Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The idea of paring George Beverly Shea, the long time inspirational crooner of decades of Billy Graham rallies, with DC Talk's Michael Tait seems like a concept dreamed up in a padded cell. But the duo's "Because He Lives" works well, largely because the crooning elder statesman keeps his bits out of the way of the gentle rhythmic groove used to update the ancient Bill and Gloria Gaither chorus. After that, we've got a dizzying variety of renditions of Gaither songs. Steve Green does an archetypical rendition of "I Can See (On The Emmaus Road)", Sandi Patty soars through "I've Just Seen Jesus", southern gospel's Cathedral Quartet do a home spun version of "I'm Free". It's hard to believe that AOR buff White Heart completists wanting the band's version of "Gentle Shepherd" featured here will be happy with the hand-wringing melodrama of Doug Oldham (the man who once recorded my nomination for the worst gospel album ever recorded 'Poet Of Praise'). But on another level, it's great to see some of the new CCM stars mixing it up with the veterans to pay tribute to one of Christendom's most popular ever songwriting teams.

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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