Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Anointed is a word much bandied about in these days of the move of the Holy Spirit and sometimes it can be cheapened by overuse but in this case, please don't devalue what I'm about to say. These tapes are probably some of the most anointed albums I've ever heard. The series was never intended for public consumption, they are simply recordings of concerts which Tony and the band played on a prison rooftop in New Jersey between 1990 and 1993 as part of a ministry that enabled 10,000 prisoners to become Christians during that four year period. Listening to these, it isn't hard to see why those incarcerated responded to the Gospel, the Holy Spirit permeates each song, each testimony and each altar call. If you want to lead others to Jesus, these tapes will stir you into action because these guys don't mess around! Production wise, this isn't state of the art technology but there is so much going on that you don't notice! The Blue Angels are a floating backing band whose line up changes over the four-year period so depending on who is playing you get a slightly different flavour to the songs. Loeffler obviously has his favourite songs, so, for example, you get many versions of the eschatological epic "Finish Line" which is powerfully prophetic and each version has a different twist to the rest! Often the band gets into a Santana-style groove and just stays there vamping and ad libbing and it works. There are about six hours of music in the series and it would take me the whole of the review section to describe it all so here are edited highlights... Volume 1 is probably the most passionate of all the series, the music is powerfully funky and the preaching is amazing! This is a band that takes its ministry seriously, Loeffler himself was in prison seven times and associate Mark Tirondola who preaches a short word on each tape was in prison nine times. These are men who know what prison life is like and that communicates in the way they present the gospel. Volume 1 is a good example of this because Loeffler's gospel message that closes the tape is hard hitting using street level language that works. On a number of the songs the band breaks into huge instrumental passages that demonstrate their musical virtuosity. Standouts are a ferociously funky "Finish Line" and a version of "See The Valley" that contains some stonkin' guitar.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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