Reviewed by Tony Cummings

I remember some years ago when the Greenbelt Festival magazine, Strait, interviewed Bryn Haworth, asking him what he was listening to and were clearly astonished when he told them the Maranatha! Singers. But now the consummate sessioner with the musical chops sufficient to grace any of a dozen superstars' albums, has taken several more steps into worship to become, on the clear evidence of this album, one of the most gifted worship songwriters in Christendom. There's so much to delight here, the delightfully undulating opener with its memorable hook "you are the singer, make my life your song", the haunting mid-tempo "Psalm 138" (he had a version recently on the Andy Park/Bryn Haworth 'Take Our Lives' album on Vineyard); and, if it gets onto the final version of the album (there were copyright snags) "La Bamba", which transforms into "La Hal-leluyah", and makes a delightfully joyful Latin praise-up. There's even a reggae- gospel version of the Lord's Prayer while a couple of numbers here, with their rhythm and blues raunch, could have sat comfortably on those classic Chapel Lane albums of a decade or more ago. Throughout, the playing is superlative, producer Les Moir keeps the thing tight and uncluttered, and as a signpost of where praise and worship can go in the nineties this is a milestone album.

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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