Lift To Experience's one and only album proves almost worthy of its near-mythical reputation

Not content with recycling the Merlins and Gandalfs that have made vintage prog-rock concept albums such an enduring laughing stock, The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads opts for the fire and brimstone of old time religion. Centred on a celestial vision involving a messenger from the good Lord above, the album charts what follows when an angel of heaven pops down to instruct a rock band to build a new 'city on the hill' in Texas, newly declared as the promised land which is in fact at the center of JerUSAlem, in exchange for a smash hit.

Considering that Baptist churches are as plentiful in Texas as beef, boots, petroleum products and barbeque, you'd be excused for expecting a weary drudge through religious psychobabble and overtly complicated song structures disguising a shortage of sharp tunes. To be fair, both do feature in liberal quantities across the album's unashamedly epic 90-minute duration. For Lift To Experience are a quintessential cult band: totally and unreservedly loved by those in the know, and roundly ignored by the masses who prefer their music a bit more easily digestible than this musical equivalent of a giant steak eating challenge.

Listened to with fresh ears, it's easy to see why The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads dig its claws in so deep to Lift To Experience's small but devoted fan base on its original release in 2001. In a musical environment populated by the burgeoning beige brigade led by Coldplay, Nu-Metal and cartoon gangstas, Lift To Experience's simultaneously progressive and protean power-trio assault - think of pre-noodle Jimi Hendrix Experience mixed with the effect pedal bothering noise crescendos of Spiritualised and My Bloody Valentine, the cloud-bursting swoon of Jeff Buckley, a dash of Post-Rock dynamics ala Explosions In The Sky and early Sigur Ros and a small chunk of naturally blue Texas troubadour tradition, with a battered old Bible and a trainload of Texas mythology chucked in for added spice - must have sounded incredibly exciting, a dawn of a new type of undiluted, white-knuckled raw power rock 'n' roll that shall conquer the earth some of the lyrics here refer to, perhaps.

Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads has lost little of its potency over the years. The opener "Just As Was Told" - think of Slint on steroids, with much, much better vocals and infinitely superior guitar sounds - sounds like a suitably visceral soundtrack to the impending arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Keeping with the superhumanly tight interplay on display throughout the record (comparing this to Lift To Experience's slightly limp debut EP in the extras on the deluxe edition certainly proves the truth of the old adage about practise making perfect), the band execute sudden swerves from screeching amp abuse to flights of lyrical beauty without a moment's hesitation. Lift To Experience were obviously a proper band as opposed to a frontman flanked up by a rhythm section. Despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of traditional perma-soloing fretboard acrobatics, it's impossible not to be slack-jawed in admiration at singer-guitarist Josh T. Pearson's total command of his instrument. Were it not for the disclaimer pointing out that these richly layered guitar tracks were created entirely live with loops and pedals, you'd think Pearson had lived in the studio for weeks, honing hour after hour of overdubs.

Perhaps inevitably for such a far-out concept, the album's not free of self-indulgence. You may well learn to dread the bits when Pearson abandons his piercing singing voice in order to narrate the latest twists and turns of the story; what must have worked brilliantly as live ad-libs turns out a bit, well, annoying in home listening, whilst the frequent self-referential quips (''just a stupid ranch hand in a Texas rock band, trying to understand God's master plan,'' goes one of the recitals in "Waiting to Hit") add a slightly grating comic note to what is, musically speaking, obviously a hugely serious undertaking. The biggest issue, however, is of a more fundamental nature. The band's performance is truly awe-inspiring in its telepathic power, versatility and range throughout, but "These Are The Days", "Falling From Cloud 9" and especially the ominously crackling garage-rock meltdown meets heavenly peace closer "Into The Storm" aside, few of the songs are strong enough to dazzle if removed from the context of the album. In fact, non-album cut "With The World Behind", a haunting, heartfelt lament of desolation and despair, with hints of fellow Texan Townes Van Zandt (found on the superb Peel Session included in the extras), suggests the album's concept may have occasionally reined in the full emotional resonance of Pearson's songwriting.

Ultimately, these are minor flaws in what must be one of the most fully realised debut albums ever to be unleashed on an undeserving world, if not quite the all-time masterpiece it's been routinely hailed as on its reissue. It's perhaps inevitable that Lift To Experience crumbled into a halt amidst personal tragedy and internal turmoil without getting very far into the mooted follow-up: it's impossible to imagine how they could have possibly followed this up. It's probably telling that when Pearson re-emerged in 2011 with the stark country-folk confessionals of solo debut Last of The Country Gentlemen, his voice was the only element that bore any resemblance to Lift To Experience, and even then probably only because it couldn't be changed. It remains to be seen whether recent live reunion at Elbow frontman Guy Garvey's Meltdown line-up will lead to any further activity. If not, Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads - flaws and all - is enough to seal Lift To Experience's reputation as a cult act that genuinely deserves the adulation.