Introducing the collection, they wrote:
‘During the late 60s and early 70s, the restless, questing nature of the Woodstock generation and the horrors of Vietnam saw the pop scene add a new spiritual element. Many young people embraced Christianity, viewing Jesus as the prototypal long-haired hippie, persecuted by the establishment of the day while dispensing peace and love to a troubled, cynical world.
The American branch of the Jesus movement effectively started in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, but there was also a parallel development in the UK that slowly evolved from beat groups performing in church coffee-bars. By 1971, leading British Xian rock band Out Of Darkness were appearing at notorious countercultural gathering Phun City, while Glastonbury introduced a “Jesus tent” that offered Christian revellers mass and holy communion twice a day.
‘All God’s Children’ assembles the best of the British Christian acts, including such respected names as Out Of Darkness (and their earlier incarnation, garage R&B act The Pilgrims), Parchment, Whispers Of Truth and Judy MacKenzie. It also features the secular alongside the sacred, including the likes of Strawbs, Moody Blues, Amazing Blondel, John Kongos and Medicine Head – bands who, though theologically shyer than their more overtly Christian contemporaries, all wrote songs with a strong spiritual message.
A 3CD, four-hour set, ‘All God’s Children’ – which takes its name from the gorgeous Kinks’ ballad which is included in the set – is a fascinating look at an under-documented phenomenon and unexpected by-product of the hippie era.’
In an excellent review for International Times, Rupert Loydell explains why, in the main, this collection is not an anthology of Jesus Rock, but more a compilation of music from the period that includes references to Jesus. Loydell also shares memories from that time and summarises the development of British Jesus Music. For more of Loydell’s reflections and memories of this period see ‘Looking down the wrong end of a telescope’ where the writer and poet looks back to the collaborations and collisions between church culture and the wider culture in the 1970s and 80s, with a cast including Jesus Rock Music, the Greenbelt festival, Mary Whitehouse and musicians such as Larry Norman and Steve Fairnie of Writz.
‘All God’s Children’ can also usefully be set alongside ‘Lysergic Saviours (A Psychedelic Prophecy! The Holy Grail Of Xian Acid Fuzz 1968–1974)’ and ‘The Rock Revival’, the latter of which documents the early Jesus Movement in the US while the former includes rare tracks from both sides of the Atlantic. 'Lysergic Saviours' includes tracks by Our Generation, The New Folk, The New Dawn, The Search Party, Whispers Of Truth, Concrete Rubber Band, Mind Garage, Earthen Vessel, Out Of Darkness, Exkursions, The Sheep, Azitis, Koinonia, Eden, The Accompany, The Search Party, and Agape. There is a small amount of overlap with 'All God's Children' but the collection mainly expands our knowledge of the bands playing in this period. To these can be added, among others, Joshua with God Spoke...And Said 'Lead My People' and Moon Blood by Fraction.
So, these collections provide an introduction to the Jesus Music of this period, both that which derived from the Church and that which was part of mainstream popular music. They also open up a debate about which influenced the other or the extent to which they were synergistic developments.
When it emerged, Rock ‘n’ Roll merged Blues (with its spiritual strand) and Country music (tapping its white gospel) while Soul music adapted much of its sound and content from Black Gospel. For both, their gestures and movements were adopted from Pentecostalism. Some, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Cooke, felt guilt at secularising Gospel while others, like Johnny Cash, arrived at a hard-earned integration of faith and music. All this meant that rock music, despite its secular stereotype, always possessed a spiritual strand.
The Hippie movement expanded the spirituality already inherent in rock music through the visionary aspect of drug culture and a wider engagement with religion which included significant connections with Eastern religions but also, in part through the Jesus Movement, was with Christianity. This was the period in which songs such as 'Presence of the Lord' by Blind Faith, 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison, 'Fire and Rain' by James Taylor, 'Sweet Cherry Wine' and 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' by Tommy James and the Shondells, 'Let it Be' by The Beatles, 'That's the Way God Planned It' by Billy Preston, 'Hymn' by Barclay James Harvest, 'Jesus is A Soul Man' by Laurence Reynolds, 'Are You Ready?' by Pacific Gas & Electric, 'Spirit in the Sky' by Norman Greenbaum, 'Put Your Hand in the Hand' by Ocean, and 'Jesus Is Just Alright' by the Doobie Brothers, as well as albums like Marvin Gaye's What's Goin On, Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace, Al Green's Belle Album and The Staple Singers' Be What You Are became popular. This was also the period of musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and, from the Jesus Movement, Lonesome Stone and Yesterday, Today, Forever. 'All God's Children' collects many other similar songs by well-known artistes such as The Hollies, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Richard Thompson, Gordon Giltrap. Roy Wood, The Incredible String Band and the more obscure including Magna Carta, Quintessence, Unicorn, Heron, and Phillip Goodhand-Tait, among others.
