Reviewed by Peter Dilley

At 80 songs, this covers more material than the entire repertoires of many church music groups. It's perhaps inevitable then that after a while the instrumental arrangements sound rather formulaic, particularly the near-ubiquitous "take turns" approach to soloing that's adopted by the anonymous cast of musicians. However, since anyone ploughing through all four CDs in a single sitting must either be obsessive, insomniac or a long distance traveller, I'd expect that those listening in more measured doses would regard this more as consistent production than a serious weakness. In its content, there's plenty to commend this package: the song list covers much of the contemporary worship "A-list", a fair few praise and worship "classics" and various tracks which may (or perhaps may not) be new to the average listener. For example, "Here I Am To Worship" and "When The Music Fades" top and tail CD1, with the likes of "In Christ Alone", "All Heaven Declares", "All My Days" and "Lord You Have My Heart" in between. Instrumentally, the flute solos, restrained piano accompaniment and some warmly-singing cello passages all fit the mood admirably, but at times the trumpet seems too strident and the recorder doesn't quite hit the mark (too many primary school connotations perhaps?). It's a comprehensive package though, well matched to the requirements of the genre.

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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