ALBUM REVIEW

Beth Champion Mason:
Postcards

Beth Champion Mason is well on her way to making a huge impact in Christian Music. She is currently Independent; let me reiterate “currently” as this CD is as good as anything you will hear on the contemporary charts. This is her sophomore CD project which follows up her extremely well done debut album, “All I Have”. The concept for Postcards is far above the norm and the sound levels sound good whether you are in your car, on your computer or playing it on your iPod.

Lavish Love is a perfect song to start the album, the big guitar intro gets your attention quickly but cuts back at the beginning of the verse to bring Beth’s clear and expressive voice to the forefront. Lavish Love has a killer hook and is simply a masterpiece both lyrically (based on 1 John 3) and musically. This album starts off with not one, but two hit records.

Postcards will be in heavy radio rotation around the nation with good promotion. The Lord leaving us postcards is simply brilliant because it’s true, He gives so many day to day signs of His love for us, and we can see glimpses in nearly every aspect of our lives. Again, this is a guitar centered production but you hardly notice because the production is perfect and the background vocals are so well layered. Just a terrific, terrific song, and a sure huge hit.

More Real Than Reality is well placed in the song order as it gives the listener a chance to catch their breath (after hitting the repeat button on tracks 1 and 2 more than a few times). A light rain-like piano begins this lyrical masterpiece as the production just keeps on building, then cuts back for a light ending. I can’t say enough about the production on Postcards. “Wow” pretty much sums it up. Save Me from myself points out our human nature and our longing for His perfection. This song shows diversity in style; it’s like the 90’s meets the 21 st century and I can hear this song being played and enjoyed especially by the younger audience.

When I first heard Tapestry I reached for the credits looking to see if this was co-written by Darwin Moody (who co-wrote three of the songs) because it reminded me of Postcards. They have a great collaboration thing going on here in a formula hook, radio track kinda way. Tapestry gives us interwoven snippets of His perfection within each and everyone of us. Three out of five as radio-worthy isn’t a bad start! The sheer amount of excellence gives this a “greatest hits” album feel. Hallowed be Thy Name slows down a bit with a county flair with a praise and worship theme. This could easily be a crossover song into a country/gospel genre. Champion’s voice is alternately humbly tender and jubilantly praising, and Matt Butler’s cello complements those changes beautifully.

Hallowed may urge you to sing along, but Holy compels you to listen and digest it. Holytackles Revelations and the chord progressions fit the mood brilliantly. The most important passages are covered in the verses while the chorus hook is praise and worship with pop guitars. The bridge is reflective and very well written musically. Top to bottom a very well crafted song, going minor to major is hard to do well. This is the most complex and the best song on the album, which is saying a lot in an album chocked full of excellent songs. Talk rocks! Another crossover type track, very well placed. It’s fun with a message.

Not Afraid gets back to the definitive Beth style and this may be the best sung song on the album; you can tell she loves this song. The chorus is worth repeating “Though the world crashes around me, I am not afraid, no I know His love surrounds me, I am not afraid”. I completely believe her when she’s singing it. The message behind this song and much of this album is that we have frailties, but that His love covers us. I can’t say enough about Can’t Love You Enough, a beautiful wedding song. It’s a perfect closer as it’s so reflective and every marriage needs the Lord as a basis of the love we have between wife and husband.

Beth Champion Mason wrote or co-wrote every song on this album. What I enjoy about her songwriting most is she bases every single song on Scripture ensuring our Father is the focal point. This is pop with an edge, not an easy thing to pull off well because you have to take a close look at instrumentation levels, lead vocals, bgv’s etc, but Joe Mazza and crew did the trick showing that he is no doubt a terrific producer. Postcards is well worth the price of postage!