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The best worship songs ... ever

THE BEST WORSHIP SONGS ... EVER! CD
Various artists
Virgin/EMI/Kingsway
£16.99

I heard a rumour that a CD with this name was on sale in, of all places, Poole Tesco's. Then, I heard from another source that a CD with this name was being advertised on the television a la Now 657 (or whatever number we are up to these days). Then, on a listening post in my local HMV stores I saw it for myself.

Released by the same people who have delighted the album charts with other such classics as 'The Best Disco Album in the World ƒ Ever', 'The Best Air Guitar Album in the World ƒ Ever!' and, no doubt, 'The Best Cheese Rock Anthems ...' -you get the idea. Virgin, or EMI, or whoever exactly it is who does these things have decided to tap into the Christian market. Graham Kendrick in Tesco's merits an EN review if nothing else does, so I bought a copy and had a listen.

Cheery cover

The cheery yellow cover with its Good News Bible style figure (they have done their market research, haven't they?) boast that this 3CD box set has '50 of the most popular modern worship songs'. Turning to check the track listing, I would say that there aren't many of the inevitable missing. It caters for all: we have the modern hymns like 'How Deep The Father's Love', 'All I Once Held Dear' and 'In Christ Alone'; we have the 80s classics: 'All Hail the Lamb', 'Father God I Wonder' and, of course, 'Shine Jesus Shine'; Matt Redman's 'Let Everything that Has Breath', 'Lord I Lift Your Name on High', 'We Wanna See Jesus Lifted High', and others cover the more excitable end of the spectrum; songs like 'Jesus Be The Centre', 'To Be In Your Presence' and 'Above All' cover the reflective side of things. 'The Best Worship Songs ... Ever' does exactly what it says on the tin. There are not many songs out of the 50 that I have not either sung or heard in my Christian experience. Furthermore, the album features the proper artists. This is not reminiscent of the Top of the Pops albums of the 1970s, where popular tunes of the day were recreated by some terrible orchestra. Every-one you would expect is there: Graham, Matt, Tim, Stuart, Darlene, Delirious? and more.

It is easy to be flippant about this album. It would be easy to make smug comments about the theological content of some of the songs, or the over-exposure of some of the others. It would be easy to pass remarks about cheesy saxophone solos and female vocalists. Fair play. I don't think that this album is going to break through to a non-Christian market. However, whatever your views on musical style or particular songs, this is a comprehensive collection and I have found many of these songs very encouraging at various times in my life. In contrast to much of the music for sale in HMV and Tesco's, it is positive and edifying, if not quite as cool. If you don't own much Christian music but think you may want to, this would do the trick.

But, I must ask, what is 'Colours of Day' doing on this CD?

Carruthers