First Christian Rock Album?

Date: 7 May 2003 14:34:05 -0400
Newsgroups: rec.music.christian
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Here's one of the earliest ones I know about. Pretty good too.
A Man Dies (Columbia 33SX 1609) 1964 UK *
The first Christian rock album? Mmmmmmmmm could be! That 1964 date on
this baby shaves a good two years off of shortly-to-follow entries from
The Concords, The Crusaders and Joy Strings. A Man Dies was written by
Ewan Hopper and Ernest Marvin for the teenagers of St. James' Presbyterian
Church at Lockleaze, Bristol. "It is an attempt to present the Bible
story in the modern idiom - in the music and dancing which teenagers love
so much and can do so well". This is definitely an electric album and
it's got the early UK '60s written all over it. The main performers are
identified as Valerie Mountain, Ricky Forde and a group called The
Strangers. Swinging pop, jangly beat, slow blues rock, Hard Days
Night-era Beatles, talk-singing over a beat - it's all here spanning
twenty-six tunes that feature titles like 'How Long, Lordie?', 'Do Us A
Favour', 'What's The Use?', 'Look In The Paper', 'Ding Dong', 'Riding On A
Donkey', 'Who Is My Neighbour?', 'Gentle Christ', etc. Even a couple
surfy twangin' instrumentals in classic Ventures/Shadows tradition
('Dominator' and 'Jack Knife'). No keyboards from what I can tell - just
revved-up drums, bass and raw electric guitars. Cover says it was first
performed in 1960. I'm surprised this isn't more widely known, especially
given that it's on a major label. Seldom has early Jesus music sounded so
alive and bursting with energy as it does on A Man Dies. (Archivist 3rd
Edition)
Ken Scott