Review

Brian Doerksen is an amazing gift of God to our generation. He is a gifted psalmist who also possesses the heart of a pastor. Not only has he left his musical mark on the church for the past 30+ years, he has also played a key role in shepherding the direction of the worship community in which God has given him influence. The scope of that community continues to widen. Live in Europe chronicles an 18 day, 12 city tour that Brian and his team made throughout Holland, Germany and Switzerland in Feb/March 2005.

Without doubt, the "live" venue is my favorite for worship music. Whatever recording quality is lost in that setting (as compared to the studio) is more than made up for by the energy that is generally captured. That is certainly true for Live in Europe. And by the way, the quality of this recording is great. It felt as if I was right there among them, caught up in the vibrant atmosphere of God's presence that is so readily apparent.

This CD is a combination of some of Brian's time tested favorites (Come Now is the Time to Worship, Faithful One, Refiner's Fire) and some of his more recent releases (Hallelujah, Your Name is Holy, Hope of the Nations, Today). There are also a couple of really nice instrumental interludes on the album. The first one is a hauntingly lovely rendition of Bach's Sinfonia from Cantata No. 12 which features an oboe solo by James Isaacs. It is rare you ever get to hear such a fine piece of classical music on a worship album. Kudus for whoever's idea that was. The second is a Brian Thiessen piece featuring Brian T. himself on acoustic. They were both a pleasure to listen to.

For me, the price of the album is worth the 2004 copyrighted You Are Everything. So far, I can't listen to it enough. I just keep going back there. Brian has again succeeded in marrying some incredible words of worship to a melody that fits the feeling of the song like a glove. I was humming it the first time through and singing it the second time. It immediately went on the top of my "must learn" list. It's as if he had direct access to my heart, heard exactly how I feel about God, and then put it to music.

Don't even hesitate to pick up this album. It's going to quickly become one of your favorites.

Review by Danny Mullins