Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

Carmen Wilthshire came to the UK from Jamaica in 1962 as a 22 year-old, gave her life to the Lord in 1965, and embarked on a career in music which included mainstream record issues in the 1970s, but which since the end of the 1980s has been entirely gospel. This, her first album, contains 11 of her own compositions in a 14 track CD of nearly 70 minutes' playing time, and whilst it's well produced, courtesy of Noel Robinson, who also plays a lot of the instruments, there are some let-downs that don't do it any favours. First problem is Carmen's voice, which is rather wobbly in some places and lacking in sheer power in others (dare I suggest that anno domini is catching up with her pipes?); and then there's the songwriting. I seem to have heard most of it before, because the themes are familiar ones: "He's My Friend", "Make A Joyful Noise", "O Give Thanks", "I Love You Lord", and some of them seem to be overly stretched out, with plenty of repetition.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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