Reviewed by Paul Poulton

I always kind of thought that gospel music was mostly worship anyway, so what's different about this fifth release in the Gotta Have Gospel series? It's basically that there are some songs on here that most churches would sing in their Sunday morning worship, not just black churches. Some of the songs feel very slightly awkward at first but it doesn't take too long to get the tune established and once that feat is accomplished then the song can be let loose, "song thou art loosed", as T D Jakes might say. And once it has been set free from its traditional worship parameters then everyone seems a lot happier, including me who wants to hear the many fine artists on the 16 tracks get on with what they do best. "The Presence Of The Lord Is Here" featuring Byron Cage is a rip roaring track that asks very nicely if it can keep being played; I have been granting this request, along with other stand-out tracks on this compilation. Most of the artists are well known names in gospel music, Kirk Franklin plays frontman choir master for "Hosanna". Kirk shouts out "What's his name", the choir reply, "Hosanna". Hmmm, that's not a name of Jesus, it's a request, that's used as an exclamation, but that little bit of theological study aside, it is a great track, taken from Kirk's 2002 album 'The Rebirth Of Kirk Franklin'. One or two songs don't work well, "Undignified" by Stephen Hurd surprisingly loses some of its vitality from a gospel version, but that is not typical of most of the songs on here.

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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