Steven Curtis Chapman was born on November 21, 1962 in
Paducah, Kentucky. He released his first
album, FIRST HAND, in 1987. THE LIVE
ADVENTURE (1993, Sparrow) was his sixth album.
It was recorded live in Seattle, Washington on May 6, 1993 and was
produced by Phil Naish and Steven. It
won a Grammy for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album in 1994. In the liner notes Steven writes: “Heavenly
Father, thank You for allowing me to share from a platform far greater than I
ever imagined, a love and grace far greater than any could deserve. You alone are worthy!”
The album begins with the short, majestic sounding
instrumental ‘Prologue’ accompanied by audience excitement. This is followed by ‘The Great Adventure’, a
rousing, motivational pop song co-written by Steven and Geoff Moore: “Saddle up
your horses/We’ve got a trail to blaze/Through the wild blue yonder of God’s
amazing grace/Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown/This is a life
like no other, yeah/This is the Great Adventure!/Come on get ready for the ride
of your life/Gonna leave long-faced religion in a cloud of dust behind/And
discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored/This is what we were
created for”.
‘That’s Paradise’ is a great country/rock story song: “Jimmy
and Mary were quite a pair back in their younger days/They met and married in
six weeks time and that was sixty years ago this May/Four kids made a house a
home and a love for Jesus kept them strong/Now every morning at 8 a.m. Jimmy
takes a drive through town/He spends his days at Mary’s side at a home for the
old and broken down/With a cane in his lap and a Bible in his hand/He reads her
stories about the promised land/With tears in their eyes they dream of a
place/Where everything changes in the light of Jesus’ face/And that’s
paradise”. The next track,
‘Introduction’, is a short one, where Steven thanks the audience for coming and
names Jesus as the Guest of honor.
‘Go There With You’ is a beautiful love ballad Steven wrote
for his wife Mary Beth: “I see it in your tears, you wonder where we are/The
wind is growing colder and the sky is growing dark/Though it’s something
neither of us understands/We can walk through this together if we hold each
other’s hand/I said for better or worse I’d be with you/So no matter where
you’re going, I will go there too/I will take a heart whose nature is to beat
for me alone/And fill it up with you, make all your joy and pain my own/No
matter how deep a valley you go through/I will go there with you”. ‘Busy Man’ contains these thought provoking
words: “You’ve got a lot of nice things there Billy/They’ve cost you more than
you know/What is it really worth, can you tell me/If you’re gaining the whole
world, but you’re losing your soul?”
At this point in the live concert, we have a cut entitled
‘Great Adventure Stuff’. It imagines
what the hit song would have sounded like if it had been composed as a
bluegrass, swing, and country song.
Though fun to listen to the first time, you’ll likely want to skip over
this one on future listens. What follows
is a lovely, lengthy ‘Acoustic Medley’ of six of Chapman’s quieter songs. It begins with part of ‘My Redeemer is
Faithful and True’, a co-write with James Isaac Elliott. It offers these words of testimony: “As I
look back on this road I’ve travelled/I see so many times He’s carried me
through/And if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my life/My Redeemer is
faithful and true (2X)/And everything He has said He will do/And every morning
His mercies are new/My Redeemer is faithful and true/Jesus is faithful and
true”.
‘Family Talk’ is next.
We learn that at the time, Steven and Mary Beth had three kids: Emily
(7), Caleb (3), and Will Franklin (2).
Steven encourages us to come to Jesus as kids acknowledging our needs
and weaknesses. He cares and wants to
meet our needs. He doesn’t take away all
of our troubles, but He can give us love, life, and peace in the midst of
them. God wants a personal relationship
with us. ‘More to this Life’ is an adult
contemporary ballad that describes the need for living with a purpose: “Tonight
he lies in silence staring into space/And looks for ways to make tomorrow
better than today/But in the morning light he looks to say/Life just goes on
and on and on/He takes care of his family, he takes care of his work/And every
Sunday morning he takes his place at the church/But somehow he still feels the
need to search/Baby, life it just goes on/There’s more to this life than living
and dying/More than just trying to make it through the day”.
‘For the Sake of the Call’ is a CCM anthem of total
dedication to Jesus Christ: “Once we hear the Savior’s call, we’ll follow
wherever He leads/Because of the love He has shown/And because He has called us
to go, we will answer/We will abandon it all for the sake of the call/No other
reason at all, but the sake of the call/Wholly devoted to live and to die/For
the sake of the call”. Steven wrote the
ballad ‘I Will Be Here’ as a love song of commitment to his wife Mary Beth,
after watching his parents go through a divorce. The song begins: “Tomorrow morning if you
wake up and the sun does not appear/I, I will be here/If in the dark we lose
sight of love/Hold my hand and have no fear/Cause I, I will be here/I will be
here when you feel like being quiet/When you need to speak your mind/I will
listen/And I will be here when the laughter turns to crying/Through the
winning, losing, and trying/We’ll be together/Cause I will be here”.
‘My Turn Now’ is a bouncy pop song about reciprocal love:
“He gave His life and His love away/And now He’s asking me to do the same/I
wanna give Him all I have/And all I ever hope to be/Cause it’s my turn now/My
turn now/My turn to give my life away.../My turn to say ‘I love Him’/It’s your
turn to let Him know it/Our lives are His so where He leads us that’s where I
wanna go”. Closing off the concert is an
energetic pop co-write with Phil Naish, called ‘No Better Place’. It is a celebration: “I know this road we
travel on is very straight and narrow/I’ve looked down other roads along the
way/And from all I’ve seen I can say without a doubt/There’s no better place on
earth than the road that leads to Heaven/No other place I’d rather be/No better
place on earth than the road that leads to Heaven/No better place to be”.
THE LIVE ADVENTURE is a fun, lively pop concert with
distinct Christian themes. The main
themes are love for and dedication to God and His purposes, and love for one’s
life partner. I recommend this concert
CD to fans of Michael W. Smith and Kenny Marks.
The audience is clearly into the show, which features a good mix of
Chapman’s more upbeat CCM pop material, and his tender, heartfelt ballads. His band here is: Dennis Kurttila (drums),
Dale Oliver (lead guitar), Dave Cleveland (rhythm guitar), Scott Sheriff
(keyboards), and Arlin Troyer (bass). The concert runs 72:10. I’m rating it 85%. For more info visit: www.stevencurtischapman.com.