Wide-Eyed Wonder

Wide Eyed Wonder is the fifth studio release, and fourth full length studio album, from alternative rock band the Choir, released in 1989. This would be the first studio album with new bass guitarist Robin Spurs, and would mark the band's first attempt to target the mainstream market.

After Spurs officially joined the Choir the night that Chase the Kangaroo was released, the band's new lineup spent the majority of 1988 on the road, including appearances at the Cornerstone Festival in Chicago, the Greenbelt Festival in England, and the Flevo Festival in the Netherlands. In September of that year, drummer and lyricist Steve Hindalong's first daughter, Emily, was born, As a result, Hindalong and lead singer and guitarist Derri Daugherty returned to Neverland to once again produce the band's next release. While the Choir's Chase the Kangaroo was primarily borne out of experimentation and group jam sessions over an extended period of time, Wide Eyed Wonder was created initially between Hindalong and Daugherty sitting down together with an acoustic guitar and the lyrics, The balance of the tracks came together in different ways: "Car, Etc." was built upon Daugherty's original guitar experimentation, "Robin Had a Dream" was an original musical contribution from Spurs, and "Behind That Locked Door" was a George Harrison cover recommended by Mark Heard, who produced and played autoharp on that track. The Choir also had a writing session with former bass guitarist Tim Chandler, which birthed the songs "Spin You Round" and the album's lead single "Someone to Hold on To."

Wide Eyed Wonder has been called the Choir's "happy record," with the band performing the songs with an "almost commercial pop accessibility." To that end, Hindalong's folk influences from Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Byrds came through strongly on this album, were more prominent on this album than any Choir release up to that point, with Michaels saying he was like a "kid in a candy store" because he played on it so much. After the better part of a year touring with the band in support of Chase the Kangaroo, this was the first album to feature Spurs' input as bass guitarist and vocalist. Originally drawn to the Choir by the opportunity to play "gutsy, male, rock bass lines," Hindalong heard Fleetwood Mac's "Hypnotized" on the radio while driving to the studio, so "Spin You Round" was built upon a similar drum pattern. and the vocal phrasing that Hindalong originally had in mind for that song was inspired by James Taylor’s "Traffic Jam." Finally, at the urging of Heard, the Choir recorded their first cover song: Harrison's "Behind That Locked Door," which also featured the first use of harmonica on a Choir record. "When She Sees Me" recounted Hindalong timing his baby daughter's heartbeat whenever he appeared to her, and this was in line with his fascination with mathematics. "Look up high / dancing bear" from the title track referenced his daughter's "wide eyed wonder" over everything new: "Emily had this little mobile that hung in the crib," Hindalong said. "[It] was all these little bears, and it went round and round and made this gentle sound; she would stare up and [she] really loved that thing." "To Cover You" spoke frankly about Hindalong's fatherly protective instincts; originally the lyric was "to shelter you," but Hindalong changed it to sound more paternal, "because you think of a child that you're covering with a blanket." "Robin Had a Dream" was written in response to an actual dream that Spurs had about Hindalong. and it was intended as a thank you to listeners; because the Choir was never commercially successful, the band thought that this album could be their final recording.

Because of the album's upbeat subject matter, Wide Eyed Wonder was called the Choir's "most marketable album," Daugherty concurred, adding, "that particular album was one of our busiest times. The record company was putting a lot of work into it and we were gone all the time—I mean, we were on the road a lot. To their credit [ ] Myrrh Records really worked hard for us. They tried everything [they] could possibly do." Wide Eyed Wonder was heavily promoted in Christian media, and landed the band on the cover of CCM Magazine in May 1989, with the feature article written by Chris Willman, who originally introduced Spurs to the Choir. The CD re release was a two CD set with a second CD featuring audio commentary on each track from Hindalong and Michaels.

To assist A&M with their crossover promotion, Myrrh financed a video album entitled Wide Eyed Wonder Videos to introduce the Choir to new listeners, which included two music videos and a band documentary. The second video, "Robin Had a Dream," was directed by Mark Heard and shot entirely on Super 8 film in Heard's first attempt at working in that medium.

Although the Choir had been headlining their own shows since Chase the Kangaroo, the band was given its most significant opportunity to reach a wider Christian audience as the opening act for Russ Taff on his 54 date tour for The Way Home. At that time, Taff was one of the most popular male solo artists in contemporary Christian music, and he consistently played much larger audiences than the Choir ever could reach. In fact, some attendees were highly critical of the band. "The audience overwhelmingly hated us," Hindalong claimed. "You could feel the disdain." Daugherty agreed, and added that, "people would come out and lecture us at our merchandise booth: 'We didn’t preach enough.' There would be a couple of nights where people would get up and literally take their youth group out." This tension between the band's creative artistry and the expectations of the contemporary Christian music audience soon became a story of its own. Just prior to the start of the tour, Michaels was driving the van and accidentally ran into a cow on the freeway late at night, which caused considerable damage to the front end. At the end of the tour, the Choir announced that this would be their last time opening for a mainstream contemporary Christian artist.

Wide Eyed Wonder was positively received by critics at the time, with the band receiving a number of end of year accolades from a variety of Christian publications, most notably, CCM Magazine. Wide Eyed Wonder was the lead review in the April 1989 issue, as writer Chris Willman called the Choir "the best rock band in Christian music," adding that the album was "more cohesive than its predecessor." He highlighted the more commercial sound of Wide Eyed Wonder, saying that "virtually everything on Side One is instantly radio ready pop rock; all that 'accessibility' gently leads you by the hand to Side Two, which gets a bit softer and weirder around the edges." He concluded that Christian “radio and retail would be well advised to catch onto the group now, while it's in such a contagiously life affirming mood." Mark Allender at AllMusic wrote that the Choir "began to receive some of the attention they deserved" with this album, which he described as "more dense than the previous year's Chase the Kangaroo, and in many ways more accessible." However, he criticized the inclusion of the Harrison cover as "surprising – and a little off putting." Mark Allan Powell in the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music agreed, writing that "the album bursts into full bloom with 'Someone to Hold On To,'" and that the "atypical novelty tune 'Car, Etc.'" sounds like "something the Beach Boys would have done."

All songs written by Steve Hindalong and Derri Daugherty except where noted.