Reviewed by Alastair McCollum

The passion in these songs is self evident and UK singer/songwriter Liddell offers them to the hearer saying, in the liner notes, that his prayer is ". . .my simple but sincere words and music inspire you to deepen and widen your relationship with GOD AND HIS SON" (emphasis his). But in many ways, perhaps, the sentiment of these songs is too simple, too repetitive and in places the lyrics start to grate and to distract from what is, in some ways, quite an accomplished and well produced album. Liddell has put together a varied collection of songs and styles including pop, rock and reggae - some of which work better than others - he has a flair for experimentation and the band are obviously very good at what they do, particularly the keyboard player/arranger Arnaldo Capocchia. There are some very interesting arrangements and some very adventurous and enjoyable forays into what almost feels like jazz/pop/ rock/alternative stylings, in fact there were a couple of points early on where I wondered if I was listening to a "Zappa gets religion" album - possibly not the intention of the artist, but an interesting experience. The opening tracks have echoes of David Bowie and Peter Gabriel, certainly in their vocal production, but one wonders if the (over) production in places is partly to disguise the fact that the singing isn't always terribly good. To be honest this was a difficult album to listen to, and though one sympathises with the intention of the album and though there is some quality instrumental work the overall feel is that this is a series of somewhat disjointed thoughts put to music.

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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