VARIOUS : Worship Anthems Live From Vineyard USA. (Elevation : ELE1819D)
Here we have a double CD compilation of 24 tracks selected from several previous ‘Vineyard Live’ albums. Printed lyrics are provided, and original albums identified – as are songwriters, but whilst there is a list of artists on the front of the insert, these are not credited against the tracks so it takes guesswork to know who is singing when. There is some good stuff here, beginning with a rousing rendition of Tony Sanchez’s ‘Bless His Name’. The problem with this track and many others however is that old bugbear of mine – i.e. poor sound quality. The following track ‘Father Of Lights’ is particularly bad in this respect, with heavy compression and distortion. A good few of the tracks are quite long but benefit from this, the arrangements taking their time to allow the songs to develop. Standouts for me that happen to follow this pattern whilst also having better sound include the seven-and-a-half minute ‘What can I bring’ – with excellent lyrics, brilliant female lead vocal (wish I knew who the lady was!) and great production – and the male and female vocal repeating-riff-based ‘Invitacion (yep, that’s how it’s spelt) Fountain’ which builds very effectively and stays in your head long afterwards. ‘One thing remains’ is another worth special mention although it suffers a bit sound-wise – this is another long one at almost eight minutes but very effectively reminds us that the one thing that remains is that His ‘love never fails, never gives up, never runs out’ on us. Amen to that! The reggae ‘If you say go’ is a well sung and enjoyable closer reminding us of Jesus’ ‘great commission’ and our lives of faith, with particularly clean sound. My lasting impression of this release however is of a few gems surrounded by a lot of distorted filler that distracts from the Christian message. 6/10 Dave Deeks.
Never for Nothing 