Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Larry Norman is one of Christendom's finest songwriters. The guy almost single handedly invented Christian rock music in the mid 60s and he's written hundreds of songs over the years. This tribute to his fine songwriting takes a glide across the Forefront label's roster of artists each contributing covers. The fun starts where artists perform versions so different to the originals that I was playing spot the song (check out ETW's wonderful rap version of "If God Is My Father" if you want to play this game with your friends.). Standouts are Rebecca St James' "Sweet Sweet Song Of Salvation" (a song which Larry himself hates with a passion! Fact, fans.) which is all poppy and groovy! DC Talk's live acoustic "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" gives Kevin Smith the chance to smoulder and sound soulful and it's brilliant! Elsewhere Larry Howard's "Rock That Doesn't Roll" sounds like Status Quo (honest) and new band Grammatrain's "Six O'Clock News" sound like the Crash Test Dummies! Honest, I'm not making this up! Generally covers albums are a strange phenomenon and seldom work because everyone prefers the originals but there is enough here to make this interesting and perhaps even introduce a new generation to Larry Norman's songs which can only be a good thing. And the royalties might even help Larry get that long awaited heart operation. Perhaps that alone is a good reason to buy!

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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