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Exkursions, The: The Exkursions

Vintage Psychedelic/Blues Rock

4.0/5.0

Website (Label)
Born Twice Records/Retroactive Records
review by Craig Hartranft,  01.16.2012

For this time warp, you may want to put on your paisley bell-bottom pants, big floppy lapels shirt, and string vest. Then light your lava lamp. The Exkursions, hailing from Chicago, date to the height of the hip Sixties. Their music, only a decade removed from the beat scene, was typical of the times: hard rock mixed with blues in psychedelic rocker. Their peers Hendrix, Cream, and the Mike Bloomfield Blues Band. But their message was evangelical; The Exkursions were one of the seminal 'Jesus Music' bands of the day. The worked coffeehouses to camps, from Chicago to Eastern shore to New York City. They even caught a gig with the Billy Graham Crusade, which led one newspaper to opine 'Billy Graham uses Rock n Roll and mini-skirts to reach kids'.

This remastered and reissued album, courtesy of Retroactive Records on their Born Twice imprint, offers eight heavy rocker, bristling with blues and psychedelic sounds, wah-wah effects and fuzz abound. The blues are thick in Baby You Lied. Hendrix could be revisited in Dry Ground. Third Eye is a literal blast of heavy psychedelic rock, enough so to shatter that aforementioned lava lamp. Through out you can hear testimony to The Exkursions faith in Jesus Christ, often presented against the bane old staid religion. Fundamentally, however, lead by guitarist Mike Johnson, these guys could play, play well and creative original music worthy of their peers. Of course, this during a time when 'Jesus Music' walked on the same side of the street as their secular counterparts.

For a genuine piece of rock history, or nostalgia, The Exkursions' eponymous debut of heavy psychedelic blues rock offers a glimpse into the revolutionary sixties, it's music, and the seminal Jesus People movement. Recommended.

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For a genuine piece of rock history, or nostalgia, The Exkursions' eponymous debut of heavy psychedelic blues rock offers a glimpse into the revolutionary sixties, it's music, and the seminal Jesus People movement.

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