Reviewed by Ian Hayter

A Good Man Is Hard To Find is a feature film looking at African-American family life in the USA. It's not based on the seminal Flannery O'Connor story of the same name and received at best lukewarm reviews on release. Despite that, this album of 11 songs from the soundtrack is well worth a listen. Bringing together such gospel luminaries as Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Winans and Mary Mary (one track, "Yesterday" (not the McCartney classic), by the duo and one each by them as soloists), this is a great mix of energetic gospel, roaring R&B and soaring soul numbers, with the aforementioned Mary Mary track closing the set in rather more of a jazz style. Deitrick Haddon's "Don't Go Changing" (again, not the Billy Joel mega hit) and Deborah Cox's "I Won't Complain" are among the more emotional numbers, and there are excellent songs from Darius McCreary ("A Better Man") and The Soul Seekers ("Hang On"). For me the standout track is "Latter Rain" performed by Men Of Standard with Kirk Franklin and sounding like The Winans at their vintage best, but the soundtrack is a consistently good listen.

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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