divad23's Full Review: This Is Your Time by Michael W. Smith
It's hard to know what to say when reviewing a man who has been a staple of the Christian pop music diet for the past 15 years or so. There's no mistaking Michael W. Smith's heart for many things - his family, his faith, the kids he's worked with at summer camps and in his dance club, and of course, crafting the perfect pop song. Well, I don't know if he's created any perfect pop songs here, but when listening to this record, you can definitely tell he had a lot of divergent themes on his heart, as well as a number of flavors of pop music to mask them in. This approach, for the most part, works quite well for Michael W. Smith, who has been quite prolific in his songwriting (or more appropriately, in the people he has chosen to write songs with) for a number of years. This album captures the essence of his diverse approach to songwriting, with every song on it co-written by someone different. But are these songs any good?
For the most part, yes. Like it or not, this album was destined to crank out a number of Christian radio hits, which is not to say that he threw together a number of superficial, catchy songs in the hopes of proving he could still be cool. Let's give him some credit - he's managed to maintain a fan base among all ages of Christian music listeners. His fans have generally been divided into what I like to call the "Friends" crowd (the older folks drawn in by his more sentimental, easy-going ballad-type songs) and the "Secret Ambition" crowd (the younger folks who love the high-energy pop-rock stuff MWS puts out but get a little restless with some of the slower stuff). His last album, Live the Life, did an okay job of crafting songs that would appeal to both crowds at once. This album takes a step back toward the old formula, with most songs falling into one category or the other, and one show-stopping tune that will likely captivate both audiences. I, for one, am in between the two fan bases, perhaps as a result of my being a young adult, but in any case, I don't mind if he has to slow down to get a particular point across, as long as the music is trying a little harder than your typical pop song would. The sad thing is, not all of these songs do.
Rince De starts things off on a joyful, intriguing note, with a short, Irish-flavored jig intertwined with a standard set of guitars and drums, making for a nice intro to the album, if a bit non-sequitur. The title translates the "The Dance of God", and my guess is that it was a piece of music MWS had running around in his head that he left "as is" instead of trying to force a lyric to fit with it, sort of like the opening track from his Exodus project. It definitely makes me look forward to what he will throw at us on his long-awaited instrumental album.
Hey You It's Me kicks right in after the opening track - this is probably my favorite song on the CD. It's a near-perfect pop/rock confection, with solid drums and guitars to back it, but driven mainly by a lovely, upbeat piano line. The first of two songs on the album that MWS dedicates to his wife, it's a wonderfully upbeat love song in which he laments being so busy that it's a challenge to make space for slowing down and being with his wife and children, but promises her he will always be there and that he is still just as much in love with her as day one. It's nice that he starts off by acknowledging that his sweet Debbie has plenty to do herself - the line "Live the life for faith and family" seems to imply that he holds her job to be just as important as his by cleverly inserting an older song title.
Worth It All comes whooshing in like a plane passing overhead once the pervious song fades out, with an even more upbeat tempo, sort of a hybrid between pop, rock, and techno. It has a similar feel to "Don't Give Up" from the last album, as well as a similar message (i.e. don't give up, it'll be worth it all), but it's thankfully more universal, and not dominated by cheesy keyboards. There is a lot going on in this song - some great acoustic guitar breaks and interesting electronic tweaking on his voice in certain places - even a surprise ending where MWS does a little scat singing. Okay, it's a little cheesy, but a lot of fun, and its target audience is obvious - the kids he was able to reach out to through the dance club he had been running for a while.
I Will be Your Friend hits the musical brakes, though it does transition nicely out of "Worth It All". It's just too early in the record for a standard pop ballad that's about as cliche as its title implies. Given that this one was co-written with Cindy Morgan, I honestly expected better. Still, it does build nicely to the bridge, but other than that, it probably won't appeal much beyond the "Friends" crowd.
