Dave's Review

Label: Counterpoint Music Group
Producer: Rob Novell
Song Titles: "Springs Of Living Water," "Care Medley," "We'll Understand It Better By And By," "Grace Medley," "Come And Dine," "Service Medley," "Heaven Medley," "The Wonder Of It All," "Cross Medley," and "Blessed Assurance"

Hymns Of Grace has a number of elements on the positive side of the equation . . . great graphic design, photography, and liner notes, most notably . . . and not just on the front cover. The first impression you get when picking up this CD is that a lot of thought and purpose went into it.

As the title implies, this is a hymns collection. Five tracks contain a single hymn arrangement while the remaining five are thematic medleys. "Springs Of Living Water" begins the recording with a nice blend of banjo and guitars. The vocal stacks are a bit too prominent, in my opinion, but well within the realm of what the market considers tasteful. This CD lacks consistency, however. Vocals seem to have been given more attention on some tracks that others and several of the following tracks don't measure up to the standards of the first one in terms of orchestration. Also, some of the vocals have a touch of distortion at loud volumes . . . perhaps too much compression was applied when mastering. I do like Track 5, "Come And Dine." It begins by mimicking the sound of a verse sung on LP (slightly out of tune for effect). Then it kicks into an upbeat modern arrangement that's very nice. I also like the vocal interpretation of the first verse of "Blessed Assurance."

Overall, this CD is pretty good. The fluctuating consistency caused me go with a 3 Star rating, but I would rate several individual tracks higher. It seems as if this CD was made with two different mindsets . . . one is driven by Country based studio musicians (Wanda Vick on fiddle, banjo, etc. in particular) and the other is dominated by string sounds played on a keyboard. The Country based tracks seem to be work best for this particular trio.