Bill & Gloria Gaither and Their Homecoming Friends - Israel Homecoming

Reviewed by Adrian Cherrill

Yet another 'Homecoming' title in the Gaither Gospel Series, and continuing the theme from 'Jerusalem' released earlier this year. Unlike its predecessor though, 'Israel' seems to have less of a Jewish theme and returns more to the Southern gospel style you would expect from the Gaithers, with elements of blues, country and bluegrass thrown in. There is a mixture of newer and older songs (such as "Rivers Of Babylon" and Rich Mullin's "Awesome God") and a wide variety of singers (the Isaacs, the Gaither vocal Band, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Alison Durham Speer, Larnelle Harris), but in reality what you get is 75 minutes of hardly groundbreaking stuff, with some typically American lyrics ("Second Fiddle"), some over the top cabaret style piano playing (the almost instrumental "I've Just Seen Jesus" courtesy of Anthony Burger) and some lung-busting singing. There's plenty of whooping and hollering between songs but ironically (for this reviewer at least) it was very subdued after the best song, the quiet "I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say". All in all, 20 tracks represent good value for money, but in truth unless you can't get enough of the Southern gospel thing, this is a package you can ignore.