Reviewed by Trevor Kirk

Despite being on the British CCM scene for rather a long lime, via Greenbelt, The Late Late Service and the late '80s band Big Sur this is, I'm reliably informed, only Andy's second album; his first, 'Victims And Criminals' is still available from EIS on CD and cassette. This 13-track CD is 62 minutes and 10 seconds of wonderfully moody stuff; Andy is assisted musically by all sorts of people, including lain Archer and Miriam Kaufmann, and the whole thing was mixed and mastered al ICC Studios, so technically it's first class. As regards (he material, Andy says in !he sleevenotes that he's mildly embarrassed about the degree of angst on the album, and confesses that! many of the songs were writ­ten in moments of struggle. Scanning the lyrics, I can see what he means! "I got beaten up the day she said she liked me, but we connect as friends/Maybe I should settle for the idle chatter, once you say it's more, you get shown the door" ("She Won't Talk To Me"); "I'm staring in an open sky; I'm wishing, but I don't know why; some girl I'll never see again has left me here in disarray..."("Confessing"). Even so, (here are hopes and dreams amongst (he pain and suffering, and whilst the Saviour's name is never mentioned, Andy's faith clearly manifests itself - "So send your waves upon my shore, send out your song to soothe me once more/Lie in your wind till I am released, calling angels down/I can't wail another minute, heal me now"("0vertime Overground"). This is light years away from the fluffy candyfloss sort of music that sometimes passes for CCM, and Andy's gritty vocals wring every shred of emotion out of the lyrics; I love it! Now you go and buy it.

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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