All Saved Freak Band - Harps On Willows - Best of vol.1 (1968-1979) (2006)

Here's a welcome collating of the best performances from one of America's greatest hippie Christian band. While bands like Petra and Resurrection Band spent the '70s perfecting a heavy rock'n'roll, ASFB ploughed a blusier furrow with ace blues guitarist Glenn Schwartz exemplifying his renowned skills. This 14 track CD brings together tracks from their four albums and while the bluesy thing is going on, there are also moments when the girly vocals bring in some of the hippier, folky elements. This is noticeable on album opener "Peace, Love And Rock'n'Roll". "Seek Him" might be blues but then there's a string section doing their thing too. The result is that the band's music is not easily pigeon holed. One joy is the fact that they wrote songs that were simple in their message. These are songs to get people to think about the Gospel, an art that seems to be missing in modern Christian music. Highlights for me include the heavier pounding of "All Across The Nation", the testifying mainly spoken word of "There Is Still Hope In Jesus" and the swampy "Old Man Daniel". There's also a great version of the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross". These recordings are very much of their time so they are a little ragged around the edges production wise but the band certainly fulfilled their ambition to create music that would stop people in their tracks and make them respond to the Gospel. Let's hope the re-release programme will bring other albums to the surface on CD.