Reviewed by Peter Dilley

In 1954, Billy Graham visited the UK for the historic Crusade meetings at the Harringay Arena, and there have been many visits here since. Over the years, the rousing music of the guest soloists and huge mission choirs became almost as memorable a part of these events as the message itself, and in celebration of that 'Through The Years' draws on archive recordings from the middle quarter-century (1967-1991). A complete lack of info detailing venue, choir, soloist or instrumentalists is very poor though obviously the likes of "Shine, Jesus, Shine", "Majesty", and "There Is A Redeemer" are from the latter years, whilst the choir recordings of "It Is No Secret", "Blessed Assurance" and George Beverly Shea's "I'd Rather Have Jesus" are rather older. For posterity's sake, a final evangelistic appeal during "Just As I Am" would have encapsulated the final moments of many a crusade night (along with "If you've come with friends, they'll wait"!), but here the choir sing it uninterrupted, until "May God's Blessing" brings everything to a close in characteristic rally style. Nostalgic perhaps, but by any reckoning there's good reason to look back over those 50 years with real thankfulness. Shame about the shoddy packaging.

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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