Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

Pete Caulfield, currently based at the South Liverpool Vineyard Christian Fellowship, has been leading worship and writing songs for many years, and this is his fourth CD release. He writes in the insert that these songs are an expression of love and thankfulness for God's amazing grace and faithfulness through all the seasons of life, his complete reliability. As you read through the lyrics they come across as being from the heart, born of a vibrant personal relationship with and experience of the Lord, and there is an attractive simplicity to the lyrical structure of many of the songs, such as Jabez's prayer from 1 Chronicles 4, "O Lord, bless me indeed and enlarge my territory..." A considerable amount of thought has obviously gone into the arrangement of the songs, which makes it such a shame that the execution is so disappointing. The acoustic guitars sound great, but the rest of the playing is often scrappy with lots of very bad timing. This, coupled with bad vocal intonation from all singers, doesn't make for much of a pretty listening experience; right from the beginning track one sounds like a bunch of lads in the pub. Some of the mixes simply need more work - the electric guitar often dominates the mix where it occurs, swamping the lead vocal, and the drums sound somewhat weak and lacking in body. Perhaps more subjectively, there is an emotive Celtic whistle part on "Here We Are On Bended Knee" played by Ian Gilchrist, but it's completely dry - a little reverb would have just sweetened it in the mix. In summary, disappointing. Pete really needs to get a better production job next time to do his songs justice.

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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