Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

This year's Spring Harvest was different to others in that there were none of the old favourite songs on the menu. ALL the songs were new and as always they varied in quality, but contained some real gems. Some of the gems are on this live CD, although there a few outstanding songs missing. For example, "Empty Broken Here I Stand" is a powerful song introduced by the Northumbrian Community and its inclusion would have added something to this album, which mainly reflects the middle ground of evangelical/charismatic Christian worship. The standout tracks for me are the single Matt Redman song, "Let My Words Be Few", Stuart Townend's "In Christ Alone", Paul Oakley's "River Of God" and the Robin Mark songs "Outrageous Grace" and "Rock Of Ages". (He has a knack of writing simple songs with an anthemic feel.) If you had gone to Spring Harvest 10 years ago, my guess is that everyone would be humming the same songs as they went home, but it's not like that now. I only heard one of these songs at Spring Harvest this year - a result of the increased diversity now on offer. My guess is that this CD reflects the Big Top celebrations, so if that's where you were, then this is for you, and it's good. As for me, I'll wait for the CD of the songs from the Evolution celebration.

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