(Photo : David Crowder)

Unpredictability is David Crowder*Band's (DCB) predilection.  Ever since their 1998 debut "Pour Over Me," they have never been craven to charter new courses and gopher new mines.  Every time they would drop an album, they would always make us wonder: "What are these guys up to next?"  Who would have thought of using a robot drummer Steve 3PO as they did for their album "Church Music"?  Or utilized a guitar-shaped controller from the Guitar Hero game for their song "I Can Hear the Angels Singing."  Or who be so techno-savvy to use a Smule "I Am T-Pain" iPhone app for their song "The Nearness."  Convention has never been a deterrent when it comes to their song choices.  Who would have ever imagined that a Sinead O'Connor song "Thank You for Hearing Me" can share the same CD space as the traditional hymn "All Creatures of our God and King"?  Yet both songs were found on DCB's "Can You Hear Us Now?"  After eight albums of trying to provide us with fresh, exciting and powerful music, DCB is back with their first greatest hits collection, "All This for the King: The Essential Collection."  But this new collection is being ushered in with a tinge of sadness as this will be their last CD together as a band. 

Lead singer David Crowder will be pursuing a solo career simply known as "Crowder," while the rest of the band (save for Mike Hogan) would be forming a band called "The Digital Age."  "All This for the King: The Essential Collection" is not just your average greatest hits collection.  Rather, it not only looks back to the past but it portends the future sounds of Crowder and the Digital Age to come.  Tagged on as a bonus track is a new song by Crowder entitled "This I Know."  "This I Know," is again never a carbon copy of anything DCB has had ever done before.  Rather, it starts off with a John Denver-ish "Take Me Home Country Roads" feel to it before giving in to a contagious Celtic campfire-like sing-a-long that is going to get fans singing along in no time.  The Digital Age gets to preview their technical expertise by imbuing their worship hit "No One Like You" with an epic Jim Steinman aural with some Brit-techno dance beats and some computerised distorted vocals.  If dance remixes are your cup of tea, this is quite quencher.  

The rest of the songs (in their original forms) are all taken from DCB's eight full-length studio albums, save for 1999's "All I Can Say."  Despite this six-man band's penchant for trying to be innovative in their production and song choices, they have been consistent in terms of the lyrical content of their songs.  DCB has always been God-centered in their songs.  This is why songs such as "O Praise Him (All This for a King)," "Here is Our King," "The Glory of It All" and "Everything Glorious" has stood the test of time and have been circulating around churches as worship staples.  Among their portfolio of worship songs, "Everything Glorious" is still a favorite.  Their use of contrast between our smallness and God's grandeur is endearing when they sing:  "My eyes are small but they have seen the beauty of enormous things/Which leads me to believe there's light enough to see."

On the other hand, DCB is not so self-indulgent that they are willing to cover other people's songs.  It is so refreshing to sing John McMillian's "How He Loves Us."  If there is a definitive version (even better than its original), it has to be DCB's.  It takes a heart touched by the Savior for David Crowder to sing with such sincerity, "He is jealous for me/Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree/Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy."  Lots of such worship moments abound in this record.  If you have never owned a DCB record, this is the right place to start.  And if you are a long time fan, where else can you find a new song, a few remixes and all their biggest radio hits on one record?