Reviewed by Tom Lennie

Another project of mainly old hymnody, with some recent hymns with contemporary arrangements added. It's clearly a compilation album from existing recordings, with a generous 18 tracks (and a play-time of 77 minutes). While we're told the composer (if known) of each hymn and the lead singer featured on each track, we're NOT told what recordings sourced this album. We do know, however, that nearly all the tracks were recorded sometime within the last decade, I recognise around a half of these versions, not that that's not a problem, as it's great to hear them again. Indeed, this is a terrific collection of songs, ancient and new. Of the old, both Michael Neale and Gateway Worship (Texas) do wonderfully stirring renditions of "Take My Life" and "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing", respectively. Paul Baloche's upbeat take of "How Great Thou Art" is likewise impressive. Of the newer creations, Reuben Morgan's gentle "Still" and Darlene Zschech's "Worthy Is The Lamb" are each notable. The latter tune is in fact one of no less than four tracks that come care of Travis Cottrell and band - all appearing right at the tail end of the album. A resource system DVD of this project has also been released as well as a split trax CD and songbooks either printed or digital. But I'm not certain that this collection is significantly superior to numerous other hymnal rearrangements on the market.

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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