Worship Chillout Collection - The Essential Worship Chillout Collection

Reviewed by Louis Counter

The design and packaging for this album is superb, complete with cardboard outer sleeve it screams Ministry Of Sound. The back cover talks about chillout being a “new musical style characterised by mellow, atmospheric arrangements with laid back beats and cool grooves”. I put the album on expecting exactly that, laid back groove lead tracks with atmospheric layers to chillout to. What I found was far more of a worship album with a chilled feel than a chillout album with Christian lyrical content. The vocals are very up and in your face and the tracks are far more song-led than groove-led which gets in the way of just being able to lie back and chill. On the whole it’s not an album that I would chillout to when you compare it to the mainstream releases it’s trying to keep company with. There are highlights if what you’re after is pure chillout. The opening tune, “To Be In Your Presence”, takes a very mellow slant on the classic Noel Richards tune. “May This Journey” is very mellow and the vocals are less prominent although I felt that it was just getting into my system when it stopped (I definitely could have handled an extra minute or so of more instrumental groove). “Jesus Lover Of My Soul” is a cracking reggae tune with plenty of mellow feel which I’d love to hear a more dubbed up version of. The tracks are well mixed (if as I say vocal heavy) and recorded and have quite a contemporary feel. If you are after a collection of contemporary worship songs with a laid back feel then I’d definitely check this album out. If you’re after something to play to mates who are into the Ministry Of Sound Chillout Collections or the Budda Bar sets then I think you’d probably be disappointed.