Gram Parsons, both as a solo artist and with the Flying Burrito Brothers, drew on the Gospel music tradition in Country Music, also taking The Bryds in the same direction. Christian of the World by Tommy James was a mixture of serious religious themes encased in James' well known pop style and featuring many of the studio players and singers he had used successfully on earlier recordings. David Axelrod wrote Mass in F Minor and Release of an Oath for the Electric Prunes, albums which combined religious and classical elements with psychedelic rock in a rock-opera concept. As a solo artist Axelrod recorded two albums based on William Blake's poetry and ssued a rock version of Handel's oratorio Messiah. The songs of Judee Sill 'dealt with Christian spirituality, metaphysics, rapture and redemption, and were laden with classical music overtones': 'Her spiritual quest informed much of her writing. Heavenly and temporal love were constant themes. She had been through many relationships, and lust, rapture, and redemption intermingled ... Her interest in Christianity was far more than intellectual curiosity – she was baptized by Pat Boone in his swimming pool, and once described Christ as an elusive lover – “My vision of my animus.”'
Turning back to the Jesus Movement, Electric Liturgy by Mind Garage pre-dated the Mass in F Minor and gave a basis for later rock versions of the Mass/Eucharist such as the Rock Communion by Fresh Claim and U2charists.
Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music is an acclaimed history of the evolution of British folk music which also expands our knowledge of Jesus Music in the UK. Author Rob Young has a fascination with the roots of English folk music and its ties to the British countryside. The book is in some ways a search for the national psyche which Young notes has been shaped by a "wrestling for possession between competing religious doctrines, heathen, pagan and Christian."
Young finds more of interest in folk-rock which is heathen or pagan but, interestingly, he does value the work of Bill Fay, the Biblical references which abound in C.O.B's Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart, and also includes a brief survey of '70's Jesus Music noting that "there were a few groups - After the Fire, Caedmon, Canaan, Cloud, Bryn Haworth, Meet Jesus Music, Narnia, Nutshell, Parchment, Presence, Reynard, Trinity Folk, Water into Wine Band and 11:59 - which managed to make a music that has lasting value, a kind of Eucharistic-progressive sound that sits comfortably with the better acid folk of the period." He highlights, as being of particular interest, Caedmon's self-titled 1978 album, the Water into Wine band's Hill Climbing for Beginners, Bob and Carole Pegg's And Now It Is So Early with Sydney Carter, A Folk Passion, and the Reflection Records compilation Sounds of Salvation.
So, there is much to explore here in relation to the early days of Jesus Music and, of course, what happens in this period lays the foundation for later developments both within mainstream popular music and Contemporary Christian Music. Check out the following to explore further:
- God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You
- The Jesus Rock Revolution and the Jesus Movement
- When Jesus Met Hippies
- A Rough Guide to Christian Art
- Looking down the wrong end of a telescope
- Pop's holy rollers
- Tryin' to throw your arms around the world - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- Perhaps the most underrated band ever
- Rock gets Religion
- Ed Kowalczyk and Scott Stapp: Angels on a razor
- Hidden Gems - Bill Fay & Michael Morley
- Salt and Sweetners
- The mystery at the heart of music - 1 and 2
While there was a particular focus around in the period of Jesus Music, Jesus has consistently been referenced in Rock and Pop music from early days of Rock ‘n’ Roll onwards as the ‘Rock of Ages: Jesus in Popular Songs’ website demonstrates. This is a constantly-updated, searchable database of 500+ secular songs in which Jesus shows up by rock stars, rappers, singer-songwriters, country stars, and hardcore punks.
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The Electric Prunes - Holy Are You.
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