Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Back in the '70s when Calvary Chapel's Maranatha! Music were pioneering modern worship music they hit on the idea of releasing instrumental versions of their hugely successful 'Praise' albums. As they were largely simply remixes of the original albums with the vocals taken off the instrumental albums were never very good but they did establish something that the whole Christian music industry has now recognized - that there is an ongoing demand among churchgoers for instrumental renditions of popular worship songs. As it was Maranatha! Music who first discovered this marketplace niche I suppose it's only fitting that decades on the brand should now be pushing out albums like this one. Here are 25 nondescript renditions of songs by the world Church's most popular worship song composers produced by one Dave Archeletta. You get "Crown Him (Majesty)" (written and originally recorded by Chris Tomlin), "Whom Shall I Fear" (Chris Tomlin), "Lay Me Down" (Tomlin), "Jesus Son Of God" (well, you get the picture). There are also biggies from Michael Gungor, Matt Redman, Hillsong United, oh, and some more Chris Tomlins. No doubt this will be a useful release for those wanting instrumental music to accompany their quiet times, Bible shop managers wanting something to play to their browsing customers and (perish the thought) times of evangelical karaoke. Personally, I'll stay with the original vocal versions.

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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