to describe.

The songs are very hit or miss. The best ones are the simplest: Fear not my Child is my favorite on this album, and Love Can is schmaltzy in the way only very bad CCM can be. Most people who remember this album do so for the Champion, a very long synth-laden story song dramatizing Jesus's death and resurrection as a cosmic boxing match. I remember acting it out for my youth group, and I'm sure others did as well. It's...well, it's honestly pretty silly, but Carman was like this, and to a lot of fundamentalists this was his appeal.

Chances are you already know all this, but if you don't, Carman wont convert you. Pentecostals and ex-pens who need comfort music will probably like this, at least once, but his best album is Radically Saved, with this really only worth it for the title track and nostalgia's sake.