Reviewed by George Luke

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic march on Washington (a key event in the history of the USA's civil rights movement, at which Martin Luther King gave his now legendary "I have a dream" speech), this latest instalment in the WOW series is themed around the city of Atlanta, Georgia - the late Dr King's home town, and the place "where all major black decisions are made", according to Chris Rock. HOTlanta is one of my favourite cities so a gospel album that uses it as its theme has got to be good. And it is - but to be honest, it's not because of the Atlanta theme. The liner notes give us a list of gospel greats who hail from the city, but only one of them - Tasha Cobbs - actually features on the album. Oh, and there's a song called "Keep Dreaming" (sung by Dominique Jones) that's been specially commissioned for the album. And that's it. What makes the album good is the same thing that makes any WOW album good: all the most popular songs currently doing the rounds on gospel/Christian radio have been gathered together into one neat package. This time round, that package includes hits such as Kirk Franklin's "I Smile", J Moss' "Good & Bad", Charles Jenkins' "Awesome", JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise's "After This", Smokie Norful's "Once In A Lifetime" and Donald Lawrence & Co's "Spiritual".

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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