Description
Music to Raise the Dead 1972-1998 is a boxed set by the American hard rock outfit Resurrection Band, independently released on the band’s own label Grrr Records in 2008. Its a retrospective set of 3 CDs containing selected remastered songs from each of the band’s albums, a DVD featuring the XX Years Live Concert in Chicago, Illinois; as well as a 80-page Rez history booklet.
To understand the impact of the Resurrection Band on Christian music, consider the landscape in 1978, the year the band’s debut album, Awaiting Your Reply, was released. Many conservative pastors and evangelists still thundered from the pulpit about the evils of rock music and satanic rhythms, and the fledgling Contemporary Christian Music industry carefully shied away from controversial themes or raucous musical accompaniments. The album, where it was sold at all, was frequently sold behind the counter of the local Christian bookstore, away from the impressionable eyes and ears of young children.
Music to Raise the Dead, a 3-CD/1-DVD box set and retrospective that encapsulates the band’s 25-year career (they formed in 1972 as Charity and officially disbanded in 1998), provides a convincing argument that husband-and-wife team Glenn and Wendi Kaiser and company formed the most influential band in Christian music history. The music, a rough triangulation of Led Zeppelin blues licks, AC/DC power chords, and unflinching commentary on a broken world and its need for Jesus, still startles in its power and intensity. The 68 tracks, slightly skewed toward the band’s first five albums, offer ample evidence of what this band could do. Taken together, the collection is a wondrous thing, raw and urgent, literate and poetic, and it stands as a remarkable testament to the power of three chords, a banshee wail, and the truth.
The songs address the devastating effects of divorce, racial discrimination, drugs, and casual sex, always with a message of compassion and hope. There were admissions to struggle, doubt, and an acknowledgment of the weight of the world. This was music made by real human beings. [Andy Whitman, Christianity Today, October 2008]
If you are going to release a box set, you need to have a back catalogue that is substantial enough to supply a varied selection of tracks. During 26 years Chicago’s Resurrection Band have amassed such a collection. In this four disc set they showcase a full selection of their recordings that chart the development of one of the original Christian ministry bands. The three audio discs include favourites such as «Colours», «Military Man», «Love Comes Down», «Summerthrow» – all quality examples of blues inspired heavy rock. It is satisfying to hear how the gutsy, cathartic music stands the test of time and how Wendi’s and Glen’s gritty vocals over super tight musicianship make for exciting and timeless music. The fourth disc in the collection is a selection of music videos and live concert footage filmed in 1992 to celebrate their 20th anniversary and never previously seen. The technical problem of an in-shot boom spoiling numerous close ups which originally blocked its release has been overcome by skilled digital editing. The energy and integrity of their live performance is captured in over an hour’s worth of material. What sets this box set above others however is the quality of the packaging of this box set. All the tracks are fully listed and the sleevenotes also contain a 74 page comprehensive history of the band plus dozens of never-before-seen photos. This is not only a package for the Christian rock anorak or life long Rez Band fan. It would also appeal to anyone who enjoys quality rock music. [Ian Webber, Cross Rhythms, March 2009]
3CD tracklist:
Disc One
Awaiting Your Reply (StarSong Records 1978)
1-01. Waves
1-02. Awaiting Your Reply
1-03. Broken Promises
1-04. Irish Garden
1-05. The Return
Rainbow’s End (StarSong Records 1979)
1-06. Afrikaans
1-07. Paint a Picture
1-08. Rainbow’s End
1-09. Concert for a Queen
1-10. Every Time It Rains
Colours (Light Records 1980)
1-11. Colours
1-12. Amazing
1-13. American Dream
1-14. The Struggle
Mommy Don’t Love Daddy Anymore (Light Records 1981)
1-15. Alienated
1-16. The Chair
1-17. First Degree Apathy
1-18. The Crossing
Disc Two
D.M.Z. (Light Records 1982)
2-01. Military Man
2-02. Babylon
2-03. Area 312
2-04. No Alibi
2-05. White Noise
Hostage (Sparrow Records 1984)
2-06. Attention
2-07. Crimes
2-08. Tears in the Rain
Between Heaven ‘n Hell (Sparrow Records 1985)
2-09. Love Comes Down
2-10. Zuid Afrikaan
2-11. Shadows
2-12. Nervous World
Silence Screams (Grrr Records 1988)
2-13. Silence Screams
2-14. Light/Light
2-15. Rain Dance
Innocent Blood (Grrr Records 1989)
2-16. Rooster Crow
2-17. Altar of Pain
2-18. Right on Time
Disc Three
Innocent Blood (Grrr Records 1989)
3-01. The House is on Fire
3-02. Where Roses Grow
Civil Rites (Grrr Records 1991)
3-03. Lovespeak
3-04. Players
3-05. Lincoln’s Train
3-06. Somebody to Love
Reach of Love (Grrr Records 1993)
3-07. Reach of Love
3-08. Land of Stolen Breath
Lament (Grrr Records 1995)
3-09. Summerthrow
3-10. Song and Dance
3-11. Surprised
3-12. Across These Fields Reprise
Ampendectomy (Grrr Records 1997)
3-13. Souls for Hire
Live Bootleg (Sparrow Records 1984)
3-14. Gameroom
3-15. Can’t Stop Loving You
Music to Raise the Dead (independent cassette release 1974)
3-16. Quite Enough
DVD tracklist:
Live in Concert:
Military Man / Afrikaans / Attention / Colours / Players / The Struggle / White Noise / Alienated / Paint a Picture / Love Comes Down / Lovespeak / In Your Arms / Shadows / Where Roses Grow / Light/Light / I Will Do My Last Singing in This Land Somewhere.
