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FREEDOM (2000)
Relying on conductor David Hamilton for original string arrangements, Michael W. Smith forsakes his overdeveloped skill of lyric-writing to stretch his awareness of classical music. Gone are the snappy choruses, often-confectionary phrases, and all other impediments that obscure what Smitty as an artist. Marching-band drums and measured piano chords announce the start of the meritous opener, "Freedom," inspired by a soldier's ponderous return home. The Irish Film Orchestra, prodded by violin soloist David Davidson, handles an "Offering," a title indicative of Freedom's purpose as a spiritual catalyst: to fully know refined glory, one must know the King of glory. At a scant 3:18, "The Giving" passes far too quickly; with such a plaintive, lingering composition, other composers would only be starting the onslaught of key changes, crescendos, and cross harmonies. Smith, recalling his identity as entertainer, goes outside his contact boundaries in "Hibernia," a meshwork of Celtic and modern European jigs that comes off too gaudy. Despite the showiness, Freedom does have it highlights. Light and costly, bright and ghastly, the white-and-black keys of Michael W.'s instrument are caressed craftily in "Letter to Sarah." The album's John Williams (famed Star Wars composer) influence is fleshed out on "Freedom Battle"; from the rhythm reversals, to the clusters of opposing themes, this enjoyably imitative piece needs only George Lucas in the director's chair and Harrison Ford on screen to be complete. A ballroom waltz of delicate designs, "Cry of the Heart," along with its twin track "Prayer for Taylor" integrate the subdominant Yamaha grand piano with the symphonious, expressive labors of the Irish Film Orchestra. Far from losing a classical touch, this natural concord takes listeners to an undiscovered plane where traditional and futurist styles embrace. Track ten held great potential, with its boychoir beginning (an element that MWS has used to rich effect in past albums); but, alas, the "choir" is a synthesized facade, which is what the drum-machine drivel "The Call" digresses to. Whatever logic the keyboardist had for including such a vapid, cut-rate track, it only serves to make listeners thankful for their Cd player's "Skip" button. To tie Freedom to his past work, Michael Smith plunks out his 1984 classic "Thy Word," an overly-churchy turn that restrains the musicians with dull repetition. The finale "Free Man" peals creativity, a duet of real guitar (from Chris Graffignino) and the Smith keyboard's technically-credible guitar sound; one can hardly be distinguished from the other. Winsome photography packages this album of discovery and without-words expression, a landmark in Michael W. Smith's career that trumpets a true musical Freedom.
- Josh M. Shepherd
THIS IS YOUR TIME (1999)
Inspired by the tragedy of the Columbine High School shooting and the memory of Cassie Bernall, Christian pop recording artist Michael W. Smith sat down with other major names in the Christian music industry and began writing songs. His efforts resulted in this newest project, This Is Your Time. Working with artists such as Cindy Morgan, Wes King, Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay), Ginny Owens, and Chris Rice, this latest album contains some of Smith's best work yet. Other Christian artists singing back-up vocals include John Elefante, Angela Cruz, Natalie Grant, Nik Kershaw, Darwin Hobbs, and Chris Rodriguez. The album is chock full of Smitty's own early 90s style, with a few noticeable differences. One such difference is that one of Michael's co-writers is his own wife, Deborah D. Smith, and two of the tracks on the CD, "Hey You, It's Me" and "I'm Gone" are written especially for her. These fill the love song category on the project, but differ from previous works of Smith in the fact that both are rhythmic, upbeat, pop tunes. Smith also wrote two songs his daughters, Anna and Whitney, who join their dad singing background vocals for the album's title cut. The songs, "She Walks With Me" and the appropriately titled "Anna", deal with the mixed feelings Smith has watching his children grow up: love, sadness, and joy. The opening and closing tracks are instrumentals; "Rince De (God's Dance)" is a lively tune showered with flutes, bagpipes, and a wide assortment of other such wind instruments, while the reprise of "This Is Your Time" showcases Michael's incredible talents as a pianist. "Worth It All" is another high octane pop cut co-written by Smitty's wife that says following God's call, even if it means giving up everything, is worth the price. Two of the slower, more moving tunes on the CD are "I Will Be Your Friend", reminiscent of MWS's "Friends", and "This Is Your Time", the title cut of the album and also the first radio single. Both songs were inspired by the students of Columbine High School and are positive, uplifting, and encouraging. They are sure to become popular songs for high school graduations in the upcoming year. Meanwhile, "I Will Carry You" is a song about standing in the gap for others and sounds like a play off of Kirk Franklin's "Lean On Me." Co-written with Dan Haseltine, "Reach Out to Me" is about the increasing intensity of the spiritual battle between good and evil and is a desperate plea to God to hold on to us. Dan's writing style is apparent throughout the song lyrics, "Another scar from fighting the truth now / has left me like a stranger to my need now / a masquerade, a game to figure out now / a cruel charade I cannot scream aloud." Perhaps a song that belongs in its own musical category is "I Still Have the Dream", which is a based on Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" The final vocal track on This Is Your Time is entitled "Everybody Free", and it captures the joy of receiving Christ and finding someone "who can free your soul and love you too."This Is Your Time is a brilliant listening experience, and it's more than just another bunch of pre-fabricated Christian songs. It's about life itself: the good times, the hard times, happiness, loneliness, trials and tribulations, hope and inspiration; it portrays all of these encounters. If there's one album to close the millennium with, this is it. And it seems there's more truth in the title than realized. Not only is this our time, but Smitty's as well.
