MUSIC REVIEW : Christian Rockers Revel With Smith

SAN DIEGO â€”  My first awareness of Michael W. Smith’s immense popularity among Christian-music followers came at a March, 1989, Sports Arena concert starring Amy Grant, the Christian-pop crossover queen and frequent Smith collaborator. To the layperson (so to speak), keyboardist-singer Smith seemed just another competent musician in Grant’s band. But when Grant singled him out by way of introducing Smith’s own mini-segment of the show, the large crowd issued a sustained roar worthy of a returning Caesar.

Still, even that foreshadowing and the knowledge that Smith has become the No. 1 male artist in the misnamed “gospel� category were poor preparation for the scene at Copley Symphony Hall on Thursday night. There, Smith and his seven-piece band triumphantly touched down on their “Go West Young Man� tour, in support of Smith’s current album of the same name.

If the reception accorded Smith by a near-capacity house was any indication, he faces few obstacles in his escalating bid to reach a broader audience. Recently, the Nashville-based Smith signed a pact linking his own Reunion Records to the powerful distribution system of secular, L.A.-based Geffen Records.

To walk into an auditorium filled with Bible-familiar youths primed to rock ‘n’ roll is to wonder whether you have mistakenly crashed a high school civics field trip. Thursday’s gathering surrendered many telling indices, including an abundance of stoic, middle-age chaperones and a tendency for short-shorn boys and girls to collect themselves in same-gender groupings.

Hollywood couldn’t have concocted a better pop archangel than Smith for so squeaky-clean a congregation. Like Grant, he is blessed with safely coiffed, fresh-scrubbed good looks and exudes the milk-and-cookies wholesomeness of an old Disney movie. Unlike Grant, he is male, which adds an extra dimension of appeal to his mostly female following. Smith and his young-lady fans converge at--but stop just short of--that point of unspoken, unspeakable teen lust beyond which lick the flames of perdition.

For moms weary from the struggle to dam their daughters’ hormonal tides, Smith must represent “hunk� as a contraction for hunky-dory. At Thursday’s concert, it was easy to see the purpose Smith serves in aligning these girls with their elders: He is the ideal fantasy figure--real but untouchable, artistic but counter-bohemian, sexy in a cute, non-threatening way, rich but Christian-modest. Perfect.

A suitable intermission followed an opening set by the Christian rap group, DC Talk. Finally, at about 8:30, the dimming of the house lights was greeted by a squeal perhaps unequaled for shear decibel count since the heyday of the Monkees or the Bay City Rollers.

Smith and his musicians--two keyboardists, two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a percussionist--emerged from prop fog to take their positions throughout an elaborate stage set dominated by an asymmetrical grid of colored floodlights. The band rocked furiously while Smith danced in the high-pitched shower of adulation.

Like a hyperkinetic kid enjoying the furniture, Smith expended a lot of energy during the first two selections, running and jumping on the multilevel set before settling into a more stationary performance mode at his Korg keyboard.

For the next two hours, Smith demonstrated that his appeal goes well beyond pretty-boy limitations. Taken purely on his fundamental merits, Smith is a seasoned pro, a trained pianist who not only is conversant with most of pop’s exotic variants but skillfully employs them to his advantage. His current show is a polished production featuring dramatic, state-of-the-art lighting effects, snappy choreography, crack musicianship and smart pacing.

The fact that this slick proficiency results in a cotton-candy program that produces a mouthful of flavor before dissolving into something less substantial does not detract from Smith’s obvious talents.

The Afro-Cuban groove “Lamu,� from Smith’s “Big Picture� album, showcased the band’s capacity to jam and featured an extended dance break (Smith and three cohorts). As he did repeatedly, Smith then exhibited his penchant for radical mood swings by following with jaunty “For You� from the new album.

This is a puff pastry that calls to mind Gilbert O’Sullivan trying to rewrite the Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye.� Smith announced that the tune is his favorite from the recent batch, and the ear-splitting whoops of the girls in the audience seconded the motion. Smith then seated himself at a grand piano for a sequence of ballads, beginning with the new album’s “How Long Will Be Too Long,� a gospel-pop nugget written somewhat in the style of early Elton John.

To this point, Smith’s only religious proselytizing (unless, of course, you already knew or could understand the monothematic lyrics) came in the form of a single index finger frequently thrust skyward in the familiar One Way gesture. Like a lot of Christian pop, most of the piano ballads could be read for either spiritual or secular meanings.

For example, the plaintive “Emily,� a song Smith recorded on 1986’s “The Live Set� album and re-recorded for “Go West Young Man,� seems a simple boy-and-girl-stuck-at-an-awkward-age ode.

Smith underscored the humanistic-romantic element in his balladry by following “Emily� with the new album’s “Cross My Heart,� a pledge of endless love cushioned by comely chord changes. More directly, Smith’s somewhat mannered mannerisms played to his sanitized-sex-symbol strengths. This guy is as adept as McCartney, Manilow or any other pop prince at pinpointing his constituents’ arousal point. Sly, well-timed, sidelong glances at the pubescent throng never failed to elicit scattered screams.

“Oh, he’s so gorgeous!� exclaimed a young girl in response to one of those glances.

Smith left it to guitarist Mike E to introduce the show’s only overtly religious moment. After the piano-ballad segment, E performed a two-song rap segment that allowed Smith a backstage breather. “Michael W. Smith is in the house tonight,� proclaimed E at one point, to a predictably vociferous response. “But more importantly, Jesus Christ is in the house tonight!� he added, sending the needle on the shriek-o-meter spiraling out of sight.

When Smith returned, he took the throng on an accelerated E- ticket ride through some of the songs on “Go West Young Man.� These included the bouncy title track, the dance-chant romp “Love Crusade� and “Place in This World,� a power ballad that is looking like Smith’s first crossover, Top 40 hit. The show climaxed on an appropriately bombastic note, as if to send a message to the secular pop world that its next major sex-symbol/heartthrob could come from a most unlikely source.