A Mike Knott and crew are another band that needs no introduction. Here is the CD re-release of "Wakin' Up the Dead" with bonus concert footage from Cornerstone '93, a show that is now as infamous as the famous New Year's Eve show in Atlanta--which I missed because my wife made me feel guilty for leaving my family. Can I ever forgive her? Oh, sorry for that digression. Anyway, the production for "Wakin' Up the Dead" is a little thin due to Knott's budgetary concerns at the time, but the tunes are killer, a cross between "A A Kiss of Life" side 2 and "Shaded Pain". The concert tracks are raw, which is when Mike is at his best. See vol. 1 above.

~ Sunset Strip

In 1986 Michael Knott took his band, The Lifesavers, on a major left-turn. He changed the name to Life Savers Underground (LSU) and released the seminal "Shaded Pain" album. Though critics and fans made sure it was an instant classic, the album was way ahead of it's time for Christian music and was doomed to a short shelf life. In the following years, Knott made several attempts to infiltrate the general market with his bands like Bomb Bay Babies. Along the way, with no label support at all, he recorded a follow up to ‘Shaded Pain’ called ‘Wakin' Up The Dead’. True Tunes, longtime champions of Knott and indie music in general, worked out a deal to sell the tapes nationwide. Shortly thereafter Knott started his own label, Blonde Vinyl Records. Eventually ‘Wakin' Up The Dead’ would be re-released on that label, finally on CD. A distributor who went bankrupt crushed the label, and ‘Wakin Up The Dead’ ended up under a pile of rubble. One of the great early "alternative" albums was seemingly gone for good. Knott pressed on, as did LSU, The Lifesavers, and his second mainstream band The Aunt Betty’s. Wakin' may not be the best produced of Knott's records, but it marks an important part of the band's development, and it contains several classic tunes. It seems fairly certain that in 50 years this will still be remembered as an important album, not only in the evolution of LSU, but in the overall evolution of relevant "alternative" Christian music.

JJT ~M8 Distribution

 

Because of the controversy generated by Shaded Pain, Michael Knott had a difficult time convincing a record label to fund future endeavors. Left with little alternative, he decided to pool his funds and release the second L.S.U record independently. As a result, one of the things Wakin' Up The Dead suffers from is low production value. The other is a blurring of the crisp vision that made Shaded Pain such a revelation. Wakin' Up The Dead is more guitar-driven than its predecessor, but it lacks some of the vitality and drive. Knott's partner, Brian Doidge, left the band in the interim between records, and so L.S.U. became more of a solo venture. Still, moments of Wakin' Up the Dead eclipse the eerieness of Shaded Pain, particularly the stark "Ocean Blue" and raving-lunatic verses of "The House of Love". This is also the first time Knott experimented with doubling and tripling the vocal track, making his ominous baritone so much the creepier. Though Wakin Up The Dead is more reliant on thick guitars than its predecessor, the album boasts L.S.U.'s first bona fide pop single, the optimistic, uptempo "Touch."

~ J.Edward Keyes