Reviewed by Alison Pooley

Here we are again treated to another of John Michael Talbot's "personal meditation" style albums. The simple, lilting idioms are well evident — Talbot's hallmark. You may think you've heard it all somewhere before, just with different words!  Well you could be forgiven for that because much the same chordal structures and his favourite riffs do re-appear,recalling through classics like "Songs Of A Trouba-dor". Yet despite that,  somehow one feels compelled to listen. To be fair there are one or two new ideas. A sizeable cassette inlay tells us that his spiritual revival plus his recent marriage was  not accepted by all (He is part of a Catholic based monastic order.) "Rejection, even persecution by some caused me to retreat even deeper into the wounds of Christ...It is my hope that this collection...will provide comfort, encouragement and hope to anyone who needs a hiding place in the midst of trial."  Moving and ometimes haunting  devotional music.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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