I drive around a lot these days and listen to a lot of radio. Champion’s No Heaven had been in high rotation all fall on my local alt-rock station, but it took me forever to find out what it was (and discover I had the CD sitting upstairs in a pile on my desk) because I felt like I shouldn’t like it. Every time I heard it, I’d have to fight off the knee-jerk reaction that it was just some generic Moby rip-off. But it felt like a track released in 1996 and all the elements– big beat, disco diva, old time spiritual lyrics and heavy guitar–were just too obvious. The trouble was it worked. Every time. Eventually I just succumbed to the progressive tension and release that sucks you into the track with each successive “Oh Lord.” I’d want to hear this every Saturday night (if I was the type to go out dancing on a Saturday night) and at least once every time I cross the city by car. However, like the daily dose of chocolate in my advent calendar, who knows how long this love affair will last? Soon the song will be spent and I’ll move on. Until then though, it lifts me out of gridlock tedium faster than a rocket ship. If only the other songs on the CD were as remarkable. (Terence Dick)
CD, Saboteur www.saboteurmusiq.com