This Is Your Time is the aforementioned show-stopper, and it definitely earns its right to be the title tune of the album. You've probably heard it or seen the video already - it's dedicated to Cassie Bernall, the girl who said yes when asked if she believed in God during the Columbine massacre, and lost her life for it. I know what you're thinking - he's just capitalizing on a trend, right? Wrong. He had mixed feelings about writing that song because it might look that way, but he was so profoundly moved by attending Cassie's funeral service that he decided to get express permission from her parents before going through with it. Rather than being a sad tear-jerker, though, it's a sweeping, encouraging song that starts off with a simple acoustic guitar (MWS's thing lately is proving he isn't entirely dependent on the piano) and builds with some powerful backing vocals, drums, and even bagpipes as the song reaches its climax - reminiscent of the more grandiose production he pulled out for some of the tracks on Exodus. Though I've already said that "Hey You It's Me" is my favorite track on the album, I will say that this is by far the most powerful. Kudos to Wes King for contributing the bulk of the lyrics on this one. It definitely deserved the "Song of the Year" awards at the 2000 Doves, probably more than any song has since dc Talk's "Jesus Freak".
I Will Carry You mellows out the musical mood once again, fading in with some slow, shuffling percussion, and a melody that isn't as bright and catchy as the previous songs. Though there is some nice acoustic guitar work to accent this song, and the background vocals give it a bit of a gospel feel toward the end, it's not enough to get it off the ground. I'm not saying so much that it's too slow - the tempo is appropriate because it helps carry the weary lyric about feeling like you can't walk on any longer and needing someone to carry you. However, this theme has been used many, many times before, and nothing all that new or exciting was done with it here.
She Walks with Me only barely manages to pick up the tempo - it's a light, piano-based, medium-speed tune dedicated to MWS's older daughter, Whitney Smith. I'm sure Whitney, and all the parents in the "Friends" crowd will love this one, but as I said with the previous song, it's nothing terribly new or exciting. Just a dad's simple story of a daughter growing up and how he enjoys watching her as she continually transforms.
Reach Out to Me very suddenly jumps in with an edgy, a capella intro, before some strings and guitars creep up on you to add some driving power to this mid-tempo rocker. MWS made a great choice for a co-writer on this one - Dan Haseltine, lead singer of Jars of Clay. There seems to be a song about doubting one's faith and wandering lost on every MWS album in recent years ("Missing Person", "I'll Lead You Home"), etc., that give clues that Smitty is a very broken man (nice to know that being a huge Christian celebrity for a decade and a half doesn't make you immune to human struggles!), and these are the songs I almost always connect with the most on his albums. Sometimes I wish it rocked a little harder or faster, but then I guess it wouldn't fit in as well with the rest of the album. As it is, it has just the right haunting feel to restore my faith after the slightly disappointing traditional pop of the last two songs.
I Still Have the Dream looks like it would be a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., but it's actually an upbeat interpretation of Jeremiah 29:11 ("For I know the plans for you, etc.") that rips a few pages out of MWS's musical history. The overall feel of the song is happy, guitar and programmed drum-heavy pop/rock that would have fit in perfectly on his Change Your World album. However, the drum roll intro with a voice shouting, "Come on Ray, you can do it!" (whoever the heck Ray is), is quite reminiscent of "Pursuit of a Dream" from way back in the (shudder - the mid-80's!), and the vocal tag line near the end is purposefully ripped off from "Love Crusade" from his Go West Young Man CD. (Wait, didn't he already do that when he recorded a song with Anointed?) It's kind of an in-joke for long-time fans - a friend of mine had to point it out to me, because I'm not as familiar with MWS's older works. In any case, it's not terribly deep, but a lot of fun.
