Dave's Review

WOW 1997: Various Artists (EMI/Reunion)

WOW 1997 is a 2 CD/cassette sequel to last year's platinum selling WOW 1996. In addition to 30 hit singles from various contemporary artists, the CD version of WOW 1997 includes multimedia features and free America Online hours for web-surfers. The CDs cost about two dollars more than the cassettes at most stores. A companion devotional book with contributions from 50 music artists is available from Zondervan. Unfortunately, WOW 1997 does not include the "$$$ off" coupons that were provided with the previous release.

WOW 1997 is a great item to buy for those who are new to Christian music or enjoy various styles, but can't afford to purchase many CDs. My favorite cuts include the peppy "Take Me To Your Leader" by the Newsboys, DC Talk's apologetic "Between You and Me," "Man After Your Own Heart" which won a Dove award for Gary Chapman, Steven Curtis Chapman's blues/rock "Lord Of the Dance," and the inspirational "Mercy Came Running" from Phillips, Craig and Dean. I'd like to see future WOWs expand a bit more stylistically to include some popular fringe groups like MxPx and a popular Southern gospel group or two like the Gaither Vocal Band or the Martins.

If you have a local access number for America Online (to avoid long distance charges), you can use the accompanying software on the CDs to link to homepages for every artist on WOW 1997. I wish the software would also work with Netscape and Internet Explorer or at least include a list of the artists' homepage addresses. Without AOL, you only get a jukebox feature and some information about the devotional book. The value of the multimedia strictly depends on whether you subscribe to AOL. WOW 1997 is well worth the cost for its musical content alone, though. You get 30 hit songs for under $20. Just think of the multimedia features as a bonus.