Reviewed by Tony Cummings

In many ways Norman Hutchins is a throwback to the roof-raising sounds of traditional gospel quartets. Not for him the fusing of contemporary R&B to the sounds of black church, Norman's style remains defiantly old school. After Norman came to prominence with the West Angeles COGIC Choir he did a couple of albums for Sparrow in 1992 and 1993 and this compilation endeavours to cherry pick the best songs. On the whole, it works very well with "The Battlefield" in particular showing why it was a hit on US gospel radio at the time of release. Having said that, the 'Quintessential' album title is misleading, particularly as the sleevenote namechecks Norman's later hits like "Emmanuel" and "Nobody Like You" neither of which are featured on this compilation.

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