Remember those good ole days, when you could play a Whitecross album for one of your friends and you were just as tickled as could be -- because you knew you were blowin' the guy's eye sockets out of his skull? Well, those days can be revisited with one tape here -- a Whitecross collection called To The Limit.
Most of the material here majors on the last two Whitecross albums -- In The Kingdom and High Gear, but some of the hottest material, such as "Because of Jesus" and "Enough is Enough," show up as expected. The two real highlights here are "It's My Life" and "You're My Lord" -- the two brand new rockin' Whitecross cuts. The band proves a point here: They showed that we can't pin them down with the "mellowed out" tag just yet. The two new songs are no-holds-barred all-out rockers -- the Whitecross we've all come to know and love. "It's My Life" starts off with some attitude/soulful blues guitar pickin' before it goes into the real high gear -- the same overdrive gear the band wore out on the Hammer And Nail album. "You're My Lord" is a heavy song with a great back beat and plenty of Rex Carroll's screamin' fills. It's a way cool song that would've made any Whitecross album better.
One of the problems with this collection is it seemed that adequate research wasn't put into it. They didn't include "Love on the Line," which was an EP Whitecross released in between their first and second album and hasn't been made available on compact disc yet -- and ought to be. The only song off the first album is "Enough is Enough." Surely they could've found another tune off that smokin' first album, like "No Way I'm Goin' Down" or "He Is The Rock" -- a concert staple. There's also a couple of tunes off the Hammer And Nail album that should've been on here. How 'bout "Take it to the Limit" -- especially since it's the quasi-title track. Howza 'bout "Down" -- the Whitesnake-ish hit from Triumphant Return. Plus, there's no guitar solo on this. This is the first Whitecross release with no guitar solo! Otherwise, it's a good release.
Now, you definitely have to take my criticisms with a grain of salt, since I've chosen songs for compilations before, but I'm still a fan who knows a good tune when I hear it. The first "greatest hits" package released for Whitecross -- At Their Best -- probably had a better selection. We could've heard a lot more on this release. In the age of compact disc -- Why not 13 to 15 songs?