R.I.O.T, you see, stands for Righteous Invasion of Truth, and it's the 13th album from an artist whose work often falls outside the mainstream of conventional contemporary Christian pop radio, yet still manages to find a wide audience both for his records and his theatrical live shows.
R.I.O.T. is nothing if not fun, an innovative, quirky ride through a variety of musical styles while Carman's lyrics hammer home his messages of gospel truth. It's an album that begs repeated plays-the first few to enjoy the sonic web of hip-hop, Latin rhythms, techno, beat-heavy dance jams, and samples of a dozen 1960s pop hits; the next few to pay attention to the lyrics and the snippets of narration; and after that just to crank it loud and wake up your neighbors.
Carman's strength is lyrics and the musical concepts, though he leaves it up to his producers Brown Bannister (Amy Grant, Petra, Twila Paris) and Tommy Sims, and the musicians to put on record the sounds he first imagines in his mind.
Carman first sang the techno pop song "God Is Exalted," the first song on R.I.O.T, in the kitchen of Bannister's studio, then said to Sims, "Just give me a sort of house/Euro sound."
"Brown then filled in all of the musical gaps," Carman says. "I give them what I want, but how it is reproduced--I leave that up to the producer and players.
"On the song 'R.I.O.T.', I said, 'Tommy, I want it to sound like a combination of "Rhythm Nation" and "Superstition" and I want it to sound industrial with pipes clanging, air hoses and machinery running, like a factory. And it's gotta have some rap feel, yet tinged with a little gospel choir.
"Tommy said, 'No problem.'"
The same melange of musical styles appears throughout the album, a hig-wire act that works for the most part, and never better than on "No Monsters," a song Carman wrote about the spiritually challenging after-effects of watching horror movies.
The song's intro sounds like a 1950s B-movie theme, while there's a 1960s sitcom feel to the music as Carman talks his way through the verses. The chorus sounds like an outtake from a B-52s recording session while the musical bridges sound more like a James Bond movie score. A crazy combination, but it works, especially when Carman, a New Jersey-born Italian, drops into a hip, street accent.
The song "7 Ways 2 Praise" is another delight, as Carman grooves his way through an explanation of the seven Old Testament words for worship.
But not every song on R.I.O.T. is a riot of rhythms and rap. The airy "Whiter the Snow" is one surprise, a tribute to the music and legacy of contemporary gospel singer Andrae Crouch, starts with a gentle piano and stays faithful to Crouch's style of music.
"Even as I wrote the lyrics, I tried to write them as I thought Andrae would write them," Carman says. "We even did the voicing and the background vocals the way we though Andrae would do them."
"There Is a God" is the album's other real find, a 6-minute, 43-second defense of the belief in Creation that starts with the sounds of a rocket launch control room a few seconds before launch.
And then Carman speaks-not sings-with the slightest hint of a chip on his shoulder, giving a carefully measured defense of belief in Creation, citing examples from science-the life-sustaining position of the earth relative to the sun, the perfect mix of nitrogen and oxygen that helps life prosper.
"If there's a design, there's a designer. If there's a plan, there is a planner, and if there is a miracle, there is a God," he declares. "When the fool said in his heart, 'There is no God,' he rejected the truth God painted the canvas of the night."
It's vintage Carman, mixing showmanship, drama, and a powerful message.
"I have to follow, ultimately, what I feel is my number one call, and that is to minister through music. And the purpose of music, at least according to the scriptures, primarily is to bring people to an attitude of praise and worship," he says.
And if that means starting a riot then bring it on. And crank it up loud.
Copyright ©1996, ProMotion, inc.
www@acloserlook.com