In our digital iTunes age, music has become easily disposable.As the days progress there are fewer and fewer people who would listen to an album right through.And there are even fewer people who listen to the same record over and over again.The fault is always two-sided.On one hand, music is so easily and cheaply available that you can download a particular song without the responsibility of paying for a full album.Coupled with our shorter and shorter attention span and our higher and higher threshold for novelty, we do not have the patience to invest time in enjoying one record by a singular artist.But part of the fault also lies in recording artists:nowadays, there are few albums that are worth repeated listening right through.Often just stocked with a couple of jamming hitters, the rest of the songs are nothing more than indulgent fillers.But this is not so with Calvin Gudus brand new worship release Above All.What sets Above All apart is that it harkens back to the Quiet Storm days of the 90s when the songs are carefully crafted with memorable hooks and warm percolating beats that resonate more with the heart than just to get our feet moving.

Calvin Gudu is by no means a novice at the recording front.He was part of the duo Calvin and Muzi who had charted with the hit song Tombofara. Currently, Gudu is developing a production company and record label PraiseWorth Records. Off his own label, this UK resident has decided to venture forth on his own with his first Christian release Above All. Working with one of music industrys best engineers Matthew Marvin (Yolanda Adams, Chaka Khan and Tyrese), Above All has a worshipful charm that is hard to resist.Perfectly folded into the lyrics of album opener Praise God are words of John Newtons Amazing Grace.This is a perfect textbook example of how a worship song can incorporate the old into the new without sounding contrived or artificial.

Never one to splash his song craft so thin that the lyrics become non-descript and trite, Gudu digs deep into Scripture with Peace with My Soul.Utilizing Daniel 3 as his template Peace with My Soul is a prayer to God for that unwavering trust for our own furnaces experiences.Your Love allows Gudu to expand his musical smooth R&B accented vocabulary to incorporate a Caribbean synthetic rhythm. And the song boasts one of the catchiest choruses around that will get us bopping along singing: All I can say Yeah/All I can say Yahweh/All I can say Thank you, thank you.Another highlight of the record is the ingenious Yes My God: the trading of lines between Gudu and his backing singers brings an engaging freshness to this piano ballad.While the popish Great calls to mind some of those ultra catchy 90s worship anthems of Paul Baloche and Ron Kenoly.In terms of congregation singing Great would get the whole church praising God within the first few bars of the music.

Despite this being a God-besotted worship album, Gudu does make a detour with She Loves Me, a musical ode of appreciation Gudu wrote for his wife.As you listen to this song, try to discern the number of Scripture allusions embedded in the songs lyrics.This isnt just your mere Taylor Swift fairytale love story.Rather, grounded in Gods promises of how to love our wives with a holy fear, husbands would greatly benefit from learning from it. In a market of disposable ditties, Above All is a keeper.This is the kind of album you can listen to over and over again.