Reviewed by Andy Cooper

'Top 25. . .' - of course that could be a hollow marketing moniker designed to appeal to those who don't know better, but it could be true for someone somewhere at sometime. . . perhaps. You need to be aware that this is an American production: no Hillsong, Delirious? or Matt Redman here, though the Tim Hughes "Here I Am To Worship" classic song is featured. However, you don't get to hear him, or any of the original artists, sing their compositions - all the performers are kept undeservedly anonymous. Most of the songs are American then, from the late '90s, such as Darrell Evans' "Trading My Sorrows", Holland Davis' "Let It Rise" and Malcolm Fletcher's "Come Holy Spirit". Nothing wrong with that, but the arrangements are made to be generally non-offensive. Even to Grandma. Some jangly guitars make an appearance, but the energy and dynamics are sucked down the plug-hole of poor production. But this is a DVD, so what about the video content? Each song is accompanied by a simple mix of scenes from nature such as flowers blooming, low-flying over vast plains, waves breaking on the shore and also some scenes of humans interacting: loving parents helping a child to walk, worshipful raising of arms and so on. It's pretty much the same formula repeated 25 times. And there are no sub-titles by the way, so that rules out any Alpha course karaoke. The only other use I can imagine for such a poorly put together DVD is to play it on a TV in the corner of a church coffee bar.

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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