Reviewed by Ian Hayter

Around 20 years ago, in the multi-ethnic church where I was then working in North London, a bunch of young people introduced me to the music of The Winans and a six-man group from Detroit who seemed to be producing a sound like nothing I'd ever really heard before. I started buying their albums and went to see them in Birmingham Town Hall, where their live performance was superb. They were Commissioned - Michael Williams and Michael Brooks provided the instrumental genius and Karl Reid, Keith Staten, Mitchell Jones and the now-legendary Fred Hammond poured their heart and soul into the tightly arranged vocals. Their sound has never really been imitated successfully and this 1989 album captures the excitement and innovation of their approach, which still sounds great over 20 years on. On its original release it reached number four on the Billboard charts and contains not only the wonderful title track, but also such uplifting and challenging cuts as "There's No Excuse", "A Life That Shows" and "Here I Am (More Than A Conqueror)". If there's a criticism of this re-release it's nothing to do with the music, but with the packaging, which would have been an ideal opportunity for an informative booklet and some kind of appreciation of their influence on the gospel music scene over the past couple of decades. For that perhaps trifling reason I've knocked a star off the rating, but if you just want the music, go and buy this album as soon as you can.