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Converted kids of '60s flower power comprised the Jesus Movement and initiated its rock'n'roll soundtrack. The mischievous, often gimmicky garage punks to put their nascently psychedelic spin on the bluesy British Invasion of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks and Who largely predated the birth pangs of what we know as Christian Contemporary Music (CCM).

Fastforward to the present where the bucket-headed high priests of cacophony known as The Knights Of The New Crusade make up for a 40-year musical deficit with compound interest on My God Is Alive! Sorry About Yours!. If Billy Graham had the idea to hire B-movie schlockmeister Roger Corman to direct an evangelistic teen-exploitation movie circa 1966, these Knights would be playing in the obligatory go-go club scene even though the band's guitar solos that value gradations of feedback over actual notes and keep-the-needle-in-the-red recording technique might scare any kids doing the frug and watusi off the dance floor. If the Knights' noisy rocking doesn't frighten the youth, the artless manner of their lead singers' enthusiasm against Satan and evil and for God and evangelical subcultural iconography will leave the kids scratching their pates. 

It's as if the same things that have made Carman repellant make these  New Crudaders endearing right down to the questionable politics. In Knights of the New Crusade, they not only get eschatalogical Zionists' goat by declaring their indifference to the Holy Land (calling it "mortal sand") but declare their preference for theocracy over democracy. They thereby misconstrue historical Protestant perceptions of the Law, give themselves a triumphal theme song and freakin' rock. That's about as wrong as it is cool; very for both. 

Elsehwhere, they're less contentious. "Secret Sign" celebrates the icthus as an ancient, clandestine symbol of Christian solidarity that also looks good on their car. Apart from good-time affirmations of the Lord and biblical doctrine such as "Sympathy For Jesus" (a goofy Mick Jagger impersonation), in "Born Winner" and "My Way Is The Highway"  they find time to get a little more serious and still make it sound like a hoot. "'E' Is For Evil" decries ecstasy and the feelings of depravity and isolation it engenders, while "Dangers Of Dating" crossbreeds Jonathan Richman's wide-eyed earnestness with The Shaggs' musical aptitude into a weeper for a godly gal. 

The set concludes with a cover of the Jimmy Reed-associated gospel blues "You Got To Move" that channels a meeting of The Seeds (the Los Angeles '60s proto-punks, not the Jesus People USA folkies) and The Velvet Underground.  Wondrous in its zeal, really.

A Christian bookstore music buyer who I turned on to these guys was reminded of One Bad Pig, the original youth group-friendly Christo-punk band. The Knights remind me more of The Monks, that band of American soldiers-turned-provocative punk band after their mid-'60s tour of duty in Germamy. Throw in some Stooges, minus Iggy Pop's less savory antics, in there, too. Depends on your frame of reference, hey?

No matter who they recall, The Knights of the New Crusade have created possibly a wholly original sound within modern Christendom and a love-or-hate instant classic. Can't you see those kids scrambling mid-frug now? (available at http://www.crusadenow.com) 

Jamie Lee Rake  12/30/2004