Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Time for plain speaking. The Songs Of Fellowship songbooks fully deserved their place as market leaders in the praise and worship field. But all those old SOF albums. . . They were quite simply very, very naff. They sounded like they were done on a budget of five pence halfpenny (they were) and featured some of the wettest choral singing and limpest rhythm sections that have assaulted these old eardrums. So I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of wading through two new Songs Of Fellowship albums particularly as these, tying in with the brand new edition of the SOF songbook, contain only a few new songs and are largely re-recordings of songs like "Bind Us Together" (1977), "Give Thanks (1978), "Be Bold, Be Strong" (1983) and "Meekness And Majesty" (1986), not exactly material never before committed to recording tape. But after playing, my hatchet stayed firmly in its sheath. For as far as arrangement and performance go this is quite simply one of the finest come out of Britain. The arrangements are cleverly inventive yet never fussily obtrusive. The chorus is a nice fulsome blend alternating between ensemble-led works and lead vocal songs. So what is the ingredient which has lifted 'Heaven Is In My Heart' above the praise-by-numbers boredom of those wretched early SOF albums? Is it the increasing recording budget? Is it the state-of-the-art sound of ICC's refurbished studio? No, though both help tremendously. The answer is adding a pinch of soul into the MOR praise musical brew. Co-producer Steve Thompson has come up with some riveting arrangements while among the lead vocalists is his wife Velvetta McGregor whose vocal on Danny Daniels' "Holiness Unto The Lord" is nothing short of spine-tingling.

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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