Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

Whenever Tom Brock and Viola come over to a festival, I always hope that they'll bring their band with them, because that means I can meet and enjoy the music of Mark Riley, On this album, released by Wave of Life under their Heart2Heart label, are eight of Mark's own songs along with one from fellow Hawaii resident Bob Fitts and most of it is acoustic rock praise directed to the Lord. The songs are good and tuneful, and production is crisp and clear. Having said most of it is acoustic rock praise, my fave trax of the moment are the slower, more reflective ones: an excellent rendition of Psalm 130 ("Out of the depths"), the Bob Fitts song "I will not be afraid"; "Behind the veil", a song of invitation (How long will you remain behind the veil, even though Jesus has torn it away....seasons change and the winds are blowing, but God remains the same). In contrast, Mark's version of Psalm 47, "Clap your hands", romps along with a Bo Diddley beat, and deserves to be sung in every fellowship that enjoys praising the Lord. Mark has taken that Einstein and Brains from "Thunderbirds" car poster slogan "Weird on the outside, clever on the inside" and applied it to himself. Take it from me, there's nowt weird about this feller's music; it's the perfect antidote to the limp "wet lettuce praise" that still gets churned out by the bucketload.

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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