Big Picture

Michael W. Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 1, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reunion
• ASIN: B0000004R0
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,259 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

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 minister. The ensuing outcome is Smith's conversion to Christianity. The essential element here comes from Smitty's merging of radio rock-pop and a Christian message. The well-produced result helped change the direction of contemporary Christian music. --Michael Lyttle

From CCM Magazine -- Subscribe Now!

Stepping beyond the horizons many Christians have come to accept as music we term "contemporary," Michael W. Smith has gone off in search of a truly big sound. Somewhere between the eclectic pop melodies of Scritti Politti and the commercially adept studio wizardry of the likes of rock formulists Toto and Alan Parsons Project. M.W. Smith has anchored his aggressive third release The Big Picture, to a more thoroughly modern and pervasively relevant pop/rock style. Also traded in are the churchy colloquialisms common to music made for Christians. Smith moves to a more inventive and effective parabolic approach, which offers a realistic faith and hope as a means to life in the real world.

Compassionate images and heartfelt concern open a window of grace on lives stifled in darkened corners of mediocre existence as Smith takes on the poignant issues of his youthful audience: self-esteem, peer acceptance, teen suicide, immature sexual expression, and living in the will of God. In compositions written with Wayne Kirkpatrick (Amy Grant also adds her two bits on "Lamu"), Smith uses memorable melodies and danceable rhythms to drive home how life's decisions affect our attempts to move to the beat of the cosmically different drummer.

While stretching beyond what some of his fans Smith has made a bold effort to communicate the gospel of Jesusequated in one song with "all the love you need" to those who struggle with the choices and voices of our world that come from both without and within the confines of the Christian music subculture. The much-debated controversy over Grants unguarded will no doubt continue with Smith as new fodder, but the point is moot given the clearly articulated faith in Jesus that Smith sets as the basis of a clearly Christian standard for moral decision-making and this standard permeates each track of The Big Picture.

Smiths keyboard finesse dominates the multi-textured tracks as the digitally mastered sonic sounding board moves from layers of percussive 80s drum sounds to gutsy guitars in a broad and lush stereo oasis. One can only applaud a record of such high craftsmanship, timeliness and integrity. The big question is whether Michael W. Smith fans can follow his lead into bigger sound and catch his vision of The Big Picture. -- Brian Quincy Newcomb (c) 1986 CCM Communications, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MWS takes a quantum leap musically with this album., January 7, 1999

By 

Don Sanders (St. Louis, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Picture (Audio CD)

After a fantastic premier effort and a solid second album, Michael W. Smith goes off the charts with "The Big Picture." Lavish production and driving rock overtures are the keys behind this fantastic recording. It is unlike any previous effort or anything since. By far, "The Big Picture" marks the pinnacle of MWS's early years.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the truly outstanding albums of the 1980s, May 29, 2000

By 

David Kenner (Fort Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Picture (Audio CD)

Michael W. Smith has carved out a career as an adult contemporary balladeer in recent years but this amazing LP showcased another side of this very versatile singer/songwriter/musician. Every song on this album is a tour de force. Too often there are Christian albums that, if you stripped away the message, are not left with anything of substance but not The Big Picture. There are many tracks on here that, with the right amount of push from the record company, could have been big radio hits. Indeed, Rocketown did become a hit on Christian/AC radio in 1986. That song is just the tip of the iceberg here though. Other standout cuts include Old Enough To Know, about the difficulty teenagers face everyday regarding pressures to give in to sexual desires, The Last Letter, a song about alternatives to suicide, and the raucous album closer, You're Alright, which proves that Smith could really rock. This album never gets old and if it had been given more mainstream exposure, would have to be widely considered the classic that it is.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first "Big bang" of CCM in the 80's, December 15, 1999

By 

jeff tellin [e-mail] (kansas city) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Picture (Audio CD)

Without a doubt the best produced Christian pop album of the decade, and it still holds its own with much of Christendom's 90's musical output. The songs on the album form one cohesive exhortation to America's youth to keep their faith in God during the tumult of the teen years, knowing He's promised to give them an abundant life. Usually, such a pre-meditated effort to instruct through art causes the finished product to smack of overblown, trite piety. Not so with the Big Picture. If I found myself in the role of a youth pastor, I'd be sure to get a copy of this album into every kid's cd player. The quality that sets this album apart does not rest in the slick production, the unforgetably catchy beats and rhythms, or in the clever, creative song writing. This album deserves to be referred to as a landmark, watershed recording in the annals of Contemporary Christian Music because of the sincerity of Michael's heart to help teens see past their present trials and tribulations and grasp hold of the God who serves as the artistic inspiration for the big picture only He has the power to bring about in their lives. As this recording nears its 14th birthday, here's hoping every adult with a youth in his or her direct care will augment their efforts to impart the message of the Big Picture to their impressionable understudy, by giving them a copy of the album.