Special Features:
Crimes (Music Video) / Love Comes Down (Music Video) / Surprised (Music Video) / Band Commentary.
[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”HVBvF1xBygE,QWEyNVVk20U,NpP58EyAxK4,roqEZbwUw9A,JPH6sVc23Mc,GMt2e2bDOlE,G5JTsUG29Xw,svuITr0PfCA,9Qsq5kNSYdc” title=”Resurrection Band – Resurrection Band Box Set, review by Marty Phillips + Origins of Rez Band: Glenn Kaiser talks about how and why Resurrection Band got started, 2012 + Ep. 1: Glenn Kaiser Interview (Resurrection Band / Glenn Kaiser Band) 29 May, 2021 + Resurrection Band DVD Beyond Music Clip + RESURRECTION (REZ) BAND – BEYOND MUSIC – FULL INTERVIEW 2012 + REZ Band – XX Years Live (1992) Full Concert + Heaven’s Metal: Worship At Full Volume – Chapter One: Resurrection Band 14 April 2022 + Rez Band, Greenbelt seminar 1984 + John Fischer Discusses The Jesus Movement With Glenn Kaiser. 7 Dec 2022″ autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
Resurrection Band History, Girder Music Promo, 2021
Forming in the early 70’s under the name “Charity” as part of a Christian community in Milwaukee, the band featured husband and wife lead singer, Glenn and Wendi Kaiser. After a move to Chicago and a change of name to “Resurrection Band” the group released a now rare cassette of demos called “Music to Raise the Dead.” That tape would actually contain a long time live favorite “Quite Enough” that would not be officially recorded and released until their live album, “Bootleg” more than a decade later.
In 1974 the band recorded their Music To Raise The Dead cassette on a 4-track recorder using headphones in a basement. It pure Led Zeppelin sounding with some amazing blues and rock, fuzz guitar and now-vintage amps. It would be the start of 15 full length albums, the best darn festival ever (Cornerstone) and a load a Glenn Kaiser solo albums to come later.
In 1978 the band was signed to the Star Song label that also includes Petra as an artist. It seemed like it would be a great fit as it was hoped that those at Star Song would understand the aggressive ministry, music and message of the band. But that relationship would only last for two albums before moving to Light Records for their next 3 releases, Colors, Mommy Don’t Love Daddy Anymore and D.M.Z before moving to Sparrow in 1984. At that point the band name was shortened to REZ or REZ Band for their remaining albums.
Resurrection Band – The Light Years
There may be no better musical example of the concept of “tough love” than Chicago’s Resurrection Band. Boldly committed to embracing the outcast, speaking unvarnished truth to power, kicking over cultural stones and sacred cows with prophetic abandon, and shining the light of love into even the darkest corners, the members of Resurrection Band were a complete anomaly in both the world of rock and roll and the emerging evangelical industrial complex of the modern church.
After two excellent records in the 70s that captured the lingering aesthetic of the counter-culture by melding elements of progressive and acid rock with heavy blues, Resurrection Band emerged into the 1980s with a fresh musical and missional perspective. While still doggedly committed to taking the radical words of Jesus seriously, the group had been living in “intentional community” long enough by then to have faced the fallenness of man head-on. That they chose to do so not in some utopian commune in the desert but in a blood-stained Chicago neighborhood known for gang violence, prostitution, homelessness, and drugs, forced their eyes to stay wide open. The musical result was a trilogy of albums that combines elements of 80s hard rock, new wave, and even punk into something truly unique. Call it urban hard rock, if you will, but these three albums, Colours, Mommy Don’t Love Daddy Anymore, and DMZ, saw the band truly come of age. They would come to define the very concept of Gospel Rock.
Discography:
All Your Life (Cass, Promo) 1973
Music To Raise The Dead (Cass, Promo) 1974
Demos (Cass, Promo) 1976
Awaiting Your Reply, Star Song 1978
Rainbow’s End, Star Song 1979
Colours, Light Records 1980
Mommy Don’t Love Daddy Any More, Light Records 1981
DMZ, Light Records 1982
Hostage, Sparrow Records 1984
Rez Band Live: Bootleg, Sparrow Records 1984
Between Heaven ‘N Hell, Sparrow Records 1985
Silence Screams, Ocean Records / Grrr Records 1988
Innocent Blood, Ocean Records / Grrr Records 1989
Civil Rites, Ocean Records / Grrr Records 1991
Twenty Years, Ocean Records / Grrr Records 1992
Reach Of Love, Ocean Records / Grrr Records 1993
Lament, Grrr Records / R.E.X. Music 1995
Ampendectomy, Grrr Records 1997
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