Christ on Parade - A Mind Is A Terrible Thing

Vinyl LP pressing. Digitally remastered edition. Christ on Parade started in 1985, rising from the ashes of local bands Treason and Teenage Warning. Like much of the punk music at the time, they had an intensely political edge and very serious lyrical approach. The Peace Punk scene of the early '80s Bay Area-typified by local bands like PLH, Treason, Trial, Crucifix, and Atrocity, and heavily influenced by British anarcho-punk-had a formative influence on many bands in the scene including Christ on Parade. Musicianship had become a virtue rather than a non-issue. This confluence of sounds and ideas, and the fact that the East Bay was awash with LSD in those days, led to the band's classic album, A Mind Is A Terrible Thing. The album is a demonology of the dark undercurrent beneath the relentlessly inane and superficial '80s. Noah Landis's feral vocals and grindstone guitar spearhead the album with second guitarist Doug Kearney, bass player Malcolm Sherwood, and drummer Todd Kramer turning in an equal number of distinctive songs and performances. The result is brooding and angular, often catchy but never poppy. The production is raw, but this unvarnished quality serves the music rather than detracts from it. As America's current political and cultural climate goes from bad to worse, A Mind Is A Terrible Thing sounds better, deeper and more relevant with each passing day.