#75 RAINBOW'S END by Resurrection Band (1979)

RAINBOW'S END by Resurrection Band (1979)
Star Song Records (SSR-0015)

As has been previously noted, I grew up a "preacher's kid" in south Alabama. My brothers and I had drifted organically from Southern Gospel to Contemporary Gospel to Jesus Music. In 1978 we were on the road full-time as part of a traveling ministry with our family. My brothers and I formed a band and played in the evening services. As we would go from state to state, city to city, church to church, people would at times give us albums that they thought would appeal to us -- which worked out great for us! I remember well being at an Assemblies of God church in Westminster, Maryland when a young couple in the church blessed us with an album by a band that was new to us at the time. The title of the record was Awaiting Your Reply. The artist was Resurrection Band. We accepted it graciously, took it into our travel unit, and began to listen. Uh-oh. This was rock and roll on "a whole 'nother level."

In fact, for quite a while, we only listened to Resurrection Band through a big, clunky set of Koss stereo headphones. Because we knew that our parents had never heard Christian music that rocked this hard, and we just didn't know what their reaction would be. Eventually, we figured the coast was clear to ditch the 'phones and play it out loud in front of God and everybody. It worked out OK.

Glenn Kaiser

Glenn Kaiser had a tough upbringing in rural Wisconsin. "In the winter, I often times went to bed with all my clothes on, two pair of socks, long underwear, and jeans, and two or even three quilts," he told Cornerstone Magazine. "We’d buy quilts at St. Vincent de Paul, or my mom would put more stuffing in the ones we had." The teenaged Kaiser found an outlet through music, and joined several bands, usually blues-oriented groups. He maintained a lifelong love for the blues and would return full circle to blues music as a solo artist and with the Glenn Kaiser Band many years later. But at 18 years of age, Kaiser experienced a spiritual awakening that changed the direction of his music and his life. "Life didn’t make a lot of sense until I met Jesus," he said. "It really didn’t. When [Jimi] Hendrix said, ‘There ain’t no life nowhere,’ I mean, those were the truest words I heard until I heard Jesus’ words about things."

While still a teen, Kaiser joined up with a street ministry/church/Christian community called Jesus People USA (pronounced Japooza for short). Originally based in Milwaukee, JPUSA's members were typically young people dressed in jeans and T-shirts who were focused like a laser on meeting people's physical needs and telling them about Jesus. They weren't very subtle -- they rode around in an old red bus with the name "Jesus" painted on one side.

The musical outreach of JPUSA was originally known as Charity. This group included Glenn Kaiser and his wife Wendi, John Herrin, Jr. (who was Wendi's brother), and a few other like-minded hippies. In 1972, Charity became Resurrection, and later, Resurrection Band. In the early days, they would set up and play most anyplace -- revival meetings, festivals, prisons, you name it. The story is told that the old red school bus eventually broke down in Chicago in early 1973. And they never left. JPUSA set up shop in the Windy City and became a major outreach to the poor, the elderly, the homeless, and others seeking help for alcohol and drug addiction.

At this time Christian concerts and radio stations were still dominated by Southern Gospel and Inspirational music. Even the Jesus Rock of the early 70s was heavy on acoustic folk music. Enter Resurrection Band. The group had a sound that was more akin to hard rock than anything Christendom had been exposed to up to that point. Some even referred to them as Christian music's first metal band.

As the group honed its world-class hard rock music, the band's frontman found his voice. Ladies and gentlemen, Glenn Kaiser could preach the wallpaper off a wall. His exhortations to an audience were full of passion, conviction, and Scripture. When Glenn had the floor, you could hear a pin drop, as they say. I don't know how many people have said a prayer along with Glenn at the end of a Resurrection Band concert, but I would guess that the number would be in the tens of thousands.

Glenn Kaiser also possessed one of the greatest rock voices in the history of recorded music. The grit...the gravel...the blues-soaked growl...it was just perfect. I say was because, while he still sings, he no longer "strips his throat out" the way he did with Resurrection Band. Can you blame him? It's quite amazing that he has any voice left at all! These days, it's more singing, less gravel and growl. A unique feature of Resurrection Band is that Glenn's wife Wendi was a co-lead vocalist. She brought a Grace Slick vocal approach to about a third of the band's songs, while Glenn sang the rest. A Christian metal band with a husband-wife team singing lead for the group? Yeah...unusual to say the least.

