Customer Reviews

More to This Life

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Steven sings and performs a type of music that I believe only he could pull off with such flair. Any other artist would have this music dismissed as cheese or fluff, but Steven is such a dynamic personality that he makes this music touch us in a deeply personal way. With "For the Sake Of the Call" running a competitive second place, this is clearly the best album of Steven's pre-"Great Adventure" years... "I will be here","more to this life", and "waiting for lightning" are the standouts.

Released in '89 under the Sparrow Records label, 'More To This Life' was the third album/CD by Christian songwriter/singer Steven Curtis Chapman. Containing -11 tracks- of not only enjoyable, uplifting music and lyrics, but also conveying a level of depth and introspection that set this collection of songs above most of the other contemporary Christian music being released at the time.

'More To This Life' was not formula-matic and predictable and it fully displayed Steven's ability to touch on so many different concerns in life and present the gospel message in an intelligent, unoffensive manner. I think the biggest praise I could give this CD is that you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy it. After all, isn't that the true intent of Christian music? You can't convert anyone if you can't get them to listen.

This CD is perfect. I wouldn't change a single thing. I thought this the first time I heard it in 1989, and I still feel that way! There are only 2 other CD's I find perfect: Amy Grant's "Lead Me On" and Allan Hall's (from Selah) "House of a Thousand Dreams". If you like Steven Curtis Chapman but are bored with his new stuff, or just want an inspiring, wonderful CD, I would get "More to This Life" right now! My all time favorite song on the planet is "Way Beyond the Blue". As a teenager, I made a cassette (didn't have a CD player then!) of this song, filling up an entire side, so I could listen to it at night over and over without having to rewind after each play, until I fell asleep to the words "His love is wider than the sky above you/And He has plans for you that go way beyond the blue". Words can't describe the impact this song and entire CD had and still has on my Christian walk, and actually making me believe in a very real way that God knows who I am and cares for ME (and you) with a love that is beyond human comprehension. I would recommend this CD to anyone of any age. I liked it at 16, 25 and now at 31!

No matter what album you pick up by Steven Curtis Chapman, there will be at least one instant classic. More to this Life is a cry to all in this crazy society.

This is a great CD! Even though every song is great, there are 2 standouts for me: "Love You With My Life" is a nice mid tempo song with great lyrics.

"I Will Be Here" has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. I've listened to that song a million times and never get tired of it. It's so beautiful and uplifting. Buy this CD!

This is one of those albums that I go put on when I've had a particularly "Lord, isn't it time for that rapture yet" kind of day. It stays in the CD player - a true mark of a favorite.

Oh, joy, joy, joy! My only complaint about he has no concept of enunciation. I originally heard "I Will Be Here" on Greatest Hits, and I could not for the life of me decifer the word "mirror". It was not until I got this one that I was able to find it out. Oh well. He gets better with time.

Anyway, my most favorite song ever in the whole world, "In This Little Room", is on here. It's the most touching, uplifting message he's ever given us: "In this little room/I put my pen to the paper/To write what's in my heart down on a page/And with every line/A silent prayer is being lifted/That the song will somehow find its way/From this little room/To your heart" It still has the power to make me cry like no other song can. Oh, dear. The bridge is so beautiful I have to reproduce that for you too (that last part was verse 1): "I close my eyes/Imagining your faces/I see the smiles, the tears, the joys, the pain/We may be strangers/But I can give this song to you/Because the One who gave me this song knows your name/He knows your name, He knows your name" You simply MUST hear it! The only song on here I DON'T like is "Living for the Moment" - I have no idea why. He's in top form in "Who Makes the Rules". It's...well...COUNTRY! YEEEHAW! He's a cowboy at heart. (<:

This has got to be my favorite album of all time, and not just my favoritie Chapman album, but it's that too.
It is a very smooth sounding album that just drones on beautifully. So spiritual and that part is very important, don't forget.
I have fond memories of this cd and that was 10 years ago that I first bought it. Hooray!
I like all his '80s albums but my second favorite is Real Life Conversations. I listen to these two older albums the most by far of all his records.
It kind of has a countryish sound to it too, which is cool.

In the days I was purchasing mostly cassettes so I can listen to them on my Walkman (the 1980s/90 miserable equivalent to the iPod), I bought this CD back in it's heyday because of the bonus song.

To this day, this is my favorite CD by Steven and his others just don't measure up. I have always enjoyed Steven's music which is contemporary and mades "religious" music more appealing to me back in my younger days. This album seems to find the perfect balance between Pop and Christian with some acoustic work and without the cheesiness that is evident on previous albums.

