Customer Reviews

Awaiting Your Reply & Rainbow's End

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First off - I love this album. Emotionally, I give it five stars, but some of that is nostalgia. Resurrection Band was the first true Christian heavy metal band, at least that I knew of. The fact that they all lived in a commune made them seem even cooler. Then there was the music...

Rez band was heavily indebted to Led Zep in their opening album - the opener, "Waves," is patterned after Black Dog with a back-and-forth thing between vocals and a guitar riff. Irish Garden and Ananias echo Led Zep's acoustic guitar work, both folk and blues influenced. Irish Garden is gorgeous - the flute and acoustic guitar intro, clear guitar solo, kicking into the heavy metal verse. Ananias is a delta-blues song done on an acoustic slide guitar. "Awaiting Your Reply" is bold, daring, aggressive and an adventure.

Why four stars? Production is poor - this album was recorded on a shoe string and it shows. A couple of songs are real dinosaur-plodders as well, particularly the title track. You need to be a fan of heavy metal and/or early Christian rock to really appreciate the album. If you are, or if you had the vinyl LP long ago, this CD is for you.

The CD can still be ordered new at ChristianDiscs.com for retail prices. They also have "Rainbow's End," Resurrection Band's second album, and their last before "Colours" moved them to a 'modern' heavy metal sound without the acoustics, flutes, sax, piano, and the spirit of experimentation. Check out the website before you pay a lot for a used disc.

I was living in Blanket Texas (google map it, its a real location) in the late 70's. This album came out and it had me from the first cut on. I could not believe a Christian band could be this "ROCK". I had the first Petra album (I meant "Upon this Rock" the real first album) and it was a fav but this one blew it away......

All these years later, and Amazon turns me on to it again... thank you Amazon because it is STILL GOOD. This band did more stuff, became more mainstream....etc..... but this album is Rez Band to me..... excellent.

Resurrection Band's debut album awoke a generation. The lyrics are potent calling to repentance and a heart entirely lost in the love of God. Lyrically reminiscent of the Psalmist but with the raw musical edge of the 70's heavy metal enthusiast, they fire enthusiasm and inspire us to live what we say we believe. This has always been a band with deep roots in Christian mystics such as the late A. W. Tozer and that influence is strong in their challenging lyrics and driving passion. They followed this album with many more in the decades that followed but this first album is as fresh and inspiring as it was the first time we heard it.

Good to see this stuff coming out on cd. Actually,i gave this an extra star just because it was the first of it's kind..an unadulterated, unapologetic, Metal album sung and played by Christians at a time when this music was considered blasphemous by many. And these guys {and girl} were serious Christians..my 1st Rez concert included an old fashioned "alter call" and much between song preaching. Religious preferences aside..the music was solid and Glen Kaiser has one of the best voices i've heard..period! Check out his later blues stuff!

As a big CCM fan since the 70s, I consider Awaiting Your Reply to be a milestone in christian rock, taking it to new heights. I still recall hearing it for the 1st time on a radio show 'The Rock that Never Rolls' and fell in love with their music. It satisfied my thirst for good solid semi-progressive rock with a very up front message. Good musicianship is demonstrated throughout, in an industry that did not always put a big emphasis on the skill of the players.
I had the chance to see them in concert in 1979 here in Buffalo and also got to chat with Glenn, the front man and of course the coolest man of God you would want to meet. They did tunes from this lp, and some from their follow-up Rainbow's End. The lp ends with 'The Return'. a Trower-esque ballad heralding Christ's return as forecast in Rev. 22.
This is a timeless treasure for all you Jesus rockers who long for the good old days.

I love this album. It has Led Zeppelin kinda riffs. There are many great songs, such as the title track, "Lightshine", and "Waves". There's male and female vocalist. Great! Absolutely fantastic!

I saw the Rez band many years ago & found their CD here. I ordered it & it was as good as I remembered. The CD arrived very quickly & in good condition. Thank you for such great service!

The Resurrection Band (Rez Band) / Awaiting Your Reply: This one Rocks! It has a sense of humor about itself but still presents the Gospel with power.
Highly Recommended. This is a Five Star album

I still remember when this was first released. A brand new hard rock band out of Chicago was trying to break into the market and they were giving the album away via mail order. The ad actually had the audacity to list off hard rock bands that they were being compaired to, such as Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and the like. Being a fan of Led Zep and Deep Purple, I decided to give it a try. When the ablum arrived, I was blown away that here was something Christian that could actually compete with the hard rock bands of the day. Frankly, at the time, there was nothing like Rez anywhere in the Christian music catelog, and as such they had a real difficult time breaking into the market, but I absolutely loved it. This ablum, along with the next two Rez albums, "Rainbow's End" and "Colours", became staples on my stereo, along with getting heavy rotation on my radio show in college.

At the time, my friends and I often wondered who Rez was trying to emulate with each of their first three albums. This one we felt was closest to Zep. "Rainbow's End" became the Sabbath album, and "Colours" went to AC/DC. Even now I can still hear the influences of each of those bands on the respective albums. On this ablum, the range of styles is very Zep like, going from hard rock to blues to folk influences. Glenn Kaiser's voice is so filled with emotion that he can make your heart ache. While I am not much of a Wendy Kaiser fan, her songs still hold up well, and the musicianship is very good thoughout.

Now, some 30+ years later, I found them again ON SALE on Amazon as mp3 downloads, and I rejoiced! I had forgotten how great this album really was! There really isn't a weak song on the thing, though some are true standouts. Personally, I absolutely love Broken Promises and The Return, and both will stay on my playlists for years to come.

Yes, the production is rather weak, but what can you really expect from an album produced in '78 on a shoestring budget? I do wish that it could be remastered, as thicker drums and bass would make it exceptional. But just listening again to the musicianship and lyrics......outstanding. Really a hard rock masterpiece, in my opinion. Nothing like what Rez would become in later years, especially after the third album, so if you are a fan of their mid '80s stuff and on, you will probably be suprised at how heavy their roots were.

How about actually listing the songs on the album? I'm looking for a certain song, and I'm not buying any of your albums unless you list your tracks with samples.