Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

There is absolutely no doubting where the Irish songsmith is coming from on this release and his lyrics are always straight to the point as illustrated here by the album's closer "We Don't Need Religion" - a rallying "Give Peace A Chance" styled call to truly seek God's love. Brian has pulled together a delightfully boxy little band and he is at the top of his game vocally, resembling a mid-1970s Dylan with thankfully only a few of those ham-fisted trademark harmonica breaks! Houston is never afraid to present some standards - "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" works especially well - and is also not afraid to be brutally honest about God's compassion in songs such as "How Beautiful You Are" which contains the bold lyric "I saw you (God) in prison with the drug addicts and with the handicapped children in the hospital wards/I don't see you on the stage that much/Don't see you asking for money for prayers on the TV/But I see you hold a gay man with AIDS and you're telling him that you belong to me." On the whole though, the songs themselves tend not to live up to the quality of Brian's vocals and band and there is perhaps not enough diversity in the material. There is an attempt to strip things down in the story song "Jesus Christ" and the tender and heart-stoppingly sincere "Precious Lord". That being said, this is an enjoyable and forthright testimony to God's mercy by an undoubtedly talented artist.

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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