Reviewed by Mark Goodge

The back of the CD cover says that these are a "collection of fresh arrangements geared for your Sunday band." Unfortunately, the sleeve nowhere explains what this means, which is a pity. The obvious assumption is that it's intended as a resource for worship leaders and bands to help learn new songs to play in church, but, if so, it falls well short of the target. The arrangements, far from being fresh, are pretty much bog-standard and not really suited to a church band anyway. The musicianship is perfectly competent, as you'd expect, but there's no spark or fire here. More to the point, every church band I've ever been in or worked with has preferred to learn new songs from the original artist albums or live recordings. Who's going to buy this, when the same songs are available elsewhere? And yet... Feeling a little guilty about knocking the CD, I decided to give it another listen, in different circumstances. Relaxing in the conservatory with this playing in the background, it takes on a new life. Here, the sparse arrangements give it a mellow, almost meditational kind of feeling. I'd happily play this as wallpaper music during a dinner party, for example, and I can't help feeling that Kingsway have missed an opportunity here. Marketed as a praise and worship chillout album, this might have got a decent rating. As it is, I'm giving it a score halfway between that and what it gets as a church worship resource.

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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