Reviewed by Paul Kerslake

In 1986 as the stream of popular worship songs emanating from California's Vineyard churches was gaining momentum the church stream launched Mercy Records (which after a few years became Vineyard Music). To this day Vineyard continue to release worship music that is pioneering and forward thinking. 'Land Of The Free' is a compilation of some of the best and well known tracks that have been released over the years, and includes some familiar old favourites as well as modern artists and future classics. From Andy Park's "I Want To Know You" to Brian Doerksen's "Light The Fire Again", the first disc of this double CD set is full of classic and in some cases, forgotten songs from the '80s and '90s. It was great to hear Scott Underwood's voice on "You Are In Control", and Kelly Carpenter's "Draw me Close" is another timeless song. The second CD draws on more recent Vineyard releases and artists, including Jeremy Riddle ("Sweetly Broken"), Marie Barnett ("Breathe") and Casey Corum ("Dwell"). Listening through this compilation one cannot fail to be impressed with the consistent quality of Vineyard's worship leaders/songwriters and although some of the '80s recordings now sound distinctly dated the recent tracks from such as Jeremy Riddle are amongst the most cutting edge worship material around. You may well have some of these songs on other CDs, but this is a well compiled selection of old and new songs, and is well worth getting hold of both for yourself and for members of your church's worship team.

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