Reviewed by Ian Hayter

This album was originally released in 1997. Under the title 'Beauty As Far As The Eye Can See' and with the artist billing Terl Bryant's Psalm. Terl's musical pedigree is well known, especially to fans of Celtic supergroup Iona and here he teams up with some of his erstwhile colleagues (Troy Donockley, Dave Bainbridge), other luminaries such as Mike Haughton, Richard Lacy (of Eden's Bridge) and Raul D'Oliviera, and his wife Jules to put together a set of 13 varied songs and instrumentals. The couple are also joined by Terl's Psalm Drummers and a group of Indian drummers recorded in Mumbai (on a cover of the Delirious? track "Our God Reigns"). As you'd expect, the music is of high quality, both on the covered songs (which include, bizarrely, the old Carpenters' favourite "Sing") and the original compositions by Terl and Jules themselves. There are a couple of tracks that don't quite work, however: Steve McEwan's "Great Is The Lord" is unfortunately turned into something of a dirge, and Jules' voice doesn't carry "Sing" as well as Karen Carpenter's rich alto. But there's plenty of very good material here, the musicianship is stunning (check out D'Oliviera's understated flugel on "Hold My Hand") and the drumming and percussion are, of course, top rate.

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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