"Must be heard to be believed" is a cliché that's attached to too many records that turn out not to be as strange or entertaining as their reputations might lead you to think. Troubled really is something that has to be heard to be believed, though, in its combination of fervent Christian lyrics and sloppy, untutored garage-folk-psychedelic rock. Never was it stranger than in the opening "Countdown to Revolution!," where gunfire and bomb explosions back heavily reverbed random soundbites of worship and very 1970s-era despair and hip lingo. In a way, everything's a comedown after that, but the very basic guitar-drum-miscellaneous percussion arrangements of the other tunes are eerie enough in their own right. Lay some wholly unself-conscious, awkwardly metered lyrics about the power of God to transform and heal over that, and you have the kind of stuff barely heard in any music, Christian, rock, or otherwise. The instruments and voices are about as out of time as anything committed to vinyl, and the naïve punk artlessness of the performers almost makes it sound as if they're unwittingly satirizing themselves. For this isn't quite feel-good stuff; dirge-like melodies abound, and ballads like "Wind" and "All Is Well" (where all is not well, and the despairing singer wishes he could call the Lord on his telephone) make salvation sound as ominous as a trip to the devil's waiting room. As for even the lighter tunes, it must be said that few songs hailing Jesus have done so in language hailing his bucking the status quo, in almost those exact words ("The Status Quo Song"), and that there may be no other calypso-rock inspirational Christian tune told as a first-person narrative of a woman busted on a narcotics charge ("Yet Still Time"). The CD reissue makes the experience complete with thorough liner notes detailing the group's history, as well as their rediscovery at the hands of dedicated collectors.

Fraction was a short-lived Los Angeles garage band. In the summer of 1970, the band entered a studio and cut their only album, Moon Blood. Only 200 copies of this little psychedelic masterpiece were ever pressed, making it over the years a mega-rarity going for ridiculous sums of money. This 1999 reissue brings this fuzz and reverb festival onto compact disc for the first time and features three bonus tracks of previously unissued origin, "Prisms," "Dawning Light," and "Intercessor's Blues." Vocally, Jim Beach works the Jim Morrison side of the street while the band works the standard riffs of the era into a fuzz overloaded stomp that sounds like a perfect period piece. Lovers of fuzz-drenched psychedelia will go crazy over this one.

Heavy Psych mega monster of the best quality imaginable. This is a $2000 mega rarity. It's been said to be the album The Doors had wished they had recorded, and we who know the story behind the band say this is the most unlikely christian band ever (Yes you read correctly they were a christian band). If you take The Doors and a way wasted beyond belief Jim Morrisson sounding vocalist and some heavy duty amplification and a dark eerie vibe of say Iron Butterfly or Black Sabbaths debut you will be close to what this monster is all about. All songs are keepers and now it's been reissued so many times that even you can afford it (no need for those hissing C90 tapes anymore) Have another blast of the highest calibre.

AZITIS - HELP (US 1971)

Azitis was a California quartet featuring Don Lower (vocals, bass guitar), Michael Welch (lead and rhythm guitars, flute), Dennis Sullivan (organ and piano), and Steve Nelson (vocals and drums).
Originally known as Help, until threatened with legal action by the British band (on Decca Records) of the same name they changed the name in Azitis (pronounced "as-it-is" from a reference to the biblical verse, "Thy will be done on earth [azitis] in heaven").

From the liner notes on album:

From long hours of hard work, revising, jamming, improvising and re-arranging, these four young men are only beginning to master an unmatched uniqueness in today's rapidly changing music scene. With a sound as original, there is no way to go but up. They write and arrange their own music and they know how to play it. They have a message to convey and they know how to say it. They are poetic, yet simple, deep, yet relaxing. Their music and lyrics have a strength and a power to them that suggests a sort of mystical realism that is maintained from the first note of the "Creation" of LORD I SAW YOU CRY to the fadding rhythm of JUDGEMENT DAY. There is no end to the realistic and new way they put their music across. signed: John Cole, President ELCO Records.