Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This greatest hits release from prolific Aussie children's ministry man Colin Buchanan has been cherry-picked from over 20 years of recordings and showcases the entertaining singer/songwriter's innate ability to communicate the Gospel with depth to young ears whilst offering up a palatable listening experience to grown-ups - all the while keeping tongue firmly in cheek. The catchy title track - familiar to anyone who has ever attended a church holiday club - signals a collection filled to the brim with humour without ever patronising its target audience. In fact, a smattering of hefty topics are covered with the likes of some pretty involved theology ("Big Words The Words That End In SHUN") and the second coming ("Hooley Dooley Wap Bam Boom!") getting the Buchanan treatment whilst lighter-themed numbers such as "Jesus Is No Fairytale" - complete with fake Austrian accent - are genuinely funny. Of course, what also helps set this release apart from many other Christian kids' albums is the musical attention to detail with a skilled set of musicians pulling off delightfully inventive performances that range from cod blues and rock 'n' roll to some albeit cringeworthy rap and a couple of decent country-tinged worship songs that help highlight Buchanan's standing as a multi-faceted artist. Enough from me though: the popularity of Buchanan's work lies in the reaction of my six year old daughter who, from the get-go, sang along with each song before demanding play after play to ensure that this album will stay in the car CD player for quite a while - something I have no problem with at all.

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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