Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Note, this is not really a Russ Taff album. What Word Records have done is take a batch of oldies that The Imperials recorded between 1977 and 1981 when Russ was their featured lead singer and put them out on this 12-song compilation. Apart from the questionable packaging, this is still sounds pretty good today as it dates from the era when The Imperials were moving from being a Southern gospel group to bring pop, soul and even rock elements into their sound and in the process become one of CCM's first big sellers. Thanks to top rate production from Michael Omartian, who produced the 'Priority' (four tracks) and 'One More Song For You' (five tracks) albums, the music here is dated less than you'd expect and "The Trumpet Of Jesus", "Higher Power" and "Closer Than Ever" all show off Russ's blue-eyed soul tones fairly effectively. The last three tracks from the Chris Christian-produced 'Heed The Call' album, are more dated and less enjoyable than the Omartian tracks but this is still an interesting reminder of just how good a singer the Grammy-winning Taff actually is.

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