Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

After The Fire were Christian rock music pioneers boldly escaping the subculture to battle it out with the big boys recording three albums with CBS Records from 1979-1982. They finished their career with this Best Of album now available on CD for the first time. The title song was their most successful, a top five in the USA but in this country their brief flirtation with the top 40 in 1979 with "One Rule For You" established them as the Christian Union's favourite band in the early 80s. Spookily the version of that song included here is a disappointingly different version to the original. Other than that ATF fans will be well pleased with the selection of popular album tracks and assorted attempts at hit singles. "Laser Love", "Billy Billy", "Joy", a lot of good songs here! Okay, so some of it sounds a bit dated now but if you were there at the time you'll want to get these songs in nice fresh pristine CD sound and if you weren't, this is an essential introduction because ATF really were very good! Finally, an interesting pop fact! Eccentric drummer Iva Twydell is now working as a Chief Constable! Der Kommissar indeed!

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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