Reviewed by George Luke

CLC Youth Choir are a white choir who sound like a black one. Not being the black gospel choir's number one fan, I wasn't looking forward to sitting through this album. But halfway through I'd changed my mind. Their singing is more controlled - passionate without going completely over the top - and they don't suffer from the screaming soloist syndrome. Out of all the soloists, the most impressive were Jonathan Ramirez and Elizabeth Haney, who dueted on "Litter Of My Head" with soulful authority. Lyrically, this is standard gospel fare - the basic truths of God's goodness and love, which we all know but tend to easily forget. Glen Woodward's songwriting is well suited to the choir's sound, and in producing both he and Aaron Lopez keep a balance between the vocalists and the musicians. The drum machine programs have been kept simple, and don't overshadow everything else (producers of today's 'soul' records, take note!). And as for guitarist J.D.Rielly's 'wild axe' job on "Strong Tower" - now that's what I call rock gospel! Just one moan - let's have no canned applause on studio albums in the future. All right guys?

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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