Reviewed by Stephen Luff

Contemporary Christian music (CCM) developed from the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s, and despite criticism of "using the world's music," has affected millions of people across the world speaking into their lives. This new collection will not please many music historians as numerous key songwriters and artists are missing, but given the size of the task, it provides a small insight into decades of significant songs. The CD starts with "Dive" by Steven Curtis Chapman, an unusual choice but a great track, demonstrating how to produce a great pop song. Included also is "Jesus Freak" (dc Talk), "Thy Word" (Amy Grant) and "You Put This Love In My Heart" (Keith Green), all representing major development points in the development of CCM. The amazing "I Can Only Imagine" is included, but sung here by Rita Springer and not a patch on MercyMe's original. Similarly, we have Kim Hill's cover of Rich Mullins' "Step By Step" and Michael W Smith's "Friends" performed here by the Daniel Doss Band. CCM could do with a better retrospective than this.

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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