War Babies compiles studio work by Milwaukee’s The Sheep, an early ’70s band associated with the “Jesus Movement.” The Sheep had left town before the movement had ebbed by mid-’70s, traveling to Finland (recording some of their first album in the nation’s native tongue), Germany and England. It was in the last location where they produced and starred in a stage musical, Lonesome Stone, that played London for a month as a kind of rejoinder to Jesus Christ Superstar.
War Babies collects 18 tracks from their partially Finnish debut, Lonesome Stone’s cast album and the one LP they recorded for a U.K. affiliate of an American contemporary Christian label. Co-ed vocals, guitar drenched in feedback and folk music influences bring favorable comparisons to Jefferson Airplane. Lyrics that sometimes declare and beseech faith may startle some listeners unaccustomed to such boldness in classic rock, but it all sounds fine in context. The collection closes with a children’s chorus that could have foretold something similar on Pink Floyd’s biggest pop hit.
