Concrete Rubber Band - Risen Savior (1974)

2006 reissue. "Official reissue of this Christian underground basement psychedelic rock album, a massively-rare 1974 release on the Missouri-based American Artists label (AAS1164), of which only 2 or three copies are known to be exist in private collections. Despite the song titles, this is actually a strange and unusual rock album which just happens to have religious undertones. Organ, fuzz guitar, male and female lead vocals and masses of electronic embellishments. High-quality vinyl transfer, includes two [uncredited] bonus tracks from a later recording session. Previously pirated by Radioactive Records. Some of the most 'out there' psychedelic sounds can be found on this Kansas trio's mega-rare custom LP. One of the first Christian groups to tinker with synthesizers and be experimental at the same time. The song, 'Christian,' for example, opens with a Bach fugue before laying in its steady rock beat punctuated with subterranean wah-wah guitar and a wild, heavily modulated synth lead. The song, 'Wicked,' opens side two with a bizarre amalgam of what sounds like synthesized, bubbling lava pits, frequency oscillations, distorted, sci-fi vocals and shortwave, static patterns. This is Christian psychedelia at its most underground and extreme with all the ear marks of a bad drug trip which, given the songs' dark subject matter, works just fine. Likewise, 'What Shall We Do?' opens with a lengthy outpouring of some of the most vicious, distorted fuzz guitar ever then relaxes into a spooky, dream-like ballad before it climaxes with a flying saucer effect that sounds straight out of Dark Side Of The Moon. There are several fine and moody garage tracks here as well. Difficult to describe: they are highly listenable and quite creative. Dense echoes lend to the homemade feel of the entire project. A monster for sure with fewer than 500 LPs made at the initial pressing. Duncan Long, the main man behind the synths, guitars and song writing is now a published science fiction author."