Xian / Religious

Now serving all religions.

Vanguard Singers: Hymns Hot & Carols Cool

I will absolutely buy any record with a priest playing bongo drums on the cover… and while admittedly this is not always a strategy that pays off, this did turn out to be an above average church kids album with a fairly “turned on” sound. Not thoroughly amazing throughout, but there is one track in […]

The Followers – Gospel Meeting

Normally I am not a big fan or hunter of gospel records.  The gospel field is so incredibly huge & filled with so many records that are so awful that it is pretty tough to know where to start. So I guess I am a dabbler at best when it comes to gospel records. I […]

Salvashun: the Time Has Come

This album was an unexpected surprise for me. At first glance I was thinking that this Lp was going to be some Xian/Rock nonsense. But since there was a Neil Young cover I began to think better of it. After proceeding to pay the exorbitant amount of .50 cents I took the record home for […]

Yathubhutha: Seeing Things as They Really Are

Here is a nice Xian/Folk Lp off of Rite Records in Cincinnati, OH. Apart from having a great cover shot, this Lp delivers like no other religious Lp I’ve heard. Granted I’m not a huge fan of the genre, so my knowledge is limited to just what I pick up. Most being garbage. The female […]

Selah: Consider These Words

Based on the cover I got up fairly high hopes for this one pretty much immediately as I flipped to it. Unfortunately these mid-west Christian hippies only really get it together on a couple tracks here… but those tracks are good if not a bit out of step with the rest of the album. For […]

Universe: S/T

One of the better random thrift shop finds of the year for me so far, and one of the best and weirdest Christian lp’s I’ve heard probably ever. Genuinely spaced out and progy in a crude and good way (especially for the late 70’s). Slightly reminiscent of Silver Apples at times, and pretty cosmic all […]

The James Herndon Singers – This Business of Living

I’ve bought tons of gospel records in the past few years, some good and mostly bad (or too choral or lo-fi) But this one is by far my favorite and one I come back to the most often. It just has the pefect mix to me of soulful vocals, sublime backing female vocals, solid drumming […]

Kurt Van Arsdel – Golden Loneliness

Private press californian gospel LP from 1981. On the back cover Van Arsdel looked so much like the bearded Dennis Wilson that I had to give it a spin. I know this is the first pressing because it says so on the label, helpful. You can google Kurt van Arsdel and find his webpage, but […]

Michael Dobbins – Music For The Seeker

Bing Crosby drops acid and wakes up in a ditch outside an ashram with a long unkept beard and a clear plastic bag holding his personal belongings. Confused, blinking against the desert sun, he senses that he must keep on seeking. Walking down the empty road, he comes upon a Stranger. The Stranger speaks of […]

Praise-R-Cise

I couldn’t have made this one up if I’d tried.

Vision Of Sunshine – S/T

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this little gem a few years ago while digging through box upon box of lp’s at a now defunct local flea market. I remember falling instantly in love with the cover art and I couldn’t wait to get the thing home! I had all these expectations…and let me […]

L’Evangile Selon Saint Luc et les Recits de l’Enfance St. Matthieu St. Luc

A 1963 edition from the Office Catholique Du Disque with sleek cloth-bound good looks, chunky 24-page papyrus booklet insert and 5 discs all in superb condition despite coming from a dank junkshop corner amongst other stuff that was badly water-damaged. Imagine my delight when I open the box and see the fine print: Musique – Pierre […]

St. Francis De Sales Cathedral Choir and Ensemble: Those Who See Light

This record is mostly pretty ehhhh… In fact, in an effort to impose more rigid quality control standards on… uhhh…. myself, I guess… I’d scrapped a previously completed review of it. But, alas, I often get to pondering these especially marginal records when I’m up late drinking. Plus, there is one track where they get […]

Teenage Talk-In

Strange 60’s Christian lp that has one of my favorite covers of all time. It depicts youthful scenes of of the era; playing baseball, dancing, riding on a motorcycle, holding a portable radio dangerously close to your ear and screaming, getting maced by the cops, hallucinating the Beatles’ disembodied heads, etc. And the message, delivered […]

Om Shanti – We Are Home

In life we have all been moving Towards love as our centre blooming Let’s dance to that loving feeling Let’s dance with our hearts revealing Those four phrases circulate the back-side of the cover on this private spiritual folk album headed by Oman Deal and Shanti Ess Rae, released in 1977 on the Solace Records […]

50th Anniversary ov LSD / Tribute to Albert Hofmann

Y’all guys seem to be sleeping on sect-tech. Not ancient or even rare but indiscutably contains some fully-formed facemelts and, to me, a paradigm shift possibly towards facebelt and a new thing called Swiss heat. Plus, I’ll take any opportunity to cause you all Waxi-annoyance with my 90s techno records. Plus this is an Anniversary […]

Mission Singers: Everything’s Just Fine… Or Is It?

This is one on those albums where the concept behind it is just so good that I really, really want to love it. According to the brief notes on the back, the Mission Singers were a group of young, rockin’ priests from St. Louis who devoted themselves to fighting world hunger. I fact, I believe […]

Father Ian and Caroline

‘Nuther interesting record made by one of those “hip priests”. Some of the stuff on here is pretty cheese, but there are a couple fun pop-psych things. I especially dig this track, with it’s mix of groovy sounds and apocalyptic imagery.

Rainbow Promise – self titled

Rainbow Promise, teenage Jesus freak jam band from Texas, early 70’s recording, recorded in Ohio, on a Springfield MO label. 2 pressings with different cover variations were made, only sold at their concerts. Four stand out cuts with heavy shredding guitar jams. Listen – my fave track

Marlin Wallace and The Corillions – Songs Of Divine Inspiration

incredible DIY release, variety of styles showcased by thiis rail riding hobo, including some straight Ozark gospel, folky xian protest & heartfelt honest pleas for redemption. Recorded from 1975-8 in Springfield Missouri, featuring top notch studio musicians now working in Branson and members or garage/retro rockers the Skeletons/Morells. This is the real deal, the infamous […]

Masses In Time Of War

There are soooo many privately pressed lp’s of various church services, sermons, masses, church choirs, etc… that trying get a handle on them would probably cause your mind to literally explode. Not that anyone would really care to though, ’cause the sounds found on the vast majority would probably put even the most hellishly hyperactive […]

Becky Stewart and Midge Robertson: Two Sent

Private Christian record from my current home of Santa Rosa, CA (I think). On the whole this lp is less than spectacular, but I have an almost unhealthy obsession with a track on it called “Those Who Wait Upon the Lord”. It’s a song of divine beauty and a reminder of why I continue to […]

Les Bardanes – Vers l’homme, Gospel Night N.4

Right people, like with my last post, if you want the sound clip you have to patiently plug into my webpage and hear mix 1 at http://dr.lloyd.free.fr/ I have this propensity I can’t shake for sonic and sensual overload and I totally recognise that one of my biggest faults is overuse of the tape echo function on […]

Pax Quartet – Merveilles

Christian records of interest are not that common in France, but this one has something special. This is the second Pax Quartet LP to be reviewed on Waxidermy and just like the first one, this LP has one vocal and one instrumental side but Pop/Folk oriented instead of Jazz. The “Folk” tracks are not really […]

Tedd Smith: Smash and Grab World

I believe I once read somewhere that Tedd Smith was Billy Graham’s Pianist. And record enthusiasts probably best know him for the common and less than amazing “Time to Run” soundtrack. But he also made a few very ambitious concept albums for Word/Light – this being the best of the ones I’ve heard. The album […]