Reviewed by Niazi Fetto

This is the crowning glory of the 'Praise Him On The...' series - a compilation featuring tunes lifted from seven of these inventively-titled albums. Present, of course, are the unnervingly lucrative and, on occasion, surprisingly effective panpipes of Simon Bernard-Smith, rubbing shoulders with saxophone, guitar, cello and acappella voice. Listening to it, I couldn't help questioning the suitability of some of these medias to the simple reproduction of praise and worship ditties, particularly in the case of the cello. Robin Thompson-Clarke is without doubt a superlative cellist, and creates a wonderful mood with his playing, but I still found it difficult to cope with the reconciliation of that majestic sound with the triteness of MOR. The saxophone tracks, particularly "Spirit Song", are more successful - a step too close to hotel lobby territory at times, but David Hemming's stylish playing renders this almost forgivable. Black gospel's Chorale provide the acappella, and I was impressed by the richness of their sound on "Give Thanks", but found the attempt at humour on "We Are Marching" left me cold. Overall, it is the traditional praise and worship instruments - piano and guitar - that work best. Albie Harrup plucks rather than strums, and his thoughtful, ethereal renditions of "I Just Want To Praise You" and "In Moments Like These" are two of the standouts on this compilation. Keith Routledge's soft-touch, emotive piano playing is a delight on favourites such as "Majesty" and "Jesus We Enthrone You" and, although the muzak orchestration is unnecessary, it only mars rather than spoils. It wasn't on my Christmas list but, if you liked the panpipes, this is where next to go.

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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