It’s not that FFH is undeserving of a retrospective collection, or that the ten songs included are not good songs; not at all. In ten years with Essential, FFH released a total of 6 albums, selling almost 2 million in total, including17 Top 5 hits, 7 of which topped the charts. “Big Fish,” the opening track on “The Collection,” was actually the highest charting single by an indie artist in the history of Christian radio. If you like FFH’s brand of gentle acoustic pop, you will enjoy all ten of these tracks. But you can’t help but wonder . . . why ten? Why offer the bare minimum of tracks on a collection purporting to cover a ten year career? And why these ten? Again, not bad songs, but they don’t strike me as representing the band’s spread all that well, with three from their debut, and later albums contributing only the title tracks, leaving 8 popular singles out. Or why not add a remix or a rarity to inject some freshness?
Among the ten songs presented, I enjoyed most the organic, twangy “One of These Days” and the funk guitar of “You Found Me.” One of the strengths of FFH is their ability to wring meaning out of a tune, and “The Collection” offers up two warm examples: both “Still the Cross” and “Worth It All” are rendered with great feeling, the latter being particularly encouraging. “Ready to Fly” has always been my favorite FFH song, and uninitiated pop lovers will find much to enjoy on “Far From Home: The FFH Collection,” out on February 6th. As for the rest of us, redemption draweth nigh; the band is releasing a worship project in just two more months.
