Reviewed by George Luke

Yussuf is a worship leader at the Ealing Christian Centre in west London; a gifted musician who has been involved in music since school, where he played the recorder and performed across Britain in a steel band. He's already had one of the tracks on this five-track debut EP of his playlisted by Premier Radio as part of their Songsearch contest. I don't know how old Yussuf is, but judging by the tracks here, his musical influences are firmly rooted in the '80s. I can hear shades of Chic, George Benson in his "Give Me The Night" era, and any of the British jazz-funk bands who were around in those days (Linx, Central Line, etc). Errol Reid, vocalist with the '90s pop act China Black (remember "Searching?"), joins him for a duet on the title track. My favourite of the lot is "Praise Him", which also appears as an instrumental. If I do have any criticism of this EP, it would be of Yussuf's lyric-writing skills. And I realise I'm treading on eggshells here, because lots of Christians believe that the more blunt and overtly "evangelistic" a song is, the better. I'm not for one minute suggesting that Yussuf cuts God out of his lyrics, or "waters down the message", but surely there has to be some way that a Christian can communicate their faith in song and make it sound like a song rather than an altar call set to music. Speaking for myself, whenever I hear a song in which the singer is begging me to do something - whether it's to repeat the sinner's prayer with them or to go to bed with them - it just sounds needy and desperate. But I know he means well, so all the best to him.

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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