When all secrets are revealed, Amy Grant fans still playing her Christmas album in March won’t be embarrassed. A Christmas Album is a great record and worthy of year-round play. But on the heels of the seasonal release comes Straight Ahead, Amy’s long-awaited follow-up to her 1982 chartbuster, Age to Age.
Although Amy touched on it with the Christmas LP, on Straight Ahead she’s taken a studied step toward the rockier side of the tracks, more vocally than musically – a move many of her MOR-inclined fans may not appreciate. Her voice cuts like a sabre where she once would have slid, strikes like a cobra where she once would have drawled, and growls like a wildcat where she once would have squealed.
The results vary from song to song, sounding gutsy and glorious in "It’s Not a Song," but almost forced in "Where Do You Hide Your Heart." And due to her new-found vocal aggressiveness, Amy sounds more expressive, but not necessarily more emotive. Nevertheless, when considering the whole, she’s the same Amy as before – sparkling and naturally sweet.
Amy has grown tremendously in the six years since her self-titled debut took Christian music lovers by surprise. But for the first time, producer Brown Bannister seems as if he’s come to a standstill; the album just isn’t as musically interesting as it is vocally exciting. While Bannister has produced with great eclat many top names in the field, he’s always shown the most growth and innovation with Amy. But apart from just a couple of tunes –the progressive "Angels" and the worshipful "Thy Word"— Straight Ahead could musically be Idling Ahead.
"Tomorrow," for example, comes in with bopping synthesizers, sounding like the opening theme to a TV game show. While upbeat, snappy and singable, it’s also the weakest lyrically. On the positive side, however, Michael W. Smith’s keyboards dominate the musical fiber of each song. His treatments of "The Now and the Not Yet" and "Thy Word," especially the flute-like synthesizer during a mid-song break on the latter, artfully combine skill and beauty.
Like other Amy Grant albums, Straight Ahead is destined to mean a great deal to many people – this reviewer included. True, it’s lyrics don’t take me into the crime-riddled streets of urban America, the demonstration line in front of a nuclear missile silo, or onto the steps of an abortion clinic. Instead, it takes me by the hand and nudges me ever so gently toward the presence of God Almighty. Yet it’s not indeed to be a worship album! It’s simply a collection of ten songs joined by a common theme: the loving hand of God in the lives of His children.
Obviously, Amy’s growing notoriety in the general pop music scene isn’t just a coincidence. Nothing in life really is. But Amy’s ministry and career have become a most successful synthesis. Because of this synthesis, she’s found herself in the public eye more often than other gospel artists. With this fact in mind, it’s conceivable that many of these tunes might cause in an unbeliever some serious thought, especially with "Doubly Good to You," a count-your-blessings ballad, and the inspiring nothing-is-a-coincidence "Angels," where the listener is reminded that there are "angels watching over me."
The title implies that this is an album for those who like their religion straight, and it’s correct. Straight Ahead contains songs that don’t condemn, but not at the cost of masking Christ in vague allegories and metaphors. For instance, the title cut, a gentle ballad with an infectious chorus that could blend easily into pop radio, doesn’t mention God or Jesus by name. Yet it’s clearly inspirational verse sung to the Lord.
Another tune, "Open Arms," conveys a message of Christ’s love for the individual, but doesn’t preach religion as a means to attain it. "It’s Not a Song" expresses the singer’s heart toward music. "It’s not a song till it touches your heart/It’s not a song till it tears you apart." Still, nothing on the LP could be as close to sacred as "Thy Word," a melodic recital based on Psalm 119:105.
In 1982, the CCM review of Age to Age stated that Amy had arrived. Two years later she’s still moving on. It’s obvious that Amy’s not only going "straight ahead," she’s going "straight up"—in more ways than one.
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