Michael Card's New "Best Of" Offers A Restrospective Look at His Career

Singer and songwriter Michael Card has releaed his brand new compilation album "Best of Michard Card."  The album features Card's most famous song "El Shaddai", which was recorded by Amy Grant as well as by Card himself. Grant's recording was named No. 326 on the RIAA's list of 365 Songs of the Century in 2001. Other popular Card songs include "Why", "Joy in the Journey", and "God's Own Fool."

Since his debut in 1981, Card has sold more than 4 million albums and has written 19 No. 1 singles. He has also authored several books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner A Sacred Sorrow. 

Tracklist:

01. El Shaddai
02. Come to the Table
03. Sleep Sound in Jesus
04. God's Own Fool
05. Known By the Scars
06. Why
07. Scandalon
08. Celebrate the Child
09. Crown Him
10. How Long?
11. Joy in the Journey 

Card never intended to be a professional musician. He got his start when his professor and mentor, William L. Lane, asked Card to write some music to accompany weekly sermons at their church. His friend, musician Randy Scruggs, then asked him to record a demo tape so Scruggs could get a job as a producer. The record label agreed to hire Scruggs as long as his first project was to produce an album featuring Card. Since then Card has released nineteen original albums and at least six compilation albums. Another album, Starkindler, is composed of Card's interpretations of traditional Celtic hymns. The compilations often include one or two new songs along with previously released material. With the exception of Starkindler, Card writes the vast majority of the music he records (although sometimes with collaborators).

Many of Card's albums are structured around a unifying theme. For example, the songs from The Beginning are all based on the Pentateuch. The individual songs have subjects such as Genesis, Leviticus, Abraham, Isaac and Moses. Card is particularly adept at relating difficult or obscure concepts from the Old Testament to more understandable themes from the New Testament. For example, the song "Jubilee" talks about the period of rest and the release from debts and slavery commanded in the Jubilee year as described in Leviticus 25, but also reveals how the idea culminated in the rest and freedom from condemnation offered through Jesus. 

Despite his success in music, Card has always maintained that his music career is secondary to his calling as a Bible teacher. He has at times distanced himself from the CCM industry by criticizing the promotion of personalities over musical content and the shifting emphasis away from God in order to sell more albums.

 

 

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