After releasing two custom recordings in the early seventies—All Your Life and Music to Raise the Dead—Resurrection Band finally signed with Star Song Records after being spurned by many other labels. They had shopped 1978’s Awaiting Your Reply to pretty much every Christian label in the United States, Canada, and the U.K. They all gave it a big thumbs down...except for Star Song. The album was a game changer...and will, I'm quite sure, be explored in length in a future post in this countdown.

This post is all about the band's 2nd national release -- a record called Rainbow's End. The gatefold cover for Rainbow's End originally came in a slipcase cover with die-cut windows on either side of the angel. Depending on which side was inserted, the windows revealed either heavenly clouds or stained-glass windows...very cool. Album art was an important element of music in the 70s that, sadly, is no longer enjoyed by music lovers today. Mention the word 'gatefold' to the average Millennial, and you'll get a blank stare.

Rainbow's End is said to have picked up where Awaiting Your Reply left off, again featuring the group’s classic, hard rock sound. Musical comparisons have been made to such classic rock stalwarts as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Lyrically, it was vintage Resurrection Band: unapologetically Christian themes with a few political statements and some social awareness thrown in for good measure.

Midnight Son is a hard rock worship anthem (long before worship was cool). It kicks off Side One with a bass riff and then slams head-on into some heavy rock and roll. Stu Heiss plays a gritty lead guitar, while Glenn and Wendi share the vocal duties on this song that explores the character and attributes of God:

Oh, You light up the sky
You're the power of the sun
You're the starlight in the darkness
On Your laughter shadows run

You're the mighty wind of glory
And the Father all in one
You're the Morning Star
You're the Midnight Son

Wendi Kaiser sings lead on the plodding rocker Strongman. 

A crashing gong segues into a tribal beat, signifying the next song...a full-throated political protest song. Resurrection Band was not the first Christian band to make political statements with their music (Larry Norman was quite good at it in the early 70s), nor would they be the last (Steve Taylor later made political statements part of his repertoire as well). But Resurrection Band arguably did it more often than any other artist, and that all started on this album with a song called Afrikaans. It was the first anti-apartheid song ever released by an American rock band, a full year before Peter Gabriel addressed the issue with Biko.

The music, the message, and the passion in Glenn's vocal all came together perfectly to create a very memorable song. Lyric lines like these demanded to be noticed:

I hear the gunfire, see the blood run, feel the rage
I see a black man, see a colored man in a cage

Forget the black man, neglect his baby, ignore his hell
We need apartheid to keep the animal in his cell

God makes the color, but the color doesn't make you God

Wendi & Glenn

This song was easy to appreciate, but I will admit that I wasn't always fully on board with the group's politics. Their fixation with nuclear war turned out to have been wasted time and energy, thanks largely to the efforts of a president known as  Ronald Reagan. And their attempt to link Rush Limbaugh, by name, with police brutality (If Your Love Grows Cold from 1993's Reach of Love) was ill-advised. Most people who were (and are) critical of Limbaugh do not actually listen to his program and do not know him personally, and therefore would have no basis on which to make a judgment that "his love had grown cold" or that he was somehow in league with racist cops in Los Angeles. There may well have been police misconduct with regard to Rodney King in LA in 1992 (even though the officers involved were acquitted). But there was also widespread looting, assault, arson and murder during the riots, with 53 deaths, over 2,000 injuries, and property damage topping one billion dollars. That was wrong as well, and completely unjustified. To lay all of that at the feet of a talk radio host who happens to be a political conservative was, frankly, ridiculous. So, in my opinion, they sometimes got it wrong when venturing into politics. They also sometimes got it right -- their pro-life songs and statements being a strong example (although abortion was more a moral issue than a political one...it's been the leading cause of death in America for many years). But Afrikaans is another political song where they got it right. Institutionalized racism on the part of the government of a nation is always going to be wrong.

With its dirty, gritty hook and Tom Cameron's blues harmonica taking center stage, Skyline laments the plight of not just city dwellers, but all people who are tired...hungry...cold...lost. Glenn's vocals are again filled with power and passion on this one.

Closing out Side One is one of the record's highlights. Glenn Kaiser turns in one of the greatest vocal performances of his career on Paint a Picture. Musically it's a unique track for Resurrection Band in that it's a ballad and features piano and acoustic guitar on the front end. But the intensity builds and Kaiser sings his heart out about Jesus' work on the cross, and how His sacrifice can cure our loneliness and emptiness.

Glenn Kaiser

Paint a picture of a lonely life
Paint a picture of a cold, gray night
Paint a picture of the emptiest day you've ever known

Paint that picture
And you can start
To understand the love of the Savior
And oh, how He understands you

Paint a picture of a blood-covered cross
See that picture
And you'll know what it cost
The price God paid
To prove His love for you

Paint a Picture is an example of how emotional Resurrection Band's brand of rock and roll could be. You could actually hear the pain in Kaiser's voice as he sang. Moving.

