A Good Friday Update on Tom & Moose, New Clues |
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
I have some good news to report on this Good Friday:
ApX guitarist Tom Milnes had an appointment with his neurologist Monday to follow up on the surgery he underwent on March 25 to remove a low-grade tumor (oligodendrogliomas) on the right side of his brain. He texted me the following on Tuesday:
"I have gotten good reviews from my neurologist. Everything is looking good, I am on the road to healing. Glory to God Almighty.” I have since talked to him on the phone a couple of times, and he told his doctor was “elated” and jumped up to vigorously shake Tom’s hand.
Tom's wife, Barb, posted a more in-depth synopsis of the appointment in our church Facebook group: |
The doctor was actually giddy happy with his post-op MRI results. He said they got the whole thing out. There are always some cells left, but since it was a "low grade “ level-2 tumor, there is no need for chemo and radiation.
He said this type does have a chance of growing back, but it's so slow-growing that the best treatment is just to monitor it with MRIs. They have a new treatment if they would see growth. It's a pill, but not a chemo pill. Just got approved by the FDA … but he didn't even suggest he would need it.
He said he had this tumor for a long time but was very slow-growing. He never even mentioned the residual from the tumor five years ago. So we're going to continue to pray for shrinkage. Next MRI in August. Thank you all for your prayers. God is SO good! |
Amen, Barb!
And if you think we have good news for you today, wait till you hear the Good News that’s coming on Sunday! Happy Easter, everybody! |
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We hope to release our seventh single of 2025 by the end of this weekend, Lord willing.
Here are your clues. Want to really impress us? See if you can spot all of the references in both entries. We counted a total of 19.
SONG #1
Adam and Eve are a long time gone, but people have been trying to get back to paradise ever since. God wants to give you a second chance and bring you back where you belong, but how can He do that if you keep runnin’ away and hiding from yourself? You got the deal. Don’t get so caught up in your sin that you miss this treasure.
SONG #2
Matthew wasn’t the only money-grabbing taxman Jesus befriended. There was also Zacchaeus. “Wait! You can’t do that!” the people protested. They wouldn’t let it be, because Zac had been a bad boy for a long, long, long time, and they thought this boy deserved a life of misery. But the good Lord knows what goes on in the people’s hearts.
Once the new single is released, we'll announce it in our news bulletin, on our website, and on our Facebook page. |
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Inspirational Update From Bill "Moose" Rieger |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
As our regular newsletter readers know, ApX alum drummer Bill “Moose” Rieger has been dealing with a brain tumor (glioma) that is currently inoperable. Three weeks ago, he started an intense six-week regimen of radiation therapy to be followed by two years of chemotherapy.
Here’s an inspirational update he posted on Facebook Tuesday afternoon:
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When my son was a toddler, he fell at the zoo and his hands were caught in his suspenders. Face plant onto the rocks. Huge swelling on his forehead Chris and I were really worried. The nurses' station gave us ice packs to help stop the swelling. He screamed in pain and confusion. Too young to know what was happening.
I had to hold him still. He was kicking and screaming and crying. There was no way for me to tell him he was going to be OK. That I had him. That I would never stop holding him. He was two, and I was 28. I just couldn't help him understand what was going on. All I could do was hold him still and absorb his outburst in spite of how it hurt me.
One day, he'd understand. Soon he'd feel better. I had him, and it was all going to be OK.
My emotional swings, depression, OCD, insomnia, pain, exhaustion, confusion, cognitive dissonance, loss of left-hand coordination and strength, headaches, blurry vision, loss of balance, etc … I know from my experience that Jesus is holding me tight, absorbing my outburst, healing me, protecting me, letting me know everything is going to be OK even though I don't understand — can't understand — reminding me that I need no fear of the future.
I know I'm loved, and I'm so thankful to know the feeling of His arms around me … tight! Everything is going to be OK. He'll hold me the whole time … the whole time as tightly as He has to, and He'll never stop loving me. He’ll never let me feel alone especially when in pain, confused and crying. Just like I did for my son.
Do you really think He feels differently about you? |
Please continue to keep Bill in your prayers. Thank you! |
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Third-Week Winner of Our Contest |
When we announced The Great ApologetiX CD Giveaway in our previous newsletters, we said:
"We’ll randomly select one winner per week on April 3, 10, and 17. Each of those people will receive our complete digital library and the 2025 edition of the ApologetiX digital songbook. On April 24, we’ll randomly select the grand-prize winner, who will get the complete set of all 77 CDs.”
