Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

St Barnabas' Church, North Finchley is affiliated to the New Wine network, and their self-composed worship music is in the style favoured by both New Wine and Soul Survivor. However, something's obviously got lost in the translation, because the whole feel of this album is rather lumpen and clumsy. The first problem is that a lot of it is everybody singing at the tops of their voices, and coupled with the length and quality of the songs (the shortest is just over four minutes, the longest just over eight, and all are a tad ordinary), I found my finger reaching for the skip forward button long before the end of each track. Even where there is a worship leader or lead singer in evidence, he/she seems rather far back in the mix and suffers from a few vocal wobbles here and there, and at times the band sounds more enthusiastic than in tune, some of the drumming being obtrusive to say the least. All this is surprising to me, because none other than David and Carrie Grant are credited with vocal arrangements, and are listed amongst the singers, and Cathy Burton helped with the production. I would have expected something with more production polish, given the people involved with this; as it stands, I can't recommend it.

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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