Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Vanessa has been singing gospel music professionally for over 40 years and, having first encountered Vanessa's voice on Capital Radio's Sunday morning Gospel show in 1987, I have to say that this lady sounds as fresh and powerful today as she did then. 'Timeless' is a collection of six of her songs from various albums spanning 1983-2007, each given a fresh treatment for this first release on her new label, Music World Gospel. The first two songs are from Vanessa's second album, kicking off with "Walk With Me", a wonderfully contemporary soulful version of a classic spiritual with a classic spiritual message, "hold me in my troubles. . .I want the Lord to walk with me". "Nobody But Jesus" was released as a single in 2011 and is a slow 3/4-time celebration of Jesus as the one who loves and protects as a father. Slow, but it still takes off from the sweet, mellow opening to become seriously powerful - check out the live versions on YouTube! The EP wraps up with "It's Over Now", written as a message for Vanessa's children, particularly her son who has MS and daughter who was going through a divorce at the time. Apart from the cry "I got a new car, I got a new house, yeah!" which caused a bit of a wince, this is R&B gospel music firmly centred on Jesus, and the Detroit-born diva sings with great emotion and power.

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