This week’s winner was Edwin Ward of Mitchell IN. Here’s what he wrote when he entered the contest: |
Since "Eat It" from Weird Al, I have been a fan of parodies, and that opened the door to a lot of artists for me to discover. But it all changed when our church at that time had a CD library and one of the CDs that came in was Grace Period by ApologetiX.
At first, i was like, “OK, who are they?" and when I looked at the back of the CD, the first parody that caught my attention was "Love the Jews.” So I checked out the CD and, well, I have been a fan ever since because of that one CD.
I’ve been to two concerts, and when they were in Bedford IN for the Labor Day concert (along with other bands), I decided to follow them around the fairgrounds to take pics of the group. Yes, I still have those pictures and remember when they took the pic for the back of the Wordplay CD.
Anytime it's Easter or Christmas, it's a must for me to pull out the CDs and listen. When I have bad days, certain songs remind me that the bad days don't last forever.
I am forever thankful to ApologetiX and the music that is wholesome and easy to get other people's attention when I play it around them. Grace Period and WordPlay are two of my favorite CDs, and it's hard to pick my favorite song!
God bless, and keep on parodying! |
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Win a Complete Set of All 77 ApologetiX CDs (No Purchase Required) |
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THE GREAT APOLOGETIX CD GIVEAWAY
Longtime fan Dave Whaley of Godfrey IL recently made the switch to all-digital and graciously donated his own ApX CD library back to us. He had almost all of our titles, and we were able to scrape together the rest to get a complete set of all 77.
In celebration of the 33rd anniversary of ApologetiX (our first concert was March 27, 1992), we will be giving away that complete set to one blessed (we don’t believe in luck) fan.
We’ll randomly select one winner per week on April 3, 10, and 17. Each of those people will receive our complete digital library and the 2025 edition of the ApologetiX digital songbook.
On April 24, we’ll randomly select the grand prize winner, who will get the complete set of all 77 CDs.
HOW TO REGISTER TO WIN
Here’s all you have to do:
Send us an email with the subject line “ApologetiX CD Giveaway" telling us why you’re an ApologetiX fan.
If you remember how you first discovered us, feel free to include that. If have any testimonies to share or a particular parody that has impacted you, you’re welcome to share that info, too. Please also include your mailing address.
NOTE: We plan to share excerpts from these paragraphs in future newsletters. If we share yours, we'll include your name and your city and state.
No purchase is required, but in order to qualify for the grand prize, you have to live in the United States. Sorry, international postage rates have skyrocketed in the last several years, even to Canada, let alone overseas. Mailing a package of this size would cost a fortune. However, anybody anyplace can qualify for the digital prizes. |
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Get ApX Complete Library, USBs, Songbook |
To get the complete ApologetiX library, ApX USB thumb drives, and/or the new ApX digital songbook — or to get more info about them — just click on the item(s) you want below. |
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We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3. Note: If you don't have a Bible handy, you can look up these passages for free on Bible Gateway. They have about 60 different English translations/versions there to choose from, plus translations in many other languages, many of which also have multiple translations/versions. |
CLICK HERE to see the reading plan for the whole year. |
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Easter Season Playlist 2025 |
This year, Easter falls on April 20. Here's the 2025 edition of the ApologetiX Easter Season Playlist. There are now 56 songs in all. We put them in chronological/thematic order as best as we could.
We've included the CD where you can find each song. If ApX has done the song more than once, we listed the CD or single that contains what we consider to be the best version.
