This collection of 'worship hits' from the 80s and 90s (with one from the 70s and another composed in 2000) is billed by Time-Life as 'The Greatest Praise & Worship Songs of All Time'. That's an untruth of course, though you can't expect marketers who want to sell stuff to have too much integrity...

Mind you, it's a good selection of modern 'charismatic/pentecostal' numbers, if that's what you want, including some Golden Oldies (!) like Thank You Lord (1991), Salvation Belongs to Our God (1985) and Alleluia (1972). The best-known modern Hillsong - or Hillsong-type - composers are here: Darlene Zschech, the late Rich Mullins, Geoff Bullock etc. But if you're after hymns/songs which will not offend the musical or literary tastes of people who have a modicum of sophistication, this 2-CD set not your choice.

The instrumental backing is uniformly good, but the lyrics have a 'Jesus is My Boyfriend' feel to them. And some of the lyrics are plain awful. (Who's going to ask intelligent people to sing 'I have made you too small in my eyes'???)

But then, some of the offerings in our mainline church hymnbooks which have stuffy/banal poetry and boring music are a 'turn off' for young people. Where are the committed contemporary poets who are in love with Jesus who can write hymns/ songs which do not insult our musical or literary intelligence?

Rowland Croucher

November 10, 2006.