Reviewed by Tim Holden

The Lads have been turning out music for quite a few years now and having relocated to the USA from their New Zealand homeland have found a particular niche taking the Gospel to kids. 'Welcome To Our Show' sticks with the up tempo rock/pop feel of their more recent recordings. As the music is only one part of their repertoire - they have a TV show and comics as well - parallels could be drawn to The Monkeys and S Club 7 and this is certainly fun stuff. There is plenty of variation here from the opening romp of the title track through "One By One" with its Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark feel and "The Moving Song" with its robotic dance style to the "Prodigal Song" rap that could almost be a clean Beastie Boys. All the songs are well written, arranged and produced and have plenty of energy for their target audience - pre-teens - while not alienating the adults that are sure to be listening as well. The album stands very well on its own and makes most children's ministry projects sound positively lame by comparison.

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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