Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Within Christian music, 'crossover' can have several colourings. It clearly means crossing over from the smaller Christian market to the larger mainstream (ie, non-Christian) one but there is no common means by which such an objective is achieved. Crossover can mean going pop, or singing songs where the 'J' word has been removed and where the spiritual content has been carefully vetted to avoid anything 'heavy'. But in Helen Baylor's case, despite crossover having been continually linked to her name, the interest and sales she's gained within the R&B market has been without lyrical modification. In fact as this album shows, Helen's heart is for ministry with a passionate love of "Lifting Up The Name Of Jesus" (one of her hits here). On 'The Live Experience' we're privileged to hear those great songs "Sold Out", "Highly Recommended", "More Than A Friend" in the context of church ministry (concert performance doesn't give an adequate impression to the spiritual dynamic at work on Helen's magnificent album). Her spoken exhortations, delivery and asides are straight black church but there's no hint of choir robes and OTT histrionics here while the band (including Justo Almario, Abraham Laboriel and Bill Maxwell) play sassy jazz/Latin/R&B and even come complete with a stunning Laboriel solo on "Doxology". The most moving track of all is the spoken testimony with sung interjections, "Helen's Testimony", where Helen chronicles her life as a successful R&B session singer, her descent into cocaine abuse and the miraculous deliverance of the singer and her dealer husband. The repeated phrase "but I had a praying grandmother" is the point where great art and Holy Spirit ministry meet. A stunning live 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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