Our Journey So Far takes us through the musical journey that BarlowGirl has created, starting with their debut release in 2003, all the way to the very latest songs from their 2009 release, Love and War. Over this time, the pop/rock band have released five studio albums (including a full-length Christmas project) and have been nominated for numerous awards. The project was released as a thank-you to the fans for the band's career up until this point and as a good time to reflect on what has been achieved so far.

The project opens, as you'd expect, with a track from the girl's debut album. I'm sure many would agree that "Never Alone" is a brilliant showcase of the girls' strengths, showcasing both their piano ballad sound and their rockier edge. The project moves forward at a good pace moving chronologically through the Barlow sisters' musical history. Standout songs include "She Walked Away," a modern imagining of the prodigal son parable; "Mirror," a song about struggles with looks; through to "Beautiful Ending" the girl's latest hit single.

Our Journey So Far is a brilliant name for a greatest hits project because it sums up the fact that the girls have many hits already, but this is not the end. As mentioned previously, this still is a greatest hits project and therefore suffers from the problem that many compilations face of "why was this song not included" and "why did they choose this one?!" It is great to see songs such as "Grey" and other hits making the cut, but it was strange to not see "Psalm 73 (My God's Enough for Me)" or "Average Girl" - both quite popular songs - on the track list. It comes down to personal preference as to which songs people think should have been included or not, and it is not possible to please everyone, however, with this project the band has given it a valiant attempt.

The project finishes with an exclusive track for fans, a remix of the hit "I Need You to Love Me." The remix is done very well, giving the track a much fuller sound, possibly showing how the song would have been tracked if released today. The track itself is available to buy separately online, so it does not require existing fans to buy the album just to gain one song like many other projects seem to nowadays. Also, of interest to existing fans, the album artwork comprises of a photo anthology of the girls' career. If you are a big fan of this all girl band you will enjoy this.

Overall, Our Journey So Far is a strong compilation of songs from BarlowGirl. It is harder to recommend this for the casual fan, since many will own the included songs already. However, for someone who has never heard of the band before, it is difficult to go wrong since the project gives such a good taste of the music put out by this three-piece.

- Review date: 6/4/11, written by David Couch of Jesusfreakhideout.com