Usually when you think of the genres “psychedelic” and “Christian”, it’s not in the same sentence. However, that’s exactly what the band Yum Yum Children was trying to accomplish. Recorded in 1996, this album sounds like a slab of lost 70’s rock just recently getting unearthed for the first time.
The album starts off with the light rocker “Leave It Alone”, which brings to mind the earlier bubblegum records of yore, albeit with more guitars and electric organs. From there, however, things get stranger. “End Of My Needs” lumbers along with a single guitar lead, a hi-hat, and lead singer R. Leon Goodenough’s vocals quietly hanging above the music. Halfway through, the song picks up, adding more guitars and percussion while changing the tempo, and then comes around full circle to start the second verse. “Refrigerator” is similar in execution, but resembles a slow jam. The amplifier buzz in the background again brings to mind a lo-fi 70’s vibe.
“Burnin’ Thing” starts out as a soft piano…err, organ ballad, but quickly turns into a mess of noise, complete with screeching guitars and vocals. But even so, the oddest track by far is the closing number “Life Without Jesus”, in which the female vocalist of the band, Jennifer Goodenough, recites a spoken word poem while guitars and a Farfisa organ swirl around. The band slowly picks up the tempo and the volume until it sounds like the band is ready to lose it while wordless vocalizing is heard in the background. The track ends with a bang, and the organs fade away.
It’s a shame that the Yum Yum Children were so mired in obscurity. This and their previous two albums (Dufisized and Tastythanks) were released with little or no fanfare from their record label, and they soon faded away afterwards. The good news is that if you happen to stumble upon this disc, it can usually be had for cheap. But for a group that was able to meld two different trains of thought to create something original (especially within the hard-nosed Christian community), they deserved much better.
- Leave It Alone (3:05)
- Irrigate (3:07)
- The Too Big Dying Part (3:11)
- End Of My Needs (5:12)
- Refrigerator (4:23)
- Naked (3:23)
- Kind And Loving Man (2:11)
- Daze Of Un-Understanding (3:22)
- Burnin’ Thing (3:09)
- Be Like You (2:05)
- Life Without Jesus (4:14)
Released by: Five Minute Walk
Release date: 1996
Total running time: 37:44
