Mark Lowry - The Best Of Mark Lowry Vol One

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

As his many American fans will tell you, Mark Lowry is Christian entertainment's Mr Versatility. He does Southern gospel harmonising, stand up comedy, writes CCM hits and (probably) juggles. With such a wide range of talents, no retrospective can cover everything without sounding fragmentary. Having said that it's surprising how enjoyable this set is. One moment Mark is performing an infectious country-rock hoedown on the opener Russ Taff-penned "Bein' Happy", the next he's offering caustic Republican humour on "God Help The USA" then, helped by the Gaither Vocal Band harmonisers, he's singing a credible version of the Kingsmen classic "Sweet Beulah Land". He can even emote soulfully on the old Thomas Dorsey gospel warhorse "Search Me Lord" while thankfully there's nothing on this set as painful as those new-words-to-CCM-hits parodies he recorded years ago. So if you enjoy Mark's diverse talents and don't have too many of the eight or so albums from which this 14-song compilation was sourced, you may want to investigate.