Reviewed by Brendan O'Regan

I suspect this compilation, like many similar ones, will be of most use to praise and worship leaders as they try to source new material - there is a treasure trove here of over 45 songs across the three CDs, though quite a few will be in the leaders' collections already. As a listening experience it's probably too much, at least at one sitting, more of a dip in and out experience. There are many familiar performers like Graham Kendrick, Robin Mark, Deri Dougherty, Dave Bilbrough and Chris Bowater, who have also written many of the songs. Each CD starts with a strong track, eg, Darlene Zshech's fine anthem "Shout To The Lord", sung by the Encounter Worship Band, kicks off CD one, the roots flavoured "How Wonderful" by Dave Bilbrough launches CD two and CD three starts with "To God Be The Glory" penned by 19th Century writers Fanny J Crosby and William H Doane, and sung by Stuart Townend. There is some variety of style but not a huge lot - the early part of disc two scores best on this front, but I was particularly taken by two tracks on CD three - the traditional "Be Thou My Vision" by Robin Mark and "Blessed Assurance" sung by Robert Critchley. However I had to wait for the very last track for my favourite song of the whole collection - "All The Ways My Saviour Leads Me", a Fanny J Crosby prayer set to music by the late Rich Mullins and sung by David Lyle Morris.

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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