Amy Grant - Heart in Motion

Heart in Motion is the 1991 album that broke Amy Grant into the mainstream pop-music charts, yielding five top 20 singles and two No. 1 hits ("Baby Baby" and "Every Heartbeat"). But while the release is filled with upbeat beboppin' singles, it also displays a more serious side and a depth of songwriting ability from Christian music's first lady. The urgent "Ask Me" introduces you to a sexually abused girl who miraculously grips tightly to her faith while struggling through a difficult history, while "I Will Remember You" and "How Can We See That Far" are haunting ballads dripping with echo-laden guitars. Indeed, Grant showcases a wide variety of sounds and flavors on this, her multiplatinum introduction to the secular music world. --Michael Lyttle Amazon.com

memories coming back

Listening to this CD brings back memories from my early childhood. My sisters and I used to blast this music as loud as we could get away with and grab our hair brushes, pretending that we too were famous singers. I love the sound. That's What Love is For was my favorite out of this bunch and I remember always getting teary eyed when I'd listen to Ask Me. These songs are ingrained in my mind and every once and awhile I find myself humming one of them out of the blue. November 15, 2007

The PERFECT pop album

Amy Grant may not have the Celine dion quality voice....but she has so much more on her and other song divas in the world. She's an incredible songwriter and producer and i really love her voice regardless of her limitations.

There is not a single album of hers or anyone elses that i have listened to more than this one. I was 6 when my mom first bought the cassette tape. I recently re-purchased it as a used cd copy. I have no idea why such a successful album by her is out of print but...it is. However the audio quality is still poor. it's so quiet. i have to turn up the volume to maximum to be able to hear it as well as any other cd at normal level.

NOw. as i previously stated i've been going around singing these songs for about 16 years and i never tire of their bouncy popppy goodness.

i Mean really, Baby Baby, Good for me, Every heart beat. the album starts out with a 1 2 3 punch of great catchy high energy songs. i can listen to those three for hours.

then there's You're not alone, Galileo which continue on very upbeat and catchy.

then the album gets pretty serious on the very moving and sensitive ASK ME. and HOw can we see that far. she has a gift for dealing with real and painful issues so brazenly and tactfully.

i really think the only song that i still don't love is HATS. however i still know all the freakin words. (you can't just skip forward on a cassette tape.)

then there's the calm and simple closer HOPE SET HIGH. which leads us all back to where she started. even though this album is the her single greatest of her career , regardless of subject matter. August 19, 2007

a breakthrough on more than one front

From one important angle, this is the Amy Grant album we were waiting for and knew she could make. The depth, the knowing pathos, and the quality of expression raised Amy's game to a new level.

From another, the breakthrough is bitter sweet. I refer here to the widely acknowledged fact that with this CD Amy became a pop star as well as a Christian music star. We who knew here since 'El Shaddai' felt a lingering sadness as she walked out of our smallish concert hall and into the big, wide world as a quasi-sex symbol who could be assessed for the quality of a love song without saying anything further about the faith that generates her song.

We applauded, of course. But we also breathed a prayer for the soul of a child who had grown up with us as she took the plan to the Bigs.

She sang so beautifully here. 'That's What Love is For' is arguably her best song ever. She knows, as she sings these lines, that love 'talks us down from the ledges' long enough to give it another chance. And 'Ask Me' is riveting for its hope that God is able to restore things broken so badly that it's hard to find the edge where one piece used to join the other.

Amy was a woman on this album, no longer a girl and no longer a woman in the making. She sang without apology like the real thing, rearing back with confidence on her own hind legs and letting fly. It was a beautiful thing.

Too soon Amy would discover in her own experience that love does not always talk us down from our ledges as her sixteen-year marriage to Gary Chapman ended in divorce. In 'Galileo', she had sung that 'Even on the darkest night // Oh, I will find the shining light of our love'. That determination was to prove less than a marriage required.

The love songs on this album are tinged with sadness, knowing that they were enough to get through to the end. Our sadness once again followed Amy out a different door.