CHRISTMASTIME (1998)
When I first heard of Smitty's Christmastime, his second to date, I thought "Yes, he's finally going to do a Christmas album right." What was my problem with his 1989 Christmas? CCM radio listeners know and love "No Eye Has Seen" (an Amy Grant duet), the boychoir solo "All is Well" (reportedly Smitty's favorite of his own music) and the dominant pop cut "Gloria." Several questions haunt any listener with an ear for music (intense Smitty fans: please take no offense—the truth hurts): Why does the choir have as much volume as Michael on so many tracks? Why pound the Latin phrase "Lux Venit" when it means nothing to anyone? And, above all, why sing through your nose? An enjoyable listening experience this surely isn't. Still, the Smith instrumental work is unmatched, especially the stirring originals "Memoirs" and "First Snowfall." So on with Christmastime. Does he do it right this time around? In many ways, yes. Gone is the constant drone of a church choir, replaced by a slicker, well-produced Hollywood Cathedral Church Choir, the same one on Bryan Duncan's forever classic album Christmas is Jesus. On Christmastime, many new, passionate piano instrumentals brighten the overall feel of the record, from the tender "Hope of Israel" to the more power-injected "O Christmas Tree," a duet with Phil Keaggy providing guitar. The sweet sound of Smitty's eight year-old daughter Anna duals with the musical backdrop of enchanting choir and strings in the "Manger Medley." This and "Sing We Now of Christmas (Medley)" both impressed me with their obvious sincerity and beautiful instrumentation. The classic holiday feel comes to glorious life with The London Session Orchestra and The American Boychoir (curiously, the same talents used on Steven Curtis Chapman's holiday release. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?). However, the album does have a serious downside. Looking at the CD packaging, it is clear that Michael's creativity was stretched recording a second album this year. while Live the Life successfully captured the sound of today, Christmastime uses five previously-heard cuts, ranging from Chris Rice's '95 hit, "Welcome to Our World," to the opener "Happiest Christmas". Again, only one driving pop original is employed, it being the enchanting, infectious title track "Christmastime." This in addition to a pitiful duet with Sandi Patti. i thought maybe "Christmas Waltz" and "Jingle Bells" were an attempt to reach the crowd immersed in the new resurrection of 30s swing-jazz—but can hardly see any W's fan immersed in these. For those willing to overlook critical flaws, you may very well find Michael W. Smith's Christmastime the soundtrack to your holiday cheer.
- Josh M. Shepherd
LIVE THE LIFE (1998)
Smitty's newest project is here in all its glory. It starts out with two driving pop/rock tracks, then settles down to a good dose of classic Michael W. Smith, from the power pop ballad title cut to the keyboard-driven 80's rock "I Believe in You Now." No, he hasn't really discovered the guitar yet, though these songs are such simple anthems, they were probably written on Smith's guitar. Don't get me wrong; every song here is a jewel—just after all the hype, I was expecting a little more diverse musical context. Lyrically, Smitty's trademark "best friend" approach is employed, yet he seems more concerned about Truth and reality than friendship on Live the Life.
- Josh M. Shepherd
i 2 EYE (1988)
Grooving with the keyboard sound and nominal production common of Christian albums in the eighties, i 2 (Eye) utilizes Smith's dynamic songwriting in its focus of relating to God and each other. The opener reaches out to God's guiding "Hand of Providence" in a harmonica-laden mix that traces "thoughts of love and war" to Christ, our best defense. A snare drum/bass intro. into one of Michael's greatest lyrics ever. Drawing on Christ's dare to challenge the religion of superiors, "Secret Ambition" hits hard and strong that Jesus' claim to fame was to give His life away; its synth-driven musical backdrop is bright and rhythmic, Smitty's delivery never better. If only the rest of the album were as good. Like-minded in message and music, tracks 3, 4 and 6 vary slightly in similar encouragements to live different than the culture: the first looks back on a life headed for nowhere, and now "On the Other Side"; with Michael Sweet and Stryper's Oz Fox on backing vocals, the following song offer that "All You're Missing is a Heartache" in a world that courts their pride and kisses the dark; "Live and Learn" grapples with a stubborn will and engaging temptation in going beyond shallow desire for God. While the trio of cuts is to-the-point with words, all of the melodies lack strength, and blend together over time because of similarity. Tender and pointedly evangelistic, "I Miss the Way" appeals to a prodigal to make "His heart the soul of your life." Clichè-ish "I Hear Leesha" falls into the all-too-typical "weather report" songwriting rut, talking of rain falling into every life. A prime example of power pop that characterized a long-passed decade, "Help You Find Your Way" encourages open sharing in friendships through an addicting keys-guitar progression. "Ashton" salutes the fiction small town of Frank Peretti's spiritual drama This Present Darkness. Walking a fine line between pop and worship, "The Throne" sings with praise to God alone, while its kids choir chanting awkwardly closes the song. Kind of "Friends" remake (the song, not the show), the closer asks to 'Pray for Me" as it realizes that the hardest part of love is letting go. Ever employing the Elton John approach of combining feeling and friendship, it is easy to see i 2 (Eye) with this talented songwriter on one of his many essential song collections.
- Josh M. Shepherd
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