Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The Source songbook, compiled by Graham Kendrick and published by Kevin Mayhew, is currently locked into a major publishing battle with the new edition of Songs Of Fellowship. Which one will finally win out to become THE worship song resource of the next millennium I know not. What I do know is the Alliance and Kevin Mayhew have called in veteran British producers Chris Norton and Dave Bankhead to produce these two CDs, which will be the first of five albums to be released in 1998 to accompany the songbook. The strength of albums of this type is the quality of the material. Each album gives you the crème de la crème worship songs from the likes of (deep breath) Robin Mark, Martin Smith, Brian Doerkson, David Ruis, Matt Redman, Geoff Bullock, Lindell Cooley, etc, etc. The weakness is that in almost every case there is a better recording in existence. But as you'd have to spend SERIOUS money to get all those originals, all these versions, with pleasant, largely programmed accompaniments and session singers of the calibre of Simon Goodall, Sarah Lacy and David Lyle Morris will no doubt suffice if you want to teach "Days Of Elijah" or "It's Rising Up" to your worship group.

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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