Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

This two CD presentation of the worship leader’s 25 finest songs does not feature the man himself but what is offered here is an extremely competent run-through of songs most of us will be familiar with. All the standards are here (“To Be In Your Presence”, “There Is Power In The Name Of Jesus” and “All Heaven Declares” plus many more) and all songs are accompanied by a separate CD-Rom containing acetates, guitar chords and scores which will aid worship groups no end. The musicianship here is of a high standard and vocalists Lisa Cochran, Terry White, Mark Ivy and Marabeth Jordan (yes, the one-time First Call lady) give this collection a welcome diversity in style. Whilst most of the tracks are straight forward demonstrations, songs such as “My Lips Shall Praise You” and the disco-tinged “Nothing Shall Separate Us” stand out purely because they have been given a makeover (the former being transformed into a delicious shuffle complete with bubbling Hammond) and other songs may well have benefited from similar treatment. This does not take away from the fact that these songs have been handled with care by the musicians involved and that Richards is still one of our most prolific, anointed and respected songwriters.

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