I'm Gone, is a funky, mid-tempo tune that MWS co-wrote with his latest signee to Rocketown Records, Ginny Owens. It has a similar feel to her hit song "Free", but sadly, not as interesting of a lyric. This is the other song dedicated to his wife, but it's a bit more mushy than "Hey You It's Me", and frankly, "I'm gone, but it feels so right" doesn't really say a whole heck of a lot. Again, it's nice to know he's still as taken with her as he always was, but this song just starts to drag towards the end, and I think he's trying a little too hard to be Stevie Wonder in some places.
Anna hits the musical brakes again, but this time with more pleasant results. This one's about his other daughter, whose name is (big surprise) Anna Smith. The only song co-written with Wayne Kirkpatrick (a long-time collaborator), it's apparently been waiting around for a number of years before making it onto a CD, so MWS hasn't actually done anything with Wayne Kirkpatrick specifically for this album. Anyway, it starts with a sweet piano intro and ropes your heart in with some childlike references to nursery rhymes as he promises Anna that she is "his muse" and "his rhyme" and basically, one of the things that gives his life the most meaning. It might get compared to Bob Carlisle's accursed "Butterfly Kisses", but musically, it's much tighter, and it's not trying as hard to be a tear-jerker, so it gets much more respect in my book. (It's actually one of the standout songs on the album for me.)
Everybody Free brings us into a more spiritual place after the more family-oriented songs. It's an quiet, atmospheric ballad co-written with Chris Rice, and it's actually quite powerful if you listen carefully. likens his search for God with a game of hide-and-seek - sometimes he's seeking and sometimes he's hiding, but God is always looking for him. The song carries a wonderfully wistful, childlike innocence, and it makes me long for a time when having faith was much more simple. Some listeners might find the line "Ollie, ollie, everybody free" to be a little cheesy, but I think it works, as if to say we can all come out from hiding because God wants to take us home. I like to think we'll all be children in Heaven, and this song gives me the impression that it would be the soundtrack to the day Michael W. Smith passes away.
This is Your Time (Reprise) closes out the album with a slow, beautiful orchestral piece built around the basic melody of the title song. Even though it has no words, it brings the basic theme of the album back to the forefront as the album ends, as well as tying in nicely on a musical level with "Everybody Free". If "Everybody Free" were the soundtrack to MWS entering Heaven, this track would be the soundtrack to Cassie Bernall entering Heaven. Some may complain that the album slows down too much in the last few tracks, but I really love the last three because they wrap things up so beautifully.
Is This Is Your Time MWS's best album? Ooh, tough call. Live the Life had so many great songs, but its tempo lagged considerably for the entire last half. Change Your World was darn catchy, but not terribly deep in most places. So I would say that This Is Your Time is quite possibly the most representative of who Michael W. Smith really is and what his priorities are, though a more accurate title might have been This Is Family Time, since a good third of the record is dedicated to family members, and a few more tracks ("I Will Carry You", "I Still have the Dream", "I Will Be Your Friend") concentrate on unity and a sort of spiritual family. But that title would have scared off the "Secret Ambition" crowd. In any case, MWS is a busy man - he's finally gotten to crank out his instrumental album, which I look forward to reviewing soon, and he got the praise album out of his sytem a few years ago, and he's got some great acts (Chris Rice, Ginny Owens, etc.) signed to his little record label. Now he just has one thing left to do - he owes his other kid a song.
NOTE: Don't be fooled by the [ECD] in the product title listed on this page. The only "enhanced" content is a splash page that appears when you pop the disc into your computer, offering the potion to visit MWS's website, signup for Integrity Online (an ISP who obviously bought out some space on the disc), or exit back to your desktop. The video of "This Is Your Time", which was released before the album, would have been a nice touch, but there's really nothing here.
TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY Excellent: This Is Your Time, Reach Out to Me, Hey You It's Me
Good: Worth It All, Rince De, I Still Have the Dream, Anna, Everybody Free, This Is Your Time (Reprise)
Decent: She Walks with Me
Weak: I Will Be Your Friend, I Will Carry You, I'm Gone
Skippable: NONE
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