Reviewed by Tim Cockram

The press release that accompanied 'Live '96' promised "the 'Cream' of the worship that comes from the UK's largest Christian event", which is a pretty heavy duty claim to live up to. Well, by and large this collection of 13 tracks lives up the claim. Producer Andy Piercy (remember After The Fire?) has put together a well balanced collection of worship leaders and songs, he has managed to avoid the trap that so many Christian recordings fall foul of, "niceness". No thousands of dollars of dental work or pullovers that cost more than the average family's weekly food bill here, just REAL WORSHIP. This is just a great collection of material in a wide range of styles. Led by Delirious?, Graham Kendrick, Wellspring, etc, etc and some geezer called Andy Piercy. With such an eclectic collection you probably won't like everything but there is more than enough quality material to satisfy anyone. The musical highlight has to be Raul D'Oliveira's trumpet work on the two Graham Kendrick tracks is just, well, listen to it. 'Live '96' has rightly taken its place in my worship top 10, around number four.

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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