This album has more ballads with very meaningful lyrics than uptempo and so that may be a drawback for those wanting more upbeat music. In a way, I like that about this album because sometimes we need to slow it down and think about things that are more important than our everyday activities.

My all-time favorites on this album are:
More To This Life
Waiting For Lightning
I Will Be Here
Treasure Island
Way Beyond The Blue
More Than Words
Out In The Highways

Steven Curtis Chapman's More to This Life holds a soft spot in my heart, as it was the first album of his that I ever heard. (I was already familiar with some of his previous singles, such as "His Eyes.") Released in the summer of 1989, it easily contained the young (still in his mid-20s) singer/songwriter's best work to that date. Gone were the pop/rock sounds of Real Life Conversations (1988) that Chapman indisputably needed to grow into before he could effectively use them. Instead, More to This Life found Chapman majoring on a country/pop style with which he clearly was comfortable. The ability to play to his musical strengths may have allowed Chapman to spend more time on lyrics; the cliches found in abundance on his previous two albums mostly are missing from this go-round. Consequently, Chapman sounds considerably more confident and comfortable in his own skin on this album than on his first two projects. As a result, he created a near-classic contemporary Christian music album.

The album contains at least two classic Chapman tunes. The title track that opens the album begins with a sobering set of observations concerning everyday people and leads Chapman to ask the big questions that everyone faces at some point in his or her life: Why am I here? What makes life worth living? Chapman answers these questions by pointing to Jesus Christ's death on the cross. At the album's midpoint, "I Will Be Here" is a song of marital commitment amidst difficulties that quickly, and justifiably, became a standard evangelical Christian wedding song. (It was the first dance song for me and my wife!) Both of these songs may have lasted because they relate to personal situations in Chapman's life: he thought of the lyrics to the title track when returning from a relative's funeral, and the lyrics to "I Will Be Here" served as Chapman's declaration of commitment to his wife after his own parents divorced later in life.

The other songs are almost invariably very good in quality. "Love You With My Life" is a catchy pop tune about commitment to God. "Waiting for Lightning" is a moving ballad about how Christians too often miss God's direction because they're looking for signs and wonders. "Who Makes the Rules," which lyrically calls listeners to obedience to God, is mercifully the only imitation-Huey Lewis song on this album; Chapman's handlers evidently were finally getting the picture that their artist couldn't be fit into that box musically. (Mark O'Connor's violin on the song also helps distance the song a bit from Huey Lewis imitation land.) "Treasure Island" and "Way Beyond the Blue" place in the forefront Chapman's grounded, practical imagination: comparing following God to a pirates' adventure and Air Force service provides the same type of metaphors that would become more prominent with Chapman's breakaway hit "The Great Adventure" a few years later. "In This Little Room" and "More Than Words" are personal, intimate declarations of intention that may prove moving to listeners.

That leaves only two subpar songs, and even they're still good. "Living for the Moment's" lyrics go hand-in-hand thematically with "More to This Life" and "Love You With My Life," but it lacks effective musical hooks. "Out on the Highways" was the album's bonus CD track, a marketing standard common when CDs were relatively new and music companies were trying to get people to switch to the new medium. There's nothing really wrong with the song, but despite a people-on-the-street theme that somewhat hearkens back to the album's opening track, it's neither all that memorable nor as effective an album closer as "More Than Words."

Speaking of "More Than Words," I'd argue that both it and "Way Beyond the Blue" are still, 18 years later, two of Chapman's most beautiful songs. The sense of longing in Chapman's voice for his prayers, lyrics, and vows of commitment to God to be "more than words" is palpable. Here in a few places, and more completely on "Way Beyond the Blue," he lets his voice soar to a greater height than it had before. In fact, Chapman stretches himself vocally and writes more personally than on previous albums, to excellent effect.

More to This Life somewhat reminds me both musically and thematically of Rich Mullins' Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988). Like Mullins on that album, Chapman is just beginning to hit his stride here. Also, again like Mullins, Chapman's tackling serious subjects. And like Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth, More to This Life is an album that can contribute well to Christians' spiritual growth, providing that its truths are applied by the listener.

Because in the end, what you have with More to This Life is an album that looks seriously at what it means to have a meaningful life. It's an album that points to both the joys and the sacrifices of the Christian life. Chapman would surpass himself quickly with his very next album, but More to This Life, though somewhat dated (particularly musically) now, still has considerable power and is quite enjoyable from a pop perspective. Four-and-a-quarter stars.