Charles W. Burpo: A Minister Speaks for God and Country

Review # 66
Artist: Charles W. Burpo
Title: A Minister Speaks for God and Country
Format: LP
Label: The Bible Institute of the Air
Year: Unknown
Tracks: 2




Welcome to the penultimate "B" LP review. Consistent readers may note that, once again there has been a long time between posts. There are two reasons for this. The first is that I got bedbugs, and dealing with that took up way too much of my time. The second reason though, is that I haven't been too excited about listening to this record, so I kept putting it off.

I actually bought this record. I bought it, though, to use for samples on the ill-fated second full-length by an old punk band I used to be in. Had the band survived (and released an LP), it would have been reviewed three or four records ago on this very blog. The samples would have appeared before or during a song called "Blind Faith" that denounced dogmatic adherence to religion and the ways that it is used to justify an array of harmful policies. But instead, the album was never recorded and I was left with this piece of crap LP.

Charles Burpo, who describes himself on the back cover of this record as "fiercely against Modernism, Communism, or any evil that will threaten my Country," was (is?) as the title suggests, a minister, and this record encapsulates a sermon and his reading of the Declaration of Independence, both backed with patriotic music.

I don't have overly much to say about this LP--I'll skip over the Declaration of Independence side of the record, because it really is just him reading it dramatically. The other side, a sermon entitled "The Old Moorings," is a scree that mixes Christian fundamentalism and paranoid far-right ideology as it bemoans the supposed moral collapse of America. There's anarchy in streets, people are mocking Christianity and turning away from the true American values that generations of American veterans fought for, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.  It's much of the same nonsense you'd hear today if you tuned in TBN or any number of AM radio stations around the country. The only thing interesting about it really is the fact that, although this record must be at least 35 years old (hard to say exactly, couldn't find any information about it on the Internet), the words on this record could be spoken today by any number of television or radio ministers and would not sound any more dated than anything else those folks say. The notion that the real America is about to be destroyed by Secularists, Socialists, and Bears (oh my!) hasn't changed much in 60 years.

The sad thing is, if someone listens to this record 35 years from now, they'll probably say the same thing.

Total songs listened: 816

Axiom: Apathy & Privilege

Review # 24
Artist: Axiom (w/spoken word by Mike Antipathy)
Title: Apathy & Privilege
Format: LP
Label: Tribal War Records
Year: 2000
Songs: 8



We've now reached the end of the LPs beginning with the letter "A." Axiom was a crust punk band from Portland, Oregon, the singer of which I met in 2001 (?) when we were both practicing with a local band called Poxy for a few weeks right before they dissolved. But I digress. This was Axiom's third (and I believe final) release, and it is unified by a single theme that runs through the various materials that make up this album: we have a responsibility to bring about the social changes we want to see, and if we don't at least try, we're complicit in war, poverty, and environmental destruction. We have resources available to us that most of the world don't have access to, and it's up to us to use them to affect change. It's a hard message to argue with if agree that there are important problems in the world, and it's delivered here compellingly and in multiple media forms.

This album includes a poster, a booklet that features the lyrics to all the songs and a bunch of other writing, 6 metallic crust songs by Axiom, and two articulate and passionate soap-box speeches by Mike Antipathy. The aforementioned theme runs through all of these.

The music here is mostly fast, heavy crust with alternating screamy and growly vocals. This is definitely on the more metal side of the crust genre, with a few of the songs even featuring noodley solos. A friend of of mine who's the guitarist in a local punk band said to me recently, "when you start to get good at playing punk, you end up end up playing metal," and this band really demonstrates what he was talking about.  This isn't a straight-up metal album by any means, but the influence is pervasive with a lot of double-kick on the bass drum, thick distortion, palm muting, and the aforementioned solos. This band is proficient in a way that is just not necessary for playing '77 style punk or street punk or what have you. I would imagine this would appeal to fans of death metal as much as it would fans of punk.

The booklet that's included with this album is better than most crust album booklets.  It features not only the lyrics and song explanations, but also ideas about how to get involved in activism, suggestions for further reading, and information on a specific environmental issue that the band must have been particularly passionate about, the Lowry radioactive waste landfill. It's clear here that the band actually wanted to give listeners tools for getting informed and involved, which takes this record to a level beyond the typical shouting about socio-political issues that characterizes so many punk records.

In both the writings in the booklet and the spoken word pieces, Mike and Axiom endorse a variety of tactics, from letter writing to protest to direct action. It's a refreshing and smart approach that invites people to participate in the way they feel they can best contribute. One of my favorite moments on this record is actually the first spoken word piece, which concludes side one. Mike Antipathy is persuasive, informed, and articulate. He'd be a great spokesperson for any political group, and he's apparently now an immigration lawyer, which I can imagine him being quite good at.

I guess I talked less about the music here than the other stuff, but I think that's in part because the other stuff is what sets this record apart.  But don't get me wrong, if you like thrashy crust, the music is good, too.

My favorite song on the record is "This Isn't Life."

Ok, so that wraps up "A!" I'm excited to get on to "B," in part because glancing at the records, it looks like there's a bit more variety there. Check back soon for the first "B" review!

Total songs listened: 282