Geoff Moore - Familiar Stranger: The Early Works Of Geoff Moore
STYLE: Rock RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 4083-5108 LABEL: Benson 8441843082 FORMAT: CD Album
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Reviewed by Peter Smith
Interesting guy, Geoff Moore. At the beginning of the '80s he turned his back on the guarantee of a fast track executive career in the family steel business to proclaim the Gospel in song. In the early days Geoff was inspired and influenced by Larry Norman and it is fitting that this retrospective album, charting his early career from '84 to '87, should kick off with a searing cover version of the Larry Norman classic "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music" which he later covered again, not quite as effectively in the '90s. Incidentally, Larry's rock gospel war horse was the first song Geoff sang in front of an audience and I would say he does it more than justice. It contains that most quotable line, "Jesus is the Rock and he rolled my blues away." The album contains a rich assortment and the overall sound is like Bruce Springsteen meets Cliff Richard. Sure, like many other collections in this genre it contains its fair share of musical cliches but I would say that's as much a strength as a weakness and some of the guitar work is quite inspired. The strongest track is "Where Are The Other Nine?", based on the healing of the 10 lepers.