Ultimate Gaither Collection by Bill & Gloria Gaither & Their Homecoming Friends

Reviewed by Tom Lennie

The latest in the ongoing plethora of recordings that stream from the Gaither enterprise. This boasts as being '"the ultimate Gaither collection.....truly the quintessential playlist for gospel music enthusiasts". Certainly there are some fine songs here - providing an interesting cross-section of favourites from these Southern gospel popularisers. So we've got arrangements of old hymns such as "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Amazing Grace" and "How Great Thou Art", the latter rendered by Homecoming "guest" George Beverly Shea. Then there's a classic treatment of the song "Rock Of Ages", featuring Reggie Smith, Joy Gardiner, Stephen Hill and the late Vestal Goodman. Oddly, only one song here was written by Gaither himself - the chorus "He Touched Me", which song alone must have earned him a small fortune in royalties over the years. But surely the ultimate Gaither collection would require at least a two or three-CD box set, not the feeble 12-track disc offered here (with just a mere half-page of liner notes). Besides, existing Gaither fans are likely to own every song on this album five times over on other Gaither recordings. What this album comprises, rather, is a Gaither sampler for the non-initiated, a taster of the music the Homecoming guys are renowned for. In that capacity, it serves the purpose fairly well.