Reviewed by Tony Cummings

His sterling work with Stoneleigh's Re.vive event and his fine albums 'When Deep Calls To Deep' and 'Because Of You' have, of course, established this young man on the national scene. What was needed to catapult the gifted songwriter and worship leader into the national arena was an album which made the most of his radio friendly Brit pop song hooks while avoiding the extremes of being on the one side too bland (a continuing fault of a lot of pop rock stemming from Nashville) or too raw (Paul doesn't have a premier league voice and needs careful studio tutorage to bring out the best of the Oakley vocal chords). Bringing in UK-born, USA-based producer Alan Shacklock to handle this key project was inspired and the result is an album which retains the appeal of Oakley's guitar-driven rock praise while adding some deft studio touches which will sound great on radio. The stone killer on 'Kiss The River' is the definitive version of the classic song "Jesus, Friend Of Sinners" but there are several others here: "Fix My Eyes", "Brighter Than The Sun" and "Cover Me" which all sound good enough to be echoing from local churches before too long. Another seminal worship album from Survivor.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.

This track data is supplied by the Cross Rhythms CD/DVD review library. Please note that CD tracks may vary according to release region or product version.