There is grit here. Amy kicks artistic and spiritual butt with 'You're Not Alone'. She is all big sister who's been there and is *not* going to let the evil thing happen to her little one:

I saw you walking by yourself
Your eyes were crying out for help
I know you feel your pain is more
Than anyone's been hurt before

I know love hurts when it's over
If you wanna cry it's alright
You're like a fallen soldier
But you just can't lay down and die

You've got to remember
You're not alone in this world
Always remember
You're not alone in this world

The moment that i looked at you
I recognized the killing truth
You really think there's no way out
But if you let me, I can help you now

Through all these shattered emotions
There's a lesson to learn
So come on let me hold you closer
Love can soothe what love has burned

You've got to remember
You're not alone in this world
Always remember
You're not alone in this world

You've got to remember
Never alone, never alone, never, never alone

I got to tell you now baby
Through all these shattered emotions
There's a lesson to learn
So come on let me hold you closer
Love can soothe what love has burned

You've got to remember
You're not alone in this world
Always remember
You're not alone in this world
You've got to remember (got to remember
You're not alone in this world
Always remember (got to remember)
You're not alone in this world

You've got to remember (got to remember)
You're not alone in this world
Always remember (got to remember)
You're not alone in this world
You've got to remember.

But rescuing grit is not the only strength she portrays. There is always, tenderly, strongly the valor that knows how to remember a life-long lover with the dignity that time requires:

I will be walking one day
Down a street far away
And see a face in the crowd and smile
Knowing how you made me laugh
Hearing sweet echoes of you from the past
I will remember you

Look in my eyes while you're near
Tell me what's happening here
See that I don't want to say good-bye
Our love is frozen in time
I'll be your champion and you'll be mine

I will remember
I will remember you
Later on
When this fire is an ember
Later on
When the night's not so tender
Given time
Though it's hard to remember darlin'
I will be holding
I'll still be holding to you
I will remember you

So many years come and gone
And yet the memory is strong
One word we never could learn
Good-bye
True love is frozen in time
I'll be your champion and you'll be mine

I will remember you
So please remember
I will remember you
I will remember you
I will remember you
I will remember you.

Yes, Amy was all growed up in 1991. So were we who knew her early on. We always freeze an artist a bit too early in her development. Good grief, she was middle-aged already. But her stature washed over us with this CD as we'd not had the opportunity to feel it prior.

It was a good, deep, cleansing wash. July 23, 2007

What took me so long???

Why I never got a copy of this when it was originally released in 1991 I don't know (probably getting used to the abyss known as high school, but that's beside the point).

I listened to "Heart In Motion" in its entirety for the first time today and I'm sorry it's taken me so long to do so. For the most part, it's worry-free pop, but there are serious tunes to be had here (as the star review points out). My absolute favorite is "Baby Baby." The melody is catchy and memorable and the lyrics are adorable (and it's nice how they could apply to a love for your child and/or your boyfriend/husband).

Amy's voice is soothing and is the main reason why I never tired of hearing "Baby Baby" and "Every Heartbeat" constantly on the radio in '91 and '92. Truth be told, I don't care for Amy's Christian material, but "Heart In Motion," her first foray into pop music, was quite an effort and I do appreciate her musical talent.

It's a pleasure to have added this to my collection. - Donna Di Giacomo February 15, 2007

You will love this!

I'm not really under 13, but I'm using my dad's account to review this. Anyways, Amy Grant really had a lot to do to make another album as good as Unguarded and Lead Me On, but she did it! This was probably one of my first favorite cd's ever (I've loved it for 10 years already) Here are the track listings
Good For Me-10/10-I love this song, it's got a great rock feel, and is just fun to sing along too!
Baby, Baby-10/10-Now who could listen to this song and not smile?
Every Heartbeat-10/10-One of my personal faves, it sounds a lot like Madonna's song "Cherish", but has a different feel to it.
That's What Love is For-10/10-Beautiful Ballad
Ask Me-10/10-My favorite song on the entire cd. It's very haunting and is about a girl who has to overcome sexual abuse. It almost made me cry the first time I heard it.
Galileo-10/10-I love this song too, great metaphor!
You're Not Alone-10/10-Amy shows her rock side here, and it's true, she can rock!
Hats-10/10-This song was kinda weird at first, but the more I listened to it the more I liked it. The beat kinda reminds me of "Love Shack", but maybe that's just me.
I Will Remember You-10/10-This song as another sad song, but it's beautiful. A perfect way to say goodbye to a loved one.
How Can We See That Far-10/10-Another beautiful ballad
Hopes Set High-10/10-In this song, Amy stays true to her Christian music roots and sings "If there's anything good that happens to life it's from Jesus". So true Amy so true. August 27, 2006

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