Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

Key Records is a one-man (well actually, one-woman) company who have lovingly put into CD circulation a batch of almost forgotten releases from the early years of the Christian music underground. As any Christian rock devotee will tell you, the Lifesavors (otherwise known as Lifesavers Underground and LSU) featured seminal rock man Michael Knott. All the tracks on this 1981 debut are short, ranging from 57 seconds to an almost-epic three minutes and 23 seconds. They still manage to fit in enough lyrics to fill a page each in the booklet, mind. This version of the Californian garage rockers remind me a bit of the Motors, Rezillos (especially "Oh Yeah") and, on occasions, Boomtown Rats. In other words, it's music when punk rock gained a pop edge (and thereby some songs to go with the energy) and morphed into new wave. Lyrically it is forthright. The tracks are full of distorted guitars, nice simple riffs and some good vocal hooks. They're at their best when they stick to the up-tempo stuff, but the last track "Us Kids" still works well despite being slower, especially with its "lots of us kids" refrain spinning out a tale of hurt and desire for change. Rock nostalgists should investigate.

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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