Reviewed by Martin I Smith

The Australian-born singer has been acquiring a great reputation over the years. She's topped magazine polls, penned number one hits, received Dove Awards and has even performed in the White House. With this in mind, the job of her greatest hits collection would of course be to demonstrate exactly why thousands have responded to her music as they have. This compilation is not exhaustive in setting about the task, shrinking almost two decades of material into 13 songs, three of which are covers. Still, her classics are present such as "Wait For Me" from 2000's 'Transform' and "God" from her 1996 release of the same title, both as ever showing off her indisputable talent for producing accessible tunes that lack neither heart nor spiritual depth. While the covers aren't bad renditions of their popular originals, nor are they quite as satisfying, the 2007 'aLIVE In Florida' version of Matt and Beth Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name" in particular sounds a little awkward in this new form. Overall, the collection would have benefited from dropping them and including instead more original material. Regardless however, this collection is still an attractive enough compilation though it has to be said that St James' catalogue has been milked pretty thoroughly already by the Nashville suits.

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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