Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Two years on from their debut album, Servant's follow up was originally released in 1981 and is now re-released for the first time on CD. For this album the band had expanded from six to seven members with the addition of keyboardist Matt Spransy and consequently the sound of the band also changed. This is most notable on songs like "Jealousies" and "Heidelberg Blues" where the keyboards come into their own. 25 years after release, there are moments when this still sounds thoroughly contemporary. Opening cut "Look Out Babylon" contains the line "Soldiers in Afghanistan, sanctions to Iran/Shortage of diplomacy, we're running out of time." Other highlights include the fabulous talk box on "Ad Man", another song where the passage of time hasn't diluted the poignancy of the message. Servant's biggest radio hit, the poppier "I'm Gonna Live" closes the album and amazingly it was co-written with Doug Pinnick many years before he found success with King's X. This is classic Christian rock and personally I can't wait for the rest of Servant's back catalogue to make it onto CD.

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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