1. Another One Died for Us - Another One Bites the Dust - Queen (Unconditional Releases)
2. The Promised One - Der Kommissar - After the Fire (Overdue Books)
3. Hosanna - Rosanna - Toto (Easter Standard Time)
4. Act Selfless - Black Velvet - Alannah Myles (Play Nice)
5. That's Unbelief - Bad Company - Bad Company (Conspiracy No. 56)
6. One of These Guys - One of These Nights - The Eagles (Easter Standard Time)
7. Show Us the Way - Go All the Way - The Raspberries (Xit Ego Lopa)
8. I'll Prepare for You - I'll Be There for You - The Rembrandts (Easter Standard Time)
9. Although None Could Watch an Hour - All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix (Easter Standard Time)
10. Sadducees - Can't You See - Marshall Tucker Band (Septuagint)
11. Embarrassing Moments - American Woman - The Guess Who (That’s Too Bad)
12. Broke a Loaf of Bread - Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull (Sandwich Platter)
13. Last Night - Last Kiss - Pearl Jam (Easter Standard Time)
14. Signora Pilate's Dream - Your Wildest Dreams - The Moody Blues (Apolog80s: Back From the Future)
15. Too Much Grime on My Hands - Too Much Time on My Hands - Styx (Easter Standard Time)
16. I Have to Die First - Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (Easter Standard Time)
17. Crossloads - Crossroads - Cream (Nichey)
18. Too Wicked for Paradise - Two Tickets to Paradise - Eddie Money (Easter Standard Time)
19. Man on a Cross - Man in the Box - Alice in Chains (Hot Potato Soup)
20. Killing My Suffering with His Son - Killing Me Softly with His Song - Roberta Flack (Quilt) 21. And the Crippled Will Walk... - And the Cradle Will Rock - Van Halen (SINGLE - not yet available on CD) 22. The Jews' Lost Hero - Juke Box Hero - Foreigner (Nichey)
23. Cemetery Came Alive - Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind (Easter Standard Time)
24. Every Crown Has Its Thorns - Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison (Eclectic)
25. Huge Slumber Party - Use Somebody - Kings of Leon (Easter Standard Time)
26. Didn't Just Die - Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (Easter Standard Time)
27. They Didn't Believe Her - Daydream Believer - The Monkees (Come See, Come Saw)
28. Magdalena - Macarena - Los Del Rio (Easter Standard Time)
29. One Headline - One Headlight - The Wallflowers (Easter Standard Time)
30. Emmaus - Shambala - Three Dog Night (Easter Standard Time)
31. Scars - Cars - Gary Numan (Easter Standard Time)
32. Died and Rose - China Grove - The Doobie Brothers (Easter Standard Time)
33. Back Intact - Back in Black - AC/DC (Classics: Heavy)
34. Tom Saw Ya - Tom Sawyer - Rush (Classics: 80s)
35. No Shepherd Tonight/New Other Nature - No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature - The Guess Who (Soundproof)
36. Some Doubt - Sundown - Gordon Lightfoot (Nichey)
37. You May Be Bright - You May Be Right - Billy Joel (Easter Standard Time)
38. Easter - Easy - The Commodores (Quilt)
39. Rose Up - Roller - April Wine (Doves in Snakes’ Clothing)
40. Imagine How He Loves Us - Imaginary Lover - Atlanta Rhythm Section (Rock’s in Their Heads)
41. Sad Today in the Dark - Saturday in the Park - Chicago (Septuagint)
42. Role Never Changes - Roll with the Changes - REO Speedwagon (Zebraic)
43. Lived the Day You Died - Love the Way You Lie - Eminem Featuring Rihanna (Hot Potato Soup)
44. Simp Liztik - Nookie - Limp Bizkit (Classics: Heavy)
45. Place of Grace - Ace of Spades - Motorhead (Nichey)
46. God's Blood - Hot Blooded - Foreigner (1978) (Hot Potato Soup)
47. For Just You - Forget You - Cee Lo Green (2010) (Hot Potato Soup)
48. Selling the Dogma - Selling the Drama - Live (Zebraic)
49. One of Us Indeed - One of Us - Joan Osborne (Apoplectic)
50. Drop Your Knife and Hurry, Man - Rock You Like a Hurricane - The Scorpions (Play Nice)
51. Special Stone - (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone - The Monkees (Hot Potato Soup)
52. Jesus and Moses - Heat of the Moment - Asia (Music Is as Music Does)
53. Livin' What Jesus Spoke Of - Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin (Classics: Party)
54. Feelin' Stronger in the Faith - Feelin' Stronger Every Day - Chicago (Unconditional Releases)
55. All You Need Is Done - All You Need Is Love - The Beatles (Overdue Books)
56. Everybody Can Come to Christ - Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung (Eclectic) |
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Influential Albums #1801–1807 |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.
