This veteran
CCM
singer sets herself apart from her genre's popular counterparts
Rebecca St. James
,
Erin O'Donnell
, and
Jaci Velasquez
by writing her own tunes, and most convey the positive heavenly message with strong (sometimes anthemic) hooks. But both the greatest strength and weakness of this disc are the creative production touches of
Brent Bourgeois
. He turns
"The World Needs Your Love"
into a powerful, symphonic
rock
statement; the one drawback to the powerful energy of the tune is the way
Cindy Morgan
's voice sometimes gets lost in all the shenanigans.
"Good Thing"
takes modern production techniques and mixes them with a
disco
groove on the chorus, almost creating an
Abba
-like effect. Busy sonic ideas also infuse the title track and the
Latin rock
-flavored
"New World,"
and
Morgan
's voice again is either distorted or blends too tightly with the wall of sound. Fortunately,
Bourgeois
pulls back for
ballads
like
"Love Can,"
which allow
's soft and truly spiritual side to shine through; her vocal grows more passionate as she goes along. Strange how she could follow this kind of vocal performance with a much more forgettable airy vocal approach on
"Believe."
"Sunshine"
finds her doing her best
Amy Grant
imitation. Overall, certainly a bit more interesting sonically than the usual female
outing, but that intrigue also leads to some maddening listening moments. ~ Jonathan Widran