"People's Album 1"

  It became recognized that among the enthusiastic young worshippers who attended Soul Survivor festivals there was a hive of creativity, including many song-writers. Invitations were made around he country for young songsmiths to send in their own works, and here is the cream of the crop. 13 songs, sung by an impressive host of well-known muso's, and showing what a hive of musical creativity does indeed exist in the young British church.
  Matt Redman takes lead mike on four tracks, including his own 'Heart of worship' and the beautiful 'Father God', and plays acoustic guitar on several other cuts. Delirious' Martin Smith rocks in with the vibey 'Now' and again with the passionate cry of 'Draw me near', while Paul Oakley does the honors on 'I've fallen in love' (echoes from Matt the Redman), a pleasant piece of pop-praise which sounds as if it were written by Mr. Oakley himself!
  A further couple of tracks bring Brian Doerksen up to lead vocals, including the gentle 'Restore', written by Martin Layzell and with sole accompaniment of cello and Martin's acoustic guitar. Along with all this, we find funk oozing from the likes of 'Holding on', Search me O God', sung by Esther Alexander and Beth Vickers (now Redman) respectively,
and the gospel sounds of 'Higher'.
  It rocks, it grooves, it swings and flows. This is a beautiful and diverse collection which is bound to bless.

"People's Album 2"

  The shining disc beneath the dazzling cover of this album contains a new batch of songs from a fresh selection of young song-writing talent; although the enterprising David Gate again offers two of his songs to the collection, and the veteran Matt Redman also makes a further song-writing contribution.
  One frustrating feature of this album is that the singers are not accredited specifically with the song(s) they perform, so distinguishing who sings what becomes a tricky task! It's obvious with the distinctive voice of Mr. Redman; he opens the set with his own beautiful 'Thank you for the blood', and leads vocals on three other tracks, including the sedate 'A life
of love', which sounds like it has just been snatched from his own ‘Intimacy' album! James Gregory (from Heat) bounces in with his own punchy 'In your arms of love' while other artists making an appearance include John Ellis (Tree), Cath Burton (Blueberry), Vanessa Freeman, Beth Redman, and Esther Alexander. As if that's not enough, Delirious' Martin Smith steps up to the mike on the closing, fascinating 'True surrender', with light backing from the Soul Survivor Kids Choir.
  Again, numerous musical styles are exposed, but with rather weaker material, and featuring two less songs than the previous Peoples Album, I would personally, choosing between them, opt for the first set.

Reviews by tom lennie

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