It's a universally accepted fact that Christian music equals a yawn at best and cringe-worthy pain at worst. But what if Christian music could be hip? Could be happening? Could be now? Well, that would be pretty farfetched, unless now was the late 1960s...
Brother John Rydgren is the place where Christian music meets psychedelia, tapping into the zeitgeist of the times and preaching to the flock hip to the scene with his freak-out Jesus musings. He comes across as a little Ken Nordine, with his word games and spoken word delivery. But while Nordine can be vague and obtuse, Rydgren always gets to the point. And the point is that God is a happening dude. And if he delivers this information over sitars then so be it.
This collection is comprised of three albums he released between 1966 and 1968. All were distributed solely to radio stations with strict instructions to destroy after broadcast. Strictly Kev from DJ Food has been searching Rydgren out for years and has been involved in compiling this collection of slightly kitsch, slightly terrifying, slightly hilarious religious propaganda.
It's wild stuff. “Watch out for the train/Watch out for the elephants/Watch out for the trip/God has the good stuff man,” he offers on Search It Out, one and a half minutes of suggestive paranoia. The message is pretty much the same; you don't need drugs, you can get high through God, but you've never heard delivery like this, with Rydgren coming across like a burnt-out hipster beatnik who's done the hard yards and now wants to send you down the righteous path. Gold.
