Yeah, I guess after that buildup I gave, I’d best deliver some good info, right? OK, here goes…
Between about 1965 and 1975 or so, Christian music took a turn for the weird and cool. Xian bands began to push the envelope in a lot of different ways—musically, visually, and (from what I gather) theologically. I tend to think it was a reaction to the excesses of the time; a lot of the folks who turned on and found God began to make music.
Anyway, for whatever reason, Xian music began to get a lot more interesting. Ex-junkies began to privately press records celebrating the role of God in their recovery, and they brought to the table the heaviness and darkness of their experiences. Older musicians who’d been on the Christian folk circuit for a while began to bring psychedelic influences into their music. Freaks with a Christian bent began to make mindfrying music every bit as heavy as Hendrix or Zeppelin or whatever mainstream artist you’d choose to name. And local teen/family combos in Indiana and Kentucky and Missouri, who a few years earlier would have been playing “Kumbayah,” began to play with fuzz guitars and Farsfisas, and pressed 100, 500, maybe 1,000 (at most) copies of their recordings, to be distributed locally and forgotten. At its best this music just feels real: these artists weren’t trying to make it big, they just had a message they felt they had to share.
Here are a few examples of records that have been reissued and are therefore more attainable:
Fraction—Moon Blood: Well, I might as well start off with a killer here. Fraction were a bunch of Sunset Strip freaks who made heavy, utterly apocalyptic Christian rock, with the growling vocals of Jim Beach and blasting dual fuzz guitars hammering home their message (“No clown on the ground/Tries to put me down/Since I found the Lord”). Some people think Beach sounds like a heavier Jim Morrison. I disagree; I think he was about a thousand times better vocalist than Morrison, and Beach had been around the scene much longer, anyway. These guys didn’t compromise; they went straight for the gut. Here’s a link with an audio clip of “Come Out Of Her” (click on the big Play button to play without downloading). These guys might not pass a Pat Robertson scriptural purity test (sample lyric: “The Son’s come to birth/to free Mother Earth”), but they mean what they say. They pressed a few hundred copies of their album (which are now worth $1,000-2,000) and disappeared. Fortunately, it’s been reissued on Radioactive Records.
Azitis—Help: If you like Xian music, and you like classic sixties psychedelia like Love or the Electric Prunes, this album blends both into a pretty unique and great record. They’ve got a website with old photos of the band, writings, testimony, etc. It’s a moody album, and justifies its $800 price tag (to collectors, anyway) by having great songwriting and playing. It’s available at Amazon, along with soundclips.
Wilson McKinley: Often claimed to be the first Xian rock band. It’s hard to recommend just one album by these guys—each one had standout tracks. Fortunately, there’s an anthology that brings together some of the best. They get compared a lot to late ‘60s Dead, Quicksilver, or Moby Grape, but with an Xian message. Here’s a sample of the track “He” (which actually isn’t on the anthology–sorry for the lousy sound quality).
So, those are three examples of early Xian rock. I’ve left folk off for the time being, but anyone who’s curious and dedicated may want to track down these other bands and artists:
Caedmon/”Caedmon’s Hymn”
John Ylvisaker/”Cool Livin’”
Agape/”Gospel Hard Rock”
John Rydgren/”Silhouette Segments”
Aslan/”Not a Tame Lion”
Dennis Ryder/”Let Me Take You to the Kingdom”
Dave Bixby/”Ode To Quetzacoatl” (this is going to be reissued this summer, and it is my pick for greatest Xian loner folk album ever)
Margo Guryan
…and a thousand others I’ve forgotten, but would be happy to remember if anyone’s interested.
(Gospel, of course, deserves its own thread! 
But for starters, the comp Good God! on the excellent Numero label will make you testify!)