Reviewed by Mark Lawrence

'Light Of The World' captures many of today's best known praise and worship songs sung live at various Christian events in the UK. Worship leaders such as Geraldine Latty and Godfrey Birtill arrange and lead classic hymns such as "O For A Thousand Tongues" alongside newer songs such as Matt Redman's "Even Though I Walk (You Never Let Go)" and Chris Tomlin's "Great Is Your Faithfulness (Your Grace Is Enough)". Tim Hughes' obligatory worship compilation favourite "Light Of The World" apart, the eclectic mix of old and new works well and helps to set this compilation out from the plethora of worship box sets already available. The live arrangements won't be to every listener's taste, Marty Sampson's "All Creation Cries To You", for example, has a synth-driven riff that gives the song a slight '80's disco feel and Chris Bowater's "Not To Us O Lord" sounds not too dissimilar to a Pet Shop Boys song. With any genre of music style is a very subjective thing and for me I found the late '80s/early '90s soft pop rather distracted from the quality of the songs on this collection but for many this won't be a problem. As worship compilations go this is a worthy addition to the canon.

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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