Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Gospel Hard Rock
Company: Mark
Catalog: MHS 2179
Year: 1971
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: minor ring, edge and corner wear; little bit of hiss to start off
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 2476
Price: $150.00
Cost: $125.00
Living in Azusa,
California, Fred Caban's primary interest was rock and roll. Graduating from
high school in 1968 Caban and a couple of friends formed a band and began
playing dances and local clubs. Within a matter of months Caban had
undergone a religious awakening (in case you were curious, in various
interviews he's claimed that Christ touched him at 2 in the morning while he
was sitting on a beach in Huntingdon, California). Determined to spread the
word to his contemporaries, Caban decided to form an evangelistic rock band.
Recruiting drummer Mike Jungkman and bassist Lonnie Campbell, the trio
started performing as Agape. Simply too radical for local churches (wot - a
rock band?), the trio spread their message playing dances, school
assemblies, local coffee houses and free concerts. The fact of the matter us
their then-novel idea of blending religious beliefs with psychedelic/hard
rock was roughly a decade ahead of popular musical tastes. By the way, while
anyone thinking of '80s Christian rockers such as Slayer may find this a
rather unpromising description, to their credit Caban and company somehow
managed to pull it off.
With Campbell having been replaced by John Peckhart, the trio's evangelistic
message brought them into contact with a number of other Christian acts,
including Larry Norman. Norman brought he band into the studio, introducing
them to producer Martin Jones, who eventually offered them free studio time
(between 12 pm and 6 am). They also found a mentor in the form of youth
pastor Ron Turner. Interested in tapping into the band's young audience,
Turner opened up his Arcadia Community Church to the band, while serving as
their manager.
Released on their own Mark label, 1971's aptly titled "Gospel
Hard Rock" served to spotlight Caban. In addition to
handling all lead vocals and guitar, he was credited with writing all of the
material. We'll also be up front and warn you that Caban and company weren't
exactly the most skilled instrumentalists or performers. Caban's voice was
best described as limited, as is much of the instrumentation (check out the
keyboards on "Believe"). Those comments aside, the band's obvious
comittment and belief compensates for the occasional gaps in technical
skills. Musically the set offered up fairly standard Cream-styled blues
rockers, with Caban adding occasional dollops of Hendrix-styled wailing
guitar . Unlike most of their contemporaries, the band managed to integrate
their rather obvious religious imagery ("Choose") with
surprisingly tuneful hard rock melodies ("Trust" and
"Happy"). Highlights included the
pseudo-psychedelic/end-of-the-world narrative "Rejoice" (featuring
some great guitar pyrotechnics) and the double tracked guitar on
"Freedom". Here's a bit of trivia. The cover reportedly showed
snow naturally melting against a black backdrop.
"Gospel Hard Rock" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Blind (Fred Caban) -
2.) Happy (Fred Caban) -
3.) Believe (Fred Caban) -
4.) Man (Fred Caban) -
(side
2)
5.) Freedom (Fred Caban) -
6.) Choose (Fred Caban) -
7.) Blood (Fred Caban) -
8.) Rejoice (Fred Caban) -