Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The American youth choir the Continentals under leader Cam Floria started in 1967. Over the years they became a movement with dozens of ensembles bearing the name and using literally thousands of volunteer singers. The American ensembles made most of the recordings though sometimes European groups got into the studio as well. This particular Continentals project was recorded in the Netherlands with Cam Floria and Leen La Riviere and with a pop CCM approach is very different to the easy listening choral sound of the original choir. In fact, such is Rob de Jong's punchy pop arrangements of the Martin Luther hymn "A Mighty Fortress" and "Shout" - not The Isley Brothers oldie but a song written by Reggie Coates - one wonders why this was released under the Continentals name rather than the Young Continentals that similar albums were released under. Finally, the unison singing on many of the songs might have been fun to sing if you were a choir volunteer but inevitably every song here would, to my mind, have sounded better with just a soloist and maybe a couple of BVs.

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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