Reviewed by Liz Knowles

A box set repackage of three earlier albums from The Hymn Makersseries, 2003's 'Best Loved Hymns: How Great Thou Art', 2000's 'Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900): Nearer, My God, To Thee' and 1998's 'Welsh Revival Hymns: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.' I don't usually listen to hymns at home - but lots of people do, with TV's Songs Of Praise and other such programmes being perennially popular. This is a great selection, and had me singing along with the very first track of CD1. Maybe that is the secret of the success of this series. In this three-CD set, you get Best Loved Hymns (only two of the 14 hymns were unfamiliar to me, many I know off by heart), a disk of Arthur Sullivan's hymn tunes (yes, he is the one from Gilbert and Sullivan, and it's classic, lush Victoriana all the way), and Welsh Revival Hymns (some familiar tunes, though not all familiar words, some in Welsh!) They're all sung by great amateur musicians, just as they are Sunday by Sunday - Sheffield's Salvation Army Band and Celebration Choir, the Scottish Festival Singers, and Swansea Gospel Male Voice Choir. The accompanying booklet is superb - hugely informative on writers of both words and tunes. All in all, a fine selection of varied hymns, which probably has useful applications as a worship resource in churches as well as for singing along at home or in the car.

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