Blessed Be Your Name: The Hits

Sounds like … the worshipful, anthemic pop/rock of Delirious, Matt Redman, and Leeland, heavily influenced by the likes of U2 and The PoliceAt a glance … though a good summary or introduction of a great band, this best-of collection ignores some key chapters of Tree63's history in favor of covers of worship standardsTrack Listing Blessed Be Your Name Treasure King Over & Over Again Sunday The Answer to the Question All Over the World Nothing but the Blood Joy Look What You've Done I Stand for You Amazing Grace (live)

A best-of for Tree63 at this point may seem a little premature, but keep in mind that the band started back in 1997. And it's already been eight years since the South African band made their international debut with their self-titled album. At this time. Tree63 is still with Inpop Records, but maybe it's not so unfathomable to release Blessed Be Your Name: The Hits considering that they've already released five recordings through the label.

Besides, frontman John Ellis—a superb singer and guitarist in his own right—has certainly had plenty of hits with his bandmates. Tree63 scored No. 1 hits early on with "Treasure" and "Look What You've Done," and enjoyed radio success later with "King," "I Stand for You," and two Matt Redman covers: "All Over the World" and "Blessed Be Your Name" (which pretty much brought the latter to the attention of churches everywhere). Not surprisingly, this collection includes all of those, as well as the modern worship favorite "Joy" and their anthemic rocker "Sunday" from the most recent album of the same name.

But what a strange way to recognize the band's accomplishments and energized mix of stadium rock and worship, combining elements of U2, The Police, and Delirious.? Four of the songs are covers, and though two of them were hits, does this collection really need to include Redman's "Nothing but the Blood" as well? Or for that matter, the band's live rendition of "Amazing Grace," used in concert as a coda to "Look What You've Done?"

It's strange this best-of favors 2004's The Answer to the Question and 2005's Worship Volume 1: I Stand for You so heavily, yet completely ignores 2002's The Life and Times of Absolute Truth. It's easily the band's weakest album, but still, there are at least one or two gems worth including here. And what about the first album's "A Million Lights," which this disc's liner notes mentions as an important song in the band's history?

Unfortunately, this is another bungled best-of collection, which doesn't even have a track listing that matches its song sequencing—"Joy" and "Look What You've Done" are reversed and mislabeled, in the liner notes as well as at iTunes. It's too bad because Blessed Be Your Name comes close by getting it more than half right between song choice and liner notes that include lyrics, credits, and even a brief listing of the band's major achievements. This disc is certainly not essential for fans, but it's a reasonably good introduction and overview of one of the best bands, though oft overlooked, in Christian rock.