Reviewed by Paddy Hudspith

It's September as I write and Christmas is just around the corner, yes?! So here comes this year's wave of musical delights of the season. Released under the Children's Ministry banner (a kid's work equivalent of Kingsway's Worship Together initiative), this collection's major point of interest is the choice of Noel "Champion Of The World" Richards as the featured vocalist on the majority of tracks. Despite enjoying much of Noel's worship music, I was questioning producer Ishmael's judgement even before putting the CD in my player. My fears were confirmed in that Richards' style is better suited to his own stadium rock anthems than the demands of a smaller production such as this, and his vocals do clash at times with the children's choir which backs him up in the choruses. However, the refreshing absence of sleigh bells and yuletide chimes from the arrangements is heartening. Noel and the production team have both aimed at simplicity and clarity, and succeeded. Apart from Ish's own "It's Partytime" all the songs have been submitted to Children's Ministry by British children's ministry practitioners, and overall the quality is quite high. There is plenty here to get worship leaders thinking about new gifts for the holiday season. Worth checking out if you have the Christmas family service in mind. 

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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