Rebecca St James - God

Reviewed by James Tweed

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Alanis Morrisette must feel very flaltered - or be very angry - about Rebecca's latest album. 'God' follows the blueprint laid down by the multi-million-selling "Jagged Little Pill", but gives it a Christian spin. Instead of singing of the stresses, strains and inherent agonies of relationships between the sexes in the 1990s, Rebecca sings of the stresses and strains of the relationship between our heavenly Father and herself - and, by inference, ourselves. The song titles themselves, such as "You Then Me", "Speak To Me", "Me Without You" and "Carry Me High" give great weight to the first person, the ego, the creature instead of the Creator in much the same way as so many contemporary worship songs do. The tagged-on "Psalm 139" at the end of the 48-minute album only goes part way to restoring some much needed balance to the recording. Tedd T's bare bones minimalist production pushes Rebecca's vocals to the fore, but it is unfortunate that even though she includes a cover of the John Farnham hit "You're The Voice", so much of the album is dominated by Alanis' rather than Rebecca's own.