Side Two begins with the title track and a great analog Moog synthesizer part played by Stu Heiss. The 2-minute song features Wendi's vocals and hearkens back to the story of Noah from Genesis. The song presents Noah and the ark as a type of Jesus and the cross, and concludes that Christ Himself is the "rainbow's end."

Wendi Kaiser

Forty days and forty nights Noah sailed a sea of tears
And the lesson of the flood shouts across the years
Now he will destroy the dark
Jesus is the living ark
Oh, nothing in the world, nothing in the world
Nothing in the world compares with Him
No one ever loved you more
He alone is Heaven's door
He is the promise, he is the promise
He's the rainbow's end

Glenn Kaiser serves up a more "normal" singing style for a haunting acoustic ballad called Concert for a Queen. To me, this song paints a beautiful picture of the Trinity:

In our castle, the peace of Jesus reigns
Simply resting, we receive the joyous strains
Of the music that the Holy Ghost creates
And our harmony is a concert for the King
And our harmony is a concert for the King

For we are his royal children...

John Herrin, Jr.

Wendi again takes the lead on Sacrifice Of Love. It's a true Resurrection Band rocker and serves as an effective vehicle for presenting an unapologetic Gospel message:

Sacrifice, it was a sacrifice of love
The road is narrow, the cross is real
But its' the right way, it don't matter how you feel
Because the Savior, the Savior doesn't change
Not even death could hold Him in the grave

The Wolfsong fades in with a flanged drum beat and features Glenn taking televangelists to task:

From the clothes I wear to the curl in my hair
I'm all show, show
Oh, I'm an actor, I polished all my lines
I know how to take your every nickel and dime
Sometimes I lose sight of what's real and what's only a lie
But it's okay - I'll just...and straighten my tie
Ooh, you'll know them by their love and by their fruit
Not by pearly teeth, Mercedes, or fine suits
Not by where they go or what they can afford
Not by Jesus as their savior, but as their Lord

The excesses of TV evangelists would later be chronicled by Steve Taylor, DeGarmo & Key,  Allies, and even Dallas Holm. But Resurrection Band was waaay ahead of their time with this song. Downright prophetic.

Stu Heiss

Rainbow's End closes with Every Time It Rains, another ballad featuring a memorable, gritty vocal from Glenn Kaiser. It's another highlight. The song opens with thunderstorm sound effects before giving way to acoustic guitars and this compelling prayer from Mr. Kaiser:

I've been alone, out on my own
Exchanging truth for a lie
Pleasure for pride, hell on my side
Say what you please
This brought me to my knees

Jesus, You cried for me when I could weep no more
You died for me when I was dead in sin
You felt for me when I was numb within
You searched for me and brought me home again

Why do You love me, when I treat You so wrong
I give you heartache and You give me a song
I give You silence, cold and empty stares
But still I know You care
Wherever I run, You're there

Kenny Soderblom's saxophone solo fades into the distance and just like that, just 36 minutes 30 seconds after it began, Rainbow's End is over. As is Resurrection's Band's tenure at Star Song Records. They would soon move to Light Records and blaze a path into the 1980s -- a decade they would spend as the dominant hard rock band in Christian music. They went from Light to Sparrow to Grrr, shortening their moniker along the way to Rez Band and then to just REZ.

The 80s would also see the birth of their beloved Cornerstone Festival; they were the unofficial "host band" of this annual gathering of hippies, youth group kids and Jesus freaks every July. Countless people have decided to follow Jesus over the years as a result of the powerful, hard-hitting witness of Resurrection Band and their "music to raise the dead."

Glenn Kaiser once told HM Magazine, "As far as what we've tried to accomplish, it's been real simple: to win people to Jesus, disciple people who are already Christians, and really challenge people to care about those who are disabled, who are oppressed, who are poor. I don't think it's accurate to say that the band is simply an excuse to minister. We really do take the music seriously in its own right. We're a rock and roll band, and we like playing rock and roll music. I can't say in all honesty that it's just a way of sharing the Gospel -- but we do that, too, and without apology."

Glenn Kaiser today

Fun Facts:

• Resurrection Band performed three songs off Rainbow’s End on its 1992 live album Twenty Years.

• The group played the title track, Rainbow's End, only once in a live setting. That happened at the Cornerstone Festival in the year 2000.