1. Bare Face To Face
2. Unusual Shade
3. Hangin'
4. Broken Man (there's Not Much More You Can Do To Me)
5. Palace
6. Feel The Power
7. Changed From Glory Into Glory
8. Love Train
9. Change The World Through Us (hear Us Lord)
10. Immanuel
11. Veiled In Mystery
12. Path Of Dreams
13. Best Of My Love
14. What A Friend We Have In Jesus
15. Disciplemaker
16. Salvation Shoes
17. Pebbles
18. Nine Beats To The Bar (feat. Mikael R. Andreasen)
19. Ain't Nobody
20. The Haven
As Plankton Records celebrate their 40th anniversary as an independent UK Christian record label, they have released two albums covering the 'best of' their back catalogue. This second volume, called 'Plankton. The Second Twenty Years', as the title suggests, features music from their previous 20 years, 1999 - 2018.
The album starts with a cheeky little number from Intransit called 'Bare Face To Face' with a trumpet joining in, before the fast guitar riff of Pete Ward's 'Unusual Shade' takes us on a journey from rock to pop. There are more splendid rock guitars on 'Broken Man' from Fresh Claim, before... Read More As Plankton Records celebrate their 40th anniversary as an independent UK Christian record label, they have released two albums covering the 'best of' their back catalogue. This second volume, called 'Plankton. The Second Twenty Years', as the title suggests, features music from their previous 20 years, 1999 - 2018.
The album starts with a cheeky little number from Intransit called 'Bare Face To Face' with a trumpet joining in, before the fast guitar riff of Pete Ward's 'Unusual Shade' takes us on a journey from rock to pop. There are more splendid rock guitars on 'Broken Man' from Fresh Claim, before we land in 2000 with Ben Okafor's 'Palace' with atmospheric keyboard sounds and a vocal that sounds like Seal. The guitars suddenly sound much more modern in 'Feel The Power' by The Mohabir Sisters, with a great pop/jazz worship feel like Phatfish were known for, and the same could be said with the Bryan May style guitars of 'Changed From Glory Into Glory' by Fresh Claim, who consistently appear on these albums with top notch songs.
There's more of an acoustic feel to Ben Okafor's 'Love Train', contrastingly the heavy electric guitar opening of 'Immanuel' (Inspire Band) is noisy and attention-seekingly-good, emphasising the worship cry of the chorus. And now for something completely different, as they say. A couple of Plankton's vocalists who I've always had a soft spot for are Vivienne Neville and Liz Clarke. They appear back to back on the CD with their gorgeous clear vocals, soothingly delivering stunning ballads, 'Veiled In Mystery' accompanied by a piano, and 'Paths of Dreams' with a simple moody guitar. Such talented singers.
Echo's cover of the Motown classic 'Best Of My Love' is fabulous with it's big band sound, Disciplemaker is an all round feel-good worship song, and 'Salvation Shoes' by The Darn Funk Orchestra is truly funk/pop at it's best - Jamiroquai eat your heart out. Matt JR Hurley's SnowPatrol-esq 'Pebbles' is beautiful and Nine Beats Collective are groovy, moody and spooky. There's time for one more cover from Echo, a cracking rendition of Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody', before the album ends with Plankton co-founder Simon Law's new recording, 'The Haven'. The back story to this song is so touching, and the song has a perky, quirky, enjoyable story-telling feel.
More so than with the 'The First 20 Years' album, this collection of songs covers a vastly diverse set of genres and songs, making for a "something for everyone" kind of album. There are hidden gems here that are just waiting to be uncovered as you move through the past 20 years of musical endeavors. A thoroughly entertaining set of songs demonstrating a wealth of talent. What I particularly liked is the small print on the back of the album, saying "watch out for CD3 in 20 years time". Let's hope they're not joking.
LTTM Rating 4.5 Out of 5 Stars Standout Tracks Feel The Power
Changed From Glory Into Glory
Salvation Shoes
On Friday 9th November Plankton Records are releasing two new titles to celebrate their 40th anniversary as an independent UK Christian record label. They are releasing a 20 track compilation album (CD with 12 page book & digital…
