Declaration (CD - 2001)

Personnel includes: Steven Curtis Chapman (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, piano, marimba, percussion); Carl Marsh (arranger); Randy Pearce (acoustic & electric guitars); London Session Orchestra (strings); Chris Mosher (Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Bernie Herms (synthesizer); Leland Sklar, Joey Canaday (bass); Will Denton (drums, percussion); Eric Darken (percussion); Scott Sheriff, Gene Miller, Michael Mellet, Ashley Anderson, Nathan Barber, Caroline Bishop (background vocals).

Producers include: Steven Curtis Chapman, Brown Bannister.

Engineers include: Steve Bishir, Patrick Kelly, Geoff Foster.

Recorded at The Sound Kitchen, Laundry Room, Franklin, Tennessee; Air Lyndhurst Studios, London, England.

DECLARATION was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album.

As the United States of America marked the two-week anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, contemporary Christian music saw the release of Steven Curtis Chapman's 12th album simply entitled Declaration. The album's name is taken from the project's song "Declaration of Dependence," in which Chapman proclaims his utter reliance on God. It only seems fitting that a project with the intent of declaring everyone's need, as human beings, for dependence upon the Almighty would be offered in the wake of such tragic and horrific events. The Sparrow Records' project mirrors Chapman's previous three or four albums. It does not necessarily employ the precise styles of acoustic pop and CCM as its predecessors. However, the release reflects his past efforts in that Chapman appears to be re-inventing himself once again without losing the sound listeners have come to expect. With Dependence, Chapman continues to provide upbeat, and at times edgy, tracks that communicate clear messages of faith. Notable songs include the album's first radio single, "Live Out Loud," which references Regis Philbin, "Bring It On," and the poignant "Savior." ~ Ashleigh Kittle

Steven Curtis Chapman has been one of the leading lights of Christian rock for quite some time. Before the late-'90s crop of spiritually oriented rockers arrived on the scene, Chapman was working in a far less crowded (and less precedented) field to make friendly neighbors of effervescent rock-pop and faith-based messages. DECLARATION is clearly the work of a man who's been at it long enough to have developed a style at once complex and seemingly (deceptively) effortless. The carefree, celebratory feel of the title tune and the roadhouse blues-rock guitar riffs of "Jesus is Life" are contrasted by the moody, atmospheric "Bring it On" and the gentle, piano-based ballad "When Love Takes You In." But regardless of stylistic mode, it's obvious that Chapman has got every side of the Christian-rock realm down pat. minimize