1801. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown Initially known primarily for his singing and rapping, Bobby Brown first entered the national spotlight as a member of the vocal group New Edition, which he formed in 1978. Fired from the group in 1985, he scored a #1 R&B hit on his own in '86 with "Girlfriend," although it only reached #57 on the Hot 100. However, his second LP, Don't Be Cruel, would establish him as a solo superstar. Released on June 20, 1988, it yielded five Top 10 pop singles, all of which reached the Top Three on the R&B charts: "Don't Be Cruel" (#8 pop, #1 R&B), "My Prerogative" (#1 pop, #1 R&B), "Roni" (#3 pop, #2 R&B), "Every Little Step" (#3 pop, #1 R&B), and "Rock Wit'cha" (#7 pop, #3 R&B). In between those last two singles, he also had a huge hit with a song on the Ghostbusters II soundtrack, "On Our Own" (#2 pop, #1 R&B). Having became a born-again Christian in early '88, I wasn't listening to the radio much, but I still checked out the charts from time to time and watched with fascination as Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" single entered the Top 10 while Cheap Trick's "Don't Be Cruel" cover of the Elvis classic (an entirely different song than Bobby's) was holding at #4. The following week, Cheap Trick fell to #9 and Bobby held at #8. The week after that, they were both gone ... but geeks like me will never forget. The Don't Be Cruel album went to #1 for six weeks and sold 12 million copies worldwide, including seven million in the States. ApologetiX spoofed “My Prerogative” in 2021. Brown would achieve three more Top 10 hits after that: "Humpin' Around" (#3 pop, #1 R&B), "Good Enough" (#7 pop, #5 R&B), and a featured appearance on Glenn Medeiros' "She Ain't Worth It" (#1 pop, #43 R&B). The controversies in his personal life are well known, including drug and alcohol addiction, multiple arrests, and the tragic deaths of his first wife, Whitney Houston (age 48 in 2012), and two of his seven children, Bobbi Kristina (age 22 in 2015) and Bobby Jr. (age 28 in 2020). He remarried in 2012 and has three children with his second wife. Brown has reunited numerous times with New Edition, as early as 1990 and as recently as the 2020s. 1802. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - Bob Dylan Released on July 13, 1973, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was the soundtrack for the movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson and directed by Sam Peckinpah, who was already famous for films such as The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, and The Getaway. Bob Dylan played a supporting role as a character sympathetic to Billy named Alias. At one point, when Billy is attacked by three strangers, Alias kills one of them with a knife through the neck. It was a big year for rock stars reimagined as outlaws in the Wild West; the second Eagles album, Desperado, had just come out two months earlier. Dylan also wrote all the music for this acoustic-oriented effort and played guitar (along with others) and occasionally harmonica (all by his lonesome). Furthermore, he sang all the lead vocals, although five of the 10 tracks are instrumental, which would probably make this the "favorite" Dylan disc for the many people out there who complain about his voice. Plus it's only 35 minutes long. Another selling point would be the album's only single, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (#12 U.S. pop, #5 U.S. adult contemporary, #14 U.K. pop), which was famously redone in '75 by Eric Clapton (#38 U.K. pop) and '90 by Guns N' Roses (#18 U.S. mainstream rock, #2 U.K. pop). Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was Dylan's 12th studio LP overall and peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200. It sold half a million copies, and one of those went to my late brother-in-law Dan, who gave it — and most of his other old records — to me in the winter of 1982-83. Although the movie was not regarded as a critical success in '73, it seems to have aged well. In 2013, the British film magazine Empire ranked it #126 on their list of The 500 Greatest Movies of all time. 1803. Street-Legal - Bob Dylan Street-Legal was Bob Dylan's 18th studio LP and his last one before he shocked the world by becoming a Christian. Released on June 15, 1978, it was also the first Dylan album that ever came into my house, albeit briefly. My sister had a pen pal in prison (I don't know how that happened ... she'd never met him before or after) who was a fan of the man, so she bought and sent him a cassette of Street-Legal, which was Dylan's latest effort at the time. I remember accompanying her to my favorite local record store, Rocket Records in Greensburg PA, to purchase it. I'd heard of Dylan but wouldn't really hear him till he appearance on Saturday Night Live in October '79, singing “Gotta Serve Somebody.” As I've recounted before, I was totally unimpressed. I didn't "get" the lyrics, and I definitely didn't dig his singing. It wasn't until I saw an old video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" on a rock documentary months later that I started to appreciate the guy. Based on all of the entries I've written in this series for albums by Dylan — possibly more than any other artist — I guess he got the last laugh. I've seen him in concert three times ('88, '91, and '96) and have read at least 10 books written