Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

There is next to no information about this CD in its booklet so you will have to forgive me if parts of this review are not fully developed. We are not told, for example, which artists performed the 10 hymns although the music is rightly the focus rather than the performers. At a guess I would say these hymns have been culled from other titles in The Hymn Makers series as the performances sound slightly different. Some are very right and proper with every word clearly enunciated while others sound as though they were recorded live. As we said, the words are central and they are printed in the CD booklet but the chances are you know most of them already: "Shine Jesus Shine", "Just As I Am", "Abide With Me", you get the picture. The only hymn from the 21st century is Getty and Townend's "In Christ Alone" but clearly this compilation is not intended to be cutting edge. All the arrangements are safe so the brass band strikes up for "Onward Christian Soldiers" and the pipes call for "Be Thou My Vision" - and it would have been fun to have reversed the instrumentation but not appropriate for the target audience. This CD may be a help for younger worship leaders who are less familiar with the older hymns and will be appreciated by all who enjoy traditional hymns sung in the traditional way. One caveat is that there are just 10 songs so although this release would have filled an LP we would feel short-changed if asked to pay full price for what is just half a CD.

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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