Reviewed by Tony Cummings

To my ears this is a better musical than the hugely popular Hopes & Dreams and having witnessed the impact this contemporised version of The Pilgrim's Progress had in a packed out theatre I'm sure there will be many folk rushing to buy this album. Paul Field not only wrote the words and music for the new songs here, he also turns in lead vocals on most of the tracks and shows again what an underrated vocalist the pop gospel veteran is. This set offers a dizzying range of styles from hooky pop, to jigs and reels, to country and western and even a new version of "Be Thou My Vision" which comes extraordinarily close to techno. The diversity of styles is heightened by some guest vocalists including, on the haunting American folk ballad-styled "River Of Healing", Jennifer Knapp. Many musical soundtracks don't work outside the context of their stage performance, but there's enough songwriting craft and uplifting lyrics here to find an audience even if you haven't caught the show.

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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