Archivist

by Ken Scott

"A Collector's Guide to Vintage Vinyl Jesus Music, 1965-1980."

If you are looking for a guide to Christian, or in collector parlance, "Xian" music rooted in the counterculture recorded from 1965-80, this is THE book. Much like the music it covers, do not let the print-on-demand (private press) generic cover dissuade you, this book was clearly an influence on other guides, most notably, Patrick Lundborg's Acid Archives and definitely delivers the goods on its respective subject.

370 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve not read this all in one day, don’t worry, but I feel no story of 2020 in reading cannot be complete without this and Tapestry of Delights (which will be coming next). I have pretty much read this thing from cover to cover throughout the year anyway so it’s not REALLY cheating. It’s a real labour of love and beautifully and enthusiastically written: it’s not a dense discographic volume for collectors, more a loving guide to the best - and sometimes worst - Jesus records out there. I would agree with his reviews of the albums I know from the book - and it’s just nice to have a volume like this from a genuine enthusiast who wants to share his love of a very niche genre. My own spiritual life may be a bit shabby these days, but most of the records in here are far better than the bland and flavourless mush I was faced with during my religious years: these are records that are sometimes weird and ridiculous but always full of a strange joy and love and what more do you want? A lovely book

[Eamonn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was grateful to get a copy of this book (now on it's 5th edition, I believe) some years ago but was disappointed by it's heavy US focus. This limits its usefulness as a reference book to anyone living anywhere else who occasionally finds local christian music records turning up at markets, etc and is wondering if any of them are any good. The chance that you'll find it included here is very low. Also, some entries seem perfunctory - for example, there is no attempt to distinguish the many Fisher Folk LPs from each other, which is remarkable given the groups relatively high profile and the significant differences across their catalogue.
PS. If anyone can provide me with a copy, in any form, of Claude Crain's Gospel Rox book, please get in touch!