Reviewed by Stephen Luff

Michael started playing drums at an early age, and then moved onto the guitar at the tender age of 11. Three albums have passed since - 'Triple Threat', 'Fools Gold' and 'Serve Somebody'. Now we move on to album four where Michael explores his influences, which includes T-Bone Walker, Mike Bloomfield and B B King. This best summarises the over-all feel of the CD, which is top-drawer blues - it does not get much better than this! "I Can't Wait Till Tomorrow" opens with outstanding guitar playing, setting the style for the majority of the tracks. On "Don't Say You Love Me" you wonder if Eric Clapton has a guest spot! The sublime vocals of Gina Parsons add to the package on the track creating an outstanding blues experience. Add to this an instrumental such as "Shalom Shuffle" and you realise how talented this man is! The only down side are two tracks, "Sending Me Angels", which is closer to country than blues and does not really fit in, and "Sea Of Grace" which due to the over-the-top vocal effects used, is hard work to listen to. On "I Can't Help Myself" Michael describes himself as a "karaoke superstar singing Lynyrd Skynyrd songs" before he got saved. Today Michael us so much better than that!

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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