Reviewed by Allan Clare

"A unique collection of love songs" goes the billing and this is certainly some collection. Two CDs, 26 songs from 26 different artists and nearly two hours' worth of music. But unique? Well, looking at the artist roster you realise that you are on pretty familiar ground here: Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, Gary Chapman, Clay Crosse, et al. Most of the tracks are taken from recent '90s albums by the performers but the trouble for me is that this sort of music tends to float right past - it never quite rocks out and isn't fully 'praisin' de Lord'. There are some good ballads from Three Crosses, Third Day and an oldie (1987) from Martyn Joseph but the rest is typical American easy listening pop and soft rock - nothing leaps out and grabs you by the eardrums! It's nicely sung and nicely played and 'nice' sums most of it up. The real standout track is "Give A Little One Love" by Christafari whose inclusion gives the set its one moment of diversity. Still, if you enjoy this sort of music and you haven't already got the albums the tracks are lifted from then there is plenty here for you to enjoy.

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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