Reviewed by Adrian Cherrill

Forerunner Music is the label run by Kansas City's International House Of Prayer, and the 15 tracks on 'I Can't Wait' have been compiled from a selection of 10 albums from the back catalogue, with PDF chord sheets also included. It's fair to say from the outset that IHOP has a wealth of talent to choose from as this collection successfully illustrates. Whilst the style is broadly atypical American soft pop, there is enough variation to keep the listener's attention over its 70 minutes running time, from Todd Ganovski's U2 influenced "A Place Call You" through to two tracks from the Children's Equipping Center with ambient beats and vocal contributions from the children themselves. Other standout tracks are Pablo Perez & Laura Hackett's sparse but triumphant "My God Is King" and Misty Edward's brooding "Eternity". Ironically it's probably the weakest track that opens this set (The Merchant Band's "I Can't Wait") but in fact the only issue is it seems to be lacking in some oomph, given its lyrical content. Somewhat disappointing as well is that it isn't easy to work out who is singing what, even from the website. But these are minor criticisms of what is a very strong, well produced, compilation.

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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