Description
Go West Young Man is the fifth studio album by the American singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Michael W. Smith, released on Reunion Records in October 1990, manufactured and distributed by Word. Also distributed by RCA/BMG Music. The album was recorded by Bill Deaton, Billy Whittington, Brent King, Bret Teegarden, and Bryan Lenox at various studios in Nashville, Tennessee – Treasure Isle Recorders, OmniSound Studios, The Benson Studio, Digital Recorders, and Sixteenth Avenue Sound – and as well at Deer Valley Studio in Franklin, Tennessee; at Soundtrek Studios in Kansas City, Missouri; and at BMG Studios in New York City. Produced by Michael W. Smith with Bryan Lenox co-producing.
Go West Young Man was a mainstream crossover success for Michael W. Smith with the album single “Place in this World” peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart in 1991. The album was certified Gold (500,000 copies sold) by the RIAA in August 1991 and Platinum (one million copies sold) in February 2004. The album track “Place In This World” was covered by the pop duo for KING + COUNTRY and released as a digital single in January 2024.
Featuring Michael W. Smith on keyboards and vocals backed by a session band featuring Bryan Lenox and Mike Lawler on additional keyboards, Dann Huff and Jerry McPherson on guitars, and a rhythm section consisting of Tommy Sims on bass and Paul Leim on drums with Terry McMillan on percussion. Backing vocals provided by Chris Eaton, Chris Harris, and Wayne Kirkpatrick with Chris Rodriguez, Vicki Hampton, and Vince Ebo sitting in on the gospel flavored track “How Long Will Be Too Long.”
Michael W. Smith needs no introduction to the millions who’ve attended his sold-out concerts and prompted the numerous gold records and accolades he’s received. Of course, that sort of mass adulation always makes the cynical journalist suspicious, but Smith has proved time and again to be the genuine article, with an obvious joy in his performances and heart-felt affection for his fans.
There’s nothing radically different about ‘Go West’. It treads the fine line between the rhythmic complexities of ‘The Big Picture‘ and the subtler shades of ‘i2(Eye)‘. It certainly starts with a bang, as the title track kicks in, urging the listener to go to the opposite direction of vice and evil. Smith then takes us along on a «Love Crusade», complete with a Smitty-fied rap break that’s sure to be a concert favorite. «Place in This World» slows the tempo, revealing the artist’s new-found vocal strength. The clever «For You» follows, a bouncy amalgam of «Penny Lane» pop (note the piccolo trumpet at the end) and Chicago-esque soul. (When’s the last time you heard a trombone solo on a Christian record?) Speaking of soul, groove to the Hammond B-3 silkiness of «How Long Will be Too Long», the first side’s closer, but don’t miss the strong message – “How long will we water down the truth/ ‘Til the truth is no more.”
Side two finds Smitty joined by an African boys choir on the pan-ethnic «Seed to Sow». The buoyant percussion track drives home the point that, no matter how different we are, “Everybody’s got a seed to sow.” Wayne Kirkpatrick (responsible for most of the album’s lyrics) contributes one of his loveliest tunes, «Cross My Heart», sure to become a new standard at Christian weddings. Smith releases a new arrangement of long-time concert fave «Emily», and its emotional impact is not lost in the studio. Since he is also noted for composing songs that translate easily to a worship environment, Smith’s new interpretation of the «Agnus Dei» may well be his crowning effort in that category. The session closes with a tasty (mostly instrumental) morsel, «1990», ending with the cryptical announcement, “To be continued.”
Presumably, it is the aim of all recording artists to better their previous efforts with each successive release. Few have achieved that goal as consistently as Michael W. Smith. But it will be hard to top ‘Go West Young Man’. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, November 1990]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/go-west-young-man/309274854)
CD tracklist:
01. Go West Young Man – 4:00
02. Love Crusade – 4:23
03. Place In This World – 4:01
04. For You – 4:08
05. How Long Will Be Too Long – 4:35
06. Seed To Sow – 6:13
07. Cross My Heart – 4:35
08. Emily – 4:17
09. Agnus Dei – 5:08
10. 1990 – 1:39
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Reunion Records.
The November 1990 issue of CCM Magazine featured a cover story on Michael W. Smith.
A full-page advertisement for Michael W. Smith’s Go West Young Man was featured in the October 1990 issue of CCM Magazine.
“Place In This World” (MUSIC VIDEO)
for KING + COUNTRY | Place In This World (feat. Michael W. Smith)
AGNUS DEI (Live) – Michael W. Smith with Nashville Recording Orchestra & Choir
In 1990, when Geffen struck a deal with Reunion, it was expected to be a simple agreement giving Reunion access to Geffen’s distribution network and nothing else, but somebody apparently forgot to tell a young Geffen employee named Claire West, who asked for permission to work to garner radio airplay for the song «Place in This World» by Michael W. Smith. West was told that that was not part of the agreement. When she threatened to quit her job, she was allowed to work the single, but only on her own time. What she soon discovered astonished her. ‘We went through the most horrible prejudices from people who just did not want to accept the fact that this man had… a very, very visibly Christian message. And some people who had an idea of who he was felt that he should have stayed in the market he was in. And those who didn’t know him said, ‘What? Are you kidding?’ The purpose in our promotional efforts was to get the record to a point where the people who listened to the radio could decide whether or not they felt that this record belonged on radio, and «Place in This World» is very obviously a Christian message. We were lucky to find some key programmers, some of them Christians and some of them not, who just dug the idea that we were gonna do this thing. Those people really helped us to take the music out there, and we were able to create enough buzz so that the CHR department was forced to release the record into the Top 40 area. Then we kind of married our efforts and walked the record into the top five. For West, the key to success was personal interaction: If you’re going to get around anybody’s prejudices, the only way to do it is to confront them and to deal with them one-to-one on it. And at times you’ve got to go, ‘Hey, I don’t care whether you dig the fact that this guy is Christian or not. Let your listeners make a decision about the music. Let’s talk about him as he stacks up to Michael Bolton or Gloria Estefan or anyone else you play. Why is it that you can play «From a Distance» by Bette Midler, yet you can’t play my artist singing about what he’s singing about?’ They say, ‘Well, you’re right, that’s Bette Midler. She’s huge, she’s a big artist,’ and I say, ‘Well, OK, let’s go to a concert. Let’s see what kind of people go listen to this kind of music.’ West’s dogged efforts and tenacity paid off as Smith’s single cracked the Top 10 on Billboard’s pop singles chart and the album, Go West Young Man, broke into the Hot 100 album sales charts. [Excerpt from Mark Joseph’s book ‘The Rock & Roll Rebellion’, B&H Publishing Group; 1999]
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