Carmelo Domenic Licciardello known to us as Carman came to Christ around 20 years old. A life long musician he was pretty quick to get to work on an album. This is that first album. It was released on micro label Klesis Records and had almost no distribution so most people never had a chance to hear this one. Several tracks from this album would show up on future albums so people got a chance to hear them. This album set the tone for many albums to come. His almost theatric song structure is established here as his style. This is one you may have missed so I strongly suggest giving it a listen, it’s a great album.
Tracklist 1 – God’s Not Finished With Me – 2:30 2 – I Love Jesus – 3:15 3 – Some A Dat – 3:20 4 – I Don’t Believe It – 3:54 5 – Something Changed – 3:22 6 – God Don’t Care – 3:38 7 – I Still Can Rock N’ Roll – 3:15 8 – You’re The Only One – 3:30 9 – Simple Things – 3:31 10 – You Belong To Me – 3:54
I know I’m going to get some hate for this review but it’s my opinion and I welcome yours. I’m not really too sure what Carman was trying to achieve with this album. We have spoken tracks, conceptual tracks, theatrical tracks, a rap track, and a couple just regular song tracks. Quite frankly Carman could have done an album of nursery rhymes and it would have singled on the CCM charts. Actually I’m not so sure he didn’t do that. Anyway I truly believe that Carman was trying a little of everything in his quest to appeal to youth but the simple fact is that he was liked by our parents not us. At least that was what was happening in my circle. Carman also released a VHS of himself performing the album and I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and quite frankly it’s just bizarre. On a positive note the album did have 3 singles on the CCM charts and also won the Dove award for the Long Form Music Video of the Year for the aforementioned VHS release. Anyway that’s my take on this very bizarre album.
Tracklist 1 – God’s Got An Army – 4:24 2 – I Got The Joy – 4:30 3 – A Witch’s Invitation – 6:45 4 – Get Your Business Straight With God – 3:58 5 – This Blood – 5:29 6 – Saved, Delivered And Healed – 5:40 7 – Jesus Is The Light – 4:53 8 – The Resurrection Rap – 4:05 9 – Shine Through Me – 4:34 10 – Revival In The Land – 6:30
Credits Carman – Songwriter, Vocals Susan Ashton – Background Vocals Kym Barger – Gang Vocals Shirley Bereal – Background Vocals Ronnie Brookshire – Engineer Curt Butler – Gang Vocals Jacquetta Carr – Background Vocals Steve Charles – Assistant Engineer Christ Church Choir – Choir Vocals Tina Clark – Background Vocals Dan Cleary – Executive Producer Ashley Cleveland – Background Vocals Ed Crippen – Platoon Vocals Eric Darken – Percussion Willie Davis – Choir Director, Hammond B-3, Gang Vocals Wendell DePrang – Platoon Vocals John Destito – Gang Vocals Barry Dixon – Assistant Engineer Mark Douthit – Saxophone Dave Ecrement – Platoon Vocals David Felty – Platoon Vocals Kim Fleming – Background Vocals Nick Froome – Engineer Roy Gamble – Assistant Engineer Steve Gannon – Platoon Vocals Landy Gardner – Choir Director and Conductor Andrae Hammond – Gang Vocals Mark Hammond – Drums, Percussion Programming Vicki Hampton – Background Vocals Chris Harris – Background Vocals Mike Haynes – Trumpets Mark Heimermann – Background Vocals Tom Hemby – Guitars Higher Dimensions Sanctuary Choir – Choir Vocals Sgt. Penny Hollenbeck – Platoon Vocals Ron Huff – Orchestra Conductor Bobby Jones – Gang Vocals Dan Keen – Platoon Vocals Brent King – Engineer Pamela Lee – Background Vocals Paul Leim – Drums Stephen L. Lyman – Gang Vocals David McCune – Platoon Vocals Chris McDonald – Horn Arranger, Trombone Donna McElroy – Background Vocals Shawn McLean – Assistant Engineer Jerry McPherson – Guitars James Michael – Bass Marvin Moore – Gang Vocals Todd Moore – Production Assistance, Assistant Engineer, Platoon Vocals Farrell Morris – Percussion Dave Murphy – Assistant Engineer Phil Naish – Producer, Arranger, Keyboards Nashville String Machine – Strings Gary Paczosa – Assistant Engineer Carlton Pearson – Guest Vocals Monica Pearson – Background Vocals Mary Ann Peterson – Background Vocals Denny Purcell – Mastered John Ricroft – Platoon Vocals Chris Rodriguez – Background Vocals Maurice Carlton Scott – Gang Vocals Jimmie Lee Sloas – Bass Carry Summers – Assistant Engineer Brian Tankersley – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Programming Keith Thomas – Producer, Arranger, Songwriter, Synthesizers, Synclavier and Drum Programming, Percussion George Tidwell – Trumpets Jo-Nathan Watkins – Gang Vocals Bill Whittington – Engineer, Mixed Daire Winston – Assistant Engineer Don Wyrtzen – Choir and Strings Arranger
This Carman release from 1985 is one of his albums that stands out. Not so much because of the music but because of one song. The title track is more of a spoken word story than a song that people either loved or hated. Personally I was neither here nor there on it. The track did single at #28 but only stayed on the charts for 8weeks. The real single was Revive Us, Oh Lord which actually climbed to #2 and was on the charts for 24 weeks. Fear Not My Child also singled climbing to #24. There were a couple names on the backing vocals, Marty McCall from Fireworks and Paul Smith of the Imperials. The CD has a bonus track “Love Can” (included here). It was put as the second last track of the CD as I’m guessing they wanted the title track as the last track on both the CD and the Vinyl.
