Music Review: Stand by Michael W. Smith

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: A few good songs
Cons: Musically boring; many forgettable songs
The Bottom Line:
Just average disc
Smitty can do much better
For die hards only




Not Great.  Not Bad.  Mediocre.

For over 20 years, Michael W. Smith has had a huge career in Christian music. It started right out of the gate with his debut CD featuring such classics as "Friends" and "Great Are You." A few years back he switched gears from pure pop to incorporate plenty of worship music into his releases. While he's stepped back from the pure worship of his "Worship" and "Worship Again" releases, it's still a major feature of his projects. Stand is definitely no exception.

Michael says the theme on this release is grace. That's a great theme and lots of different angles to explore just on that one theme. We're reminded of God's presence in "Cover Me." God's grace in spite of our sin is the topic of "Grace." And the result of that grace is covered in "Come See." We're even challenged to extend that grace to others in "Open Arms."

While I love the theme, the problem comes in the execution of it. First, let me get my biggest pet peeve out of the way – repeated lyrics. The occasional song that repeats the same lyrics over and over again is ok, but that happens on the majority of the songs. Either the same lyrics form a major part of the words like in "Cover Me" or the chorus gets repeated so much it feels like padding the song out to reach the three minute mark like in "Come to the Cross" or "In Silence."

Then there's "Oh Lord, You're Beautiful." I love this Keith Green classic, but for this cover, we get the first verse only repeated four or five times for two and a half minutes.

Then there's the music. There are a couple popish type songs here, but the majority of the CD is made up of slower ballad style songs. I much prefer some variety to my music. The melodies of some of the songs are rather weak. This is especially true on "Grace." It's almost impossible to sing along with the disc, which is something I love to do.

All this sounds like I hate the disc, but I don't. While the melody of "Grace" isn't exciting, the lyrics are extremely powerful. "Cover Me" has a fun and catchy melody that will quickly get stuck in your head. The CD features lush orchestra, piano, and guitar. It sounds lovely. "Oh Lord, You're Beautiful" starts with piano brings in strings part way through. It sounds great.

Stand isn't bad, but it's not great either. A little more time tinkering with the songs could have made it great, but ultimately, this is one of the biggest disappointments of Michael W. Smith's career.

CD Length: 39:53

Tracks:

1. Cover Me

2. Open Arms

3. Come to the Cross

4. How to Say Goodbye

5. Be Lifted High

6. Oh Lord, You're Beautiful

7. Grace

8. The Stand

9. Come See

10. In Silence

11. Escape Your Love