Reviewed by Paul Poulton

There's often some excitement when unpacking the latest Hillsong United product: what great new song will make its way irresistibly into church worship set-lists across the western world, and also what goody-bag extras have the band included. Even though the music of this CD box set has been released previously I can't help feeling I have stumbled upon a hoard that will take me sometime to unpack and investigate. The extras that the youth wing of Australia's Hillsong church have added to this piece of merchandise are intriguing. A CD-ROM with photos, sheet music and videos and a glossy paper poster with lyrics printed on its reverse. There is, of course, the three albums which is the main point of this release, all of which have received Cross Rhythms reviews, they include their first studio album 'All Of The Above', featuring the hauntingly beautiful Brooke Fraser song "Hosanna". Recorded in 2006 it still sounds as fresh as a daisy. The next album is 'United We Stand', a live album and while it's not as clinically clean as a studio album it does feature the amazing song by Joel Houston, "The Stand". The lyrics to this song are strangely missing from the lyric sheet, they are however on the CD-ROM along with some of the sheet music from the songs, but not all the sheet music. Still, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, there is so much stuff in this package I'm not going to worry about symmetry. The last album is 'Look To You', it's the oldest recording on here from 2005, another live album and excellently executed, slightly on the thin side but nothing to hinder enjoyment or worship.

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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