SOUNDS OF AMERICAN DOOMSDAY CULTS - Vol. 14

Currently in the twilight of its life as an American cult, the Church Universal and Triumphant has been an ecumenical marvel in its ability to bridge most faiths and mythologies, all the while acquiring a substantial fortune from the sale of books, trinkets, and constantly updated cassettes for dictations" from the churchs spiritual leaders Elizabeth Claire Prophet. Packaged as a parody of the releases from Smithsonian/Folkways, this document of Prophets dictations offers insight more into the Churchs antagonism toward mainstream society than to her claims to be the messenger for the "Ascended Masters": Christ, Buddha, Hercules, Guinevere, Shiva, Pope John XXIII and K-17 (the code name for the head of the Cosmic Secret Service - the spiritual afterlife is in need of policing too). As bizarre as CUTs doctrines are, the dictations as terrifyingly good examples of mind control at work: ultra-conservative politics thinly veiled as prophecy, filled with stereotypical denunciations of rock music. Yet throughout these recordings, Prophet and her acolytes belt forth piercing, glossalaliac vocalizations, coming over like a cross between a Southern auctioneer and La Monte Young. To the battered souls who had hoped for inner peace or transcendence from CUT, these intonations were obviously meant to be received as the spiritualist "proof" of Prophets power. But I bet the breakdancer among them didnt reckon with their activity being denounced as a "perverted movement of the body." -Jim Haynes, The Wire. Limited to 300 copies.