Reviewed by Tom Lennie

The Lord release back in 1996, but have been completely unable to keep up with the seeming myriad of recordings from this Sydney church since that date. Yet another Darlene Zschech CD? was my immediate reaction on receiving the present disc, also wondering what type of audience this combination of sounds from charismatic worship leader, symphony orchestra (conducted by American veteran Ralph Carmichael) and contemporary jazz band could possibly be aimed at. Whatever the answer, I don t feel this 43-minute set, recorded live in Perth, Australia, works particularly well. Certainly | Darlene s soaring vocals can, as always, touch the emotions. But the song selection is in general rather weak (a mixture of several old hymns with some newer stuff, including four Geoff Bullock tunes), the jazzy style of some tracks I don t find terribly impressive, and nothing of value is added to those truly wonderful, but over-familiar, Hillsongs classics Shout To The Lord and The Power Of Your Love. Basically, though, there are certainly some pleasant moments, but I feel this pot pourri of musical styles does little credit to either orchestra, big band or Ms Zschech herself. Not an album I can highly recommend I m afraid.

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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