Reviewed by Dave Brassington

This is a release which is very difficult for those of us on this side of the Atlantic to get our heads around! God and patriotism in song is something in Britain we find difficult to cope with, let alone enjoy. Obviously since the attacks of 9/11 this sort of release has been fairly constant from our American friends, so we just have to think about the music. Unusually for a Gaither release it only features 12 tracks, but it opens brightly enough with the Woody Guthrie folk classic "This Land Is Your Land" by a big Gaither ensemble. The Gaither Vocal Band then perform "America The Beautiful" which does nothing for me. The John Denver country classic "Back Home Again" gets a good airing before Ivan Parker gives us "God Bless The USA". The rest of the album continues in this vein with a mixture of patriotic pieces and a couple of classic hymns "Amazing Grace" and "Rock Of Ages". As both these very well known and familiar hymns are from Britain, this only goes to make this more of an oddball collection. No doubt this will sell in the States, but as far as Britain is concerned you would have to be some dyed in the wool Gaither devotee to go out and buy this.

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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