Tracklist
1 – Prepare To Die – 5:20
2 – Abundance Of Rain – 3:36
3 – Revive Us, Oh Lord – 3:47
4 – A Little Bit More Conviction – 4:34
5 – It Happened To Me – 3:24
6 – The Destination Is There – 3:57
7 – Fear Not My Child – 4:55
8 – Love Can – 5:40
9 – The Champion – 8:39
Credits
Arranged By [Strings] – Bruce Koblish (tracks: 7), Ronn Huff (tracks: 5, 9)
Art Direction, Design – Joan Tankersley
Backing Vocals – Bonnie Keen, Marty McCall, Melody Tunney*, Patti Morris, Paul Smith (22)
Bass – Jimmie Lee Sloas (tracks: 1), Mike Brignardello (tracks: 2 to 9)
Coordinator [Choir] – Dan Jones (tracks: 9)
Coordinator [Producer’s Assistant] – Brett Perry
Drum Programming [Linn Drum] – Mark Hammond
Drums – Mark Hammond
Engineer [Assistant] – Allan Henry, Bill Heath, Danny Mundhenk, Jeff Coppage, Ken Criblez
Executive-Producer – Lynn Nichols
Graphics – Lori Cooper
Guitar – Greg Jennings, Jon Goin
Guitar [Solos] – Jon Goin
Keyboards, Programmed By [Synth Programming] – Keith Thomas
Percussion – Terry McMillan
Photography By – Aaron Rapoport Photography
Producer, Arranged By – Keith Thomas
Programmed By [Emulator] – Neal Merick
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Saxophone – Mark Douthit
Sleeve [Logo Design] – Patrick Pollei
Strings – The Nashville String Machine
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word Communications Ltd.
Manufactured By – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Made By – JVC
Recorded At – Emerald Sound Studios
Recorded At – Bullet Recording
Recorded At – Goldmine East, Brentwood, TN
Recorded At – Hummingbird Studio, Nashville, TN
Mixed At – Bullet Recording
Published By – Some-O-Dat Music
Published By – Dayspring Music
Published By – Birdwing Music
Published By – Word Music
This was Carmen’s 4th album and his first with Myrrh records. This album had a “Poppier” feel than his previous and in fact a few tracks could easily have played on pop radio of the time. The album was relatively well received but their were no “chart toppers”. This is probably my favourite Carmen album with my favourite song from him “Spirit Filled Pizza” Yes it’s a bit of a goofy song but I’ve always liked it.
Tracklist
1 – Get Outta My Life – 3:25
2 – This Thing Is Real – 3:56
3 – His Mercy Endures Forever – 3:42
4 – Spirit Filled Pizza – 3:28
5 – Ask Of Me – 4:18
6 – Blessed Is He Who Comes – 3:10
7 – He Is The Son Of God – 3:44
8 – Lazarus Come Forth – 6:25
9 – The Light Of Jesus To The World – 3:59
Credits
Co-producer [Production Assistance] – Jeff Balding
Executive-Producer – Lynn Nichols
Mastered By – Hank Williams (2)
Producer – Keith Thomas
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – A&M Records
Recorded At – Emerald Sound Studios
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Morningstar Studios
Recorded At – Stage III
Mixed At – The Castle Recording Studios
Mastered At – MasterMix
This is a very rare release from Dayspring Records and as far as I can tell it only came out on cassette. It is basically a collection of various artists that had a 50’s sounding track. Some of the choices are kind of a stretch but it works out pretty good for the main part. Most of the tracks we’ve heard on their original albums but their are a few tracks which while not exclusive to this album, are relatively unknown. The 2 stand out tracks are Kenny Marks – Bon Appetit, and Carman – Spirit-filled Pizza.
Tracklist
01 – New Song – Say Yes
02 – Dion – You Need A Love
03 – The Sharrets – Smile
04 – Randy Stonehill – American Fast Food
05 – Solveigl – My Starlight
06 – Daniel Winans & The Second Half – The American Way
07 – Kenny Marks – Bon Appetit
08 – Allies – It’s Never Easy
09 – Dion – Another Saturday Night In Heaven
10 – The Latinos – The Party’s Over
11 – Carman – Spirit-filled Pizza
12 – Randy Stonehill – Modern Myth 2
