explosive, sound-power" lauded in the LP's liner notes. ... One could certainly make a strong argument for the Crusaders blazing the trail. After all, who predates this LP as far as a straight rock band singing clearly religious music? Yes, Elvis Presley and Jack Scott both released Gospel LPs, but neither could be confused with a rock album. This and the overall quality of the music have contributed to the album's increased notoriety among collectors. Surprisingly the Crusaders had the backing of a label, Tower, with fairly broad distribution". Kenn Scott described the album as: "This one’s got the heaviest garage sound for the era, ‘Praise We The Lord’ probably being the closest Christian music ever got to the raw punk energy of early Who (it’s actually a rip-off of The Yardbird’s tune ‘You’re A Better Man Than I’). The irresistibly catchy twangy pop of ‘With The Lord At Our Side’ coupled with the Association-like title cut prove the band’s own compositions to be the best. Solidly electric sound throughout, plenty of riffs, solid drumming, some Duane Eddy-derived leads on beat interpretations of ‘Battle Hymn’ and ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ that probably caused a few stirs among the ecclesia. For beat sounds this side of the Big Pond, this one’s the top banana. Both stereo and mono versions exist with subtle differences (note the two entirely different guitar solos on ‘With The Lord At Our Side’)". Another reviewer described this album: "While this was clearly a secular album (as far as I’m aware one of the first major label releases clearly intended to tap the youth market), the mixture of traditional hymns and handful of originals were cloaked in an extremely mid-1960s pop and garage vibe. While the band didn’t seem to have a true lead singer (most of the songs have ‘group’ vocals), they boasted an accomplished lead guitarist in Altchular (‘Praise We the Lord’ served as a nice showcase for his chops), with the rest of the band also quite good. It sounds kind of strange, but given the band’s earnestness and talent, if you could overlook the occasionally cringe-inducing lyrics (check out ‘What Is Man’), tracks like ‘Little Drummer Boy‘, ’God Lives’ and ‘Praise We the Lord’ could easily have been confused for something by their better known non-secular competitors (think Tower label mates The Standells). Elsewhere harmony-rich pop tracks like ‘You'll Never Walk Alone’, ‘With the Lord