Reviewed by Tony Cummings

One of the frustrating things about the Christian record companies is their poor-to-appalling presentation of back catalogue. Either they ignore Christian music classics languishing in their archives completely or they re-release them in such an unimaginative way that one is reminded of those £1.99 cheapo albums one finds in garages and charity shops. Take the 'Simply.' series. There is a derisory sleevenote, nothing to put the music into any kind of historic perspective, no musician or production credits and nothing on the sleeve to explain to potential purchasers that this box set is a straight forward re-issue of three of Phil & John's old Kingsway albums: 'Breakfast At Ruby's' (1994), 'Carnival Of Clowns' (1992) and 'Waiting For Summer' (1985). Musically, there's some delightful stuff here, with 'Carnival Of Clowns' possibly being Phil Baggaley's and John Hartley's best album full of memorable songs and wistful Simon & Garfunkle-style harmonies while 'Breakfast At Ruby's' recorded in the US, has some great stuff too (including a re-recording of "Genevieve", originally on 'Carnival Of Clowns'). Then of course we can't forget their ultra silly comedy classic "Gnome Song". So why not nine squares? Because with packaging as thoughtless and shoddy as this the last thing we want to do is encourage Kingsway to put out more re-issues this badly.

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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