Reviewed by Mark Coates

Anybody who knows their jazz fusion will know the name Tom Scott, a superlative keyboards man. What they might not know is that Tom is a Christian and that with members of his church, Victory Christian Fellowship in Fresno, California is the major creative force behind two superlative contemporary worship albums. For me 'Experience The Fire' is the best live praise album I've heard. I found it impossible to sit passively listening to it and I was dancing, meditative and at times responding with love and worship. This album changes in style and tempo and takes you on a journey of spiritual response from the gutsy and uncompromising "Experience The Fire" and "By The Blood Of The Lamb" to the prayerful "I'm Your Temple" and "Lord You're Beautiful To Me" (my favourite track). The lyrics are all by Tom Scott except "You Give Me Shelter" (which is written by Geoff Bullock) and are powerful, faith building, easy to understand and identify with. Another track that stands out is "You Give Me Shelter" - sung in blues style it's refreshingly different, check it out. "Fire, Rain On Me" features some strong vocals by Deby Contrestano and that brings to mind perhaps my biggest irritation with this CD - the lack of information on the cover. That said, onto the next track "Come On, Get Up" with its upbeat tempo it's hard not to be at least foot tapping to this one. "You Are Beautiful" is a lovely worship track that evokes images in my mind of hundreds of worshipers expressing their love to Jesus at the end of a praise and celebration evening. "Roll Back The River", another highly enjoyable track to finish what in my mind is a praise and worship album from the top drawer and to borrow a phrase from my five year old son, "I love it, just love it."

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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