Reviewed by Phil Thomson

Want the good news? Rather fine shades of country, gospel and jazz-iness occasionally surface in the songs of Canadian singer Mrs Roxanne Sheridan. The bad news? Ditto. It is hard to get a handle on someone who has kept her options open musically for so long that she sounds ordinary. Truth is, she writes well, but possibly for a not particularly discerning market, the material only coming alive in the duets, say, with Hiram Joeseph - an example being the worshipful "He Is Here", a low-level, sensitive ballad supported by some cool sax breaks. But then Roxanne's daughter takes over the mic for "You Saw Me" which unfortunately features a nasal vocal and cluttered close harmony bvs. Actually, the writing is reasonably assured, mature even, but the delivery simply isn't consistent. Another duet stands out "He Is Able", this time with arranger, recorder, mixer/master orchestrator Andy Thompson and the vocals are decidedly patchy. What I mean about not knowing where you are is that later on Roxanne comes up with a simple, direct and quite beautiful piece "I Worship You", sung with tear-making conviction. This lady has achieved quite a lot in the Canadian Christian music scene, but that may say something about the tired palate of the Maple Leaf sub-culture. And oh, here comes the last song, a memorable outro in "Praise His Name" - written by Bruce Haynes and Lee Hendrix - and yes, thanks to Bill MacPhail, it's a duet (the best of them). Surprise, surprise.

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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