Reviewed by Karen Johnson

Picture a concert hall, a plumby soprano by the grand piano singing well known choruses, the vowels of each syllable lengthened so that they all sound like aaah and you have this album in a nutshell. Just piano and vocal that's it. Apart from an arrangement of Kendrick's "O Lord Your Tenderness" which has a very interesting piano and recorder duet. Unfortunately the lack of other musicians makes it bland and does not do justice to an otherwise fairly nice soprano voice; sometimes the piano takes over the vocal and sometimes I wished I could turn off the recorder, but "My Jesus I Love Thee" and "Show Me The Way" changed my mind and made me stay. I must admit although I do like opera and classical music I didn't particularly like this. It did nothing for me and I was most grateful when side 2 ended. Please if you are to be so adventurous as to just have piano and vocal at least make sure that both are of sufficient quality to stand and be judged on their own merits - otherwise, forget it! It left me cold.

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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