Michael W. Smith
Once a burgeoning songwriter and keyboardist for Amy Grant in the early 1980s, Michael W. Smith broke out on his own in the middle of the decade and soon established himself as one of Christian music's superstars. Smith's evangelical message comes with an unapologetic, keyboards-driven modern sound, a combination that has propelled him into the limelight. Here are his essential recordings.
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Live The Life
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by Michael W. Smith
Bmg/Zomba/Reunion
Audio CD
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Amazon.com essential recording
This is the one, the album Michael W. Smith has always wanted to make. Put simply, Live the Life is a masterpiece. The Christian music star has finally meshed his impressive songwriting skills and limited but effective singing with a tasteful producer's ear. The anthemic "Missing Person" sets the tone: Smith is playing for keeps. Guitars, not keyboards, play a large role on this release, as evidenced by Smith's cowriting with the vastly underrated Brent Bourgeois on "Live the Life," "Don't Give...
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Go West Young Man
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by Michael W. Smith
Bmg/Zomba/Reunion
Audio CD
Click here for more information
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Amazon.com essential recording
Outside of Michael W. Smith's masterpiece, Live the Life, only 1990's Go West Young Man has brought him his deserved commercial success. "Place in This World" was one of the year's top recordings and reached No. 5 on the pop charts, yielding Smitty's first crossover hit. More importantly, it was one of the few contemporary Christian music songs to reach such heights in the secular market. Smitty shows signs of diversity with the gospel-tinged "How Long Will Be Too Long" and the beautiful...
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The Big Picture
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by Michael W. Smith
Bmg/Zomba/Reunion
Audio CD
Click here for more information
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Encouraged by the chart success of his first two releases, Michael W. Smith spent seven months in the studio in 1985 and '86 and the result was this ultraconfident-sounding recording. The Big Picture is buoyed by "Old Enough to Know" and "Rocketown," two magical numbers that are clearly aimed at the youth market. The former is an encouraging ballad to a young girl who struggles with her sexuality, while the latter is a semiautobiographical tale of Smith's small-town meeting with a traveling...
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