I just got a copy of the new Soul-Junk album, "1951". Soul-Junk is on a mission. This mission forced Glen Galloway to diverge from the sonic juggernaut known as Truman's Water and follow Charles Gayle along the path less traveled (less traveled by Indie Rockers because it is mainly populated at present by belligerent born-again Jesus Freaks). Yeah, you got it. I wasn't just dropping Mr. Gayle's name because I was trying to be all hip like John Corbett or Peter Margasak. Soul-Junk, like Mr. Gayle the great saxophonist, is fueled by a powerful Christian vision. Let me quote from the lyrics of No Eye Has Seen: "No eye has seen, No ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who have loved him, but God has revealed it to us by His spirit. The spirit searches all things even the deep things of God."

The point of this record is not to preach, as the liner notes explain, but to celebrate, like gospel music, to which this bares no musical resemblance whatsoever. In fact, musically this is closer to the classic Truman's Water album, "Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox & Ass" on which Glen Galloway played guitar. He left that band after marrying his wife Cathleen. He nows plays all the instruments in Soul-Junk, drums, saxophone, guitar and bass. Recently he has begun collaborating with another guitarist so that he can play drums exclusively. But this CD is an amazing testament to an idiosyncratic and often brilliant musical vision. Twenty-one songs, several instrumentals, which convey powerful feelings with unique song structures and unusual sounds.

Glen Galloway seems to me to be on a hardcore nostalgia kick, of which the religious lyrics are only a part. Like performance bands such as Caroliner or the Boredoms, the CD creates its own context. The recorded-on-a-boombox, lo-fi sound ads to the music's feeling of "authenticity", as if it was the sonic equivalent of a Grandma Moses painting. The album's title, "1951" evokes a specific past, which is at once capable of generating a variety of associations. The CD's packaging has been made to look like a cloth psalm-book from the 19th century. The liner notes are all in block capitals. Earlier singles from Soul-Junk had covers made of folded wallpaper, held together with heavy maroon electrical tape and xeroxed pictures of sports stars from the '30s.

I bought the "1949" single on Holy Kiss Records, apparently Mr. Galloway's own label, because a friend told me it was by the guitarist from Truman's Water. The liner notes said: "This is a love letter, write back." The a side, "Stripes We are Healed" is a long, sparse Free Jazz improvisation spotlighting a tentative saxophone and all-over-the-place drumming. The b side features two religous songs, "Isaiah 9-2-6" and "1 Peter 2-6-10" which are mellow, tuneful (although not necessarily in tune) and anthemic in the way Volcano Sons songs used to be. An LP of 23 songs entitled "1950" followed the single.

Now I am listening to the "1951" CD. What seems consistent to me is Soul-Junk' s obsession with recapturing an earlier period in America when culture was produced for its own sake, for the glory of God, for private reasons (like a love note), but not for profit (the primary motivation for 90% of the CDs available today). This is certainly a sympathetic cause and one that resonates with the Punk D.I.Y. asthetic of the Indie Rock fan. However it is a retreat; it looks backward instead of forward. The past has been made, it's up to us to make the future. I'm sorry but I don't think that a retreat to an overly idealized post-war boom period (the late '40s, the early '50s) that never existed can save us from the crisis in which we find ourselves right now. And we are in the midst of a real crisis. Everywhere the modest gains that working people have won through years of struggle and sacrifice are under attack. Every where those in power seek to keep their disproportional share of the common wealth by deflecting the blame onto scapegoats.

Perhaps I should make clear that I wouldn't waste this much space on a review of Soul-Junk's "1951", if I didn't believe that the music wasn't so wonderful. I really think that the music is great.'50s. to object, however, to the idea that things were better in the '50s. That kind of nostalgia got Ronald Reagan elected twice. And that kind of nostalgia runs deep in "Generation X" culture, from Esquivel's "Space Age Bachlor Pad" records to Dan Clowes' " Eightball" comics to Scott Rutherford's "SpeedKills" 'zine to thrift store aesthetics, etc. We cannot afford to live in the past when action in the present is so crucial. (Shrimper PO Box 1837 Upland CA 91785-1837).

Peace,
Ben.