about him or by him. In fact, at the time I wrote this entry, I was reading two simultaneously —Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life by Scott M. Marshall (published in 2017) and Pledging My Time: Conversations with Bob Dylan Band Members by Ray Padgett (published in 2023). Street-Legal went to #2 on the U.K. album chart and #11 on the Billboard 200, selling half a million copies in the States. It's not in my upper echelon of Dylan's discography, but I think it's pretty good. Three cuts were released as singles, none of which charted on this side of the pond: "Baby, Stop Crying" (#13 U.K. pop, #5 Ireland), "Is Your Love in Vain" (#56 U.K., #20 Ireland), and "Changing of the Guards" (did not chart). The first track I ever heard from Street-Legal was "Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)," which was included on Biograph, a three-CD Dylan box set I purchased in '88. It's the song on Street-Legal that he has played the most in concert and the one covered most by other artists. I like it, but I think my favorite track on Street-Legal may be "We Better Talk This Over." Other highlights include "No Time to Think" and "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)." 1804. Greatest Hits - Debbie Gibson Sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter Debbie Gibson burst upon the pop music scene in 1987 when her triple-platinum debut LP spun off four Top Five singles: "Only in My Dreams" (#3), "Shake Your Love" (#4), "Out of the Blue" (#3), and "Foolish Beat" (#1). By that time, she was 17, but does that make it any less impressive? A fifth cut from the album, "Staying Together," also hit the Top 25 (#22). Gibson wrote all the songs herself, co-produced "Out of the Blue" and "Staying Together," and was the sole producer of "Foolish Beat." Her 1989 follow-up LP contained four more charting singles, "Lost in Your Eyes" (#1), "Electric Youth" (#11), "No More Rhyme" (#17), and "We Could Be Together" (#71). My wife, Lisa, grew up with all of those songs, because her older sister Jody had both albums on cassette. Unfortunately, Gibson's pop success dwindled with the dawn of the '90s. She only had two more Hot 100 entries: "Anything is Possible" (#26 in '91) and "Losin' Myself" (#86 in '92). However, she achieved significant theatrical success on Broadway, in London's West End, and elsewhere from '92 well into the 2000s. Released in September 1, 1995, Greatest Hits featured all nine of her Top 40 hits, with additional dance mixes of "Only in My Dreams," "Shake Your Love," and "Losin' Myself" for a total of 12 tracks. In 2019, Gibson toured with New Kids on the Block, Tiffany, Salt-N-Pepa, and Naughty by Nature. In August 2024, she did a concert in Pittsburgh with Color Me Badd. I offered to take Lisa, but she declined. We went to see New Kids with Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff in June instead. My favorite Debbie Gibson tracks? I thought you'd never ask. "Lost in Your Eyes" and "Only in My Dreams," of course. 1805. Greatest Hits - Tiffany Tiffany Renee Darwish is part of that rare class of people who corner the market on a name. Sure, there have been lots of girls named Tiffany, but she's the Tiffany standard of Tiffanys, with apologies to the famous New York jewelry store. Incidentally, I learned recently that people who don't require surnames for identification — like Cher, Sting, Madonna — referred to as mononymous. Born 11 months after Debbie Gibson, Tiffany's first hit single, "I Think We're Alone Now," entered the Hot 100 about four months after Gibson's first, "Only in My Dreams." Both artists would eventually end up with two #1 hits in their career, but Tiffany got both of hers before Gibson had any. "I Think We're Alone Now" topped the charts for two weeks in November '87; three months later, Tiffany's follow-up single, "Could've Been" did the same. Those were actually her second and third singles. The first was a song called "Danny." After it failed to chart, she embarked on a tour of shopping malls across the United States — The Beautiful You: Celebrating the Good Life Shopping Mall Tour '87 — which grew her popularity. Those first three singles all appeared on Tiffany's self-titled debut LP, as did her fourth and fifth, "I Saw Him Standing There" (#7) and "Feelings of Forever" (#50). Both "I Saw Him Standing There" and "I Think We're Alone Now" were cover versions of '60s hits, by The Beatles and Tommy James and The Shondells, respectively. The cool thing for chart watchers like me was that the song replacing Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" at the summit of the Hot 100 was Billy Idol's "Mony Mony," another Tommy James cover. Tiffany's second LP produced only two Top 40 hits, "All This Time" (#6) and "Radio Romance" (#35), which would prove to the singer's final Hot 100 entries. It also yielded one final adult contemporary hit for her, "Hold an Old Friend's Hand" (#37 AC). Released on October 22, 1996, Tiffany's Greatest Hits contained all eight songs I mentioned already, plus two from her third album, "Back in the Groove" and "New Inside," and the flip side of the "I Saw Him Standing There" single, "Mr. Mambo." My favorite tracks are "Could've Been" and "Hold an Old Friend's Hand." Although her days as a pop star were over, Tiffany had three Top 30 hits on the U.S. dance charts in the late 2000s: "Higher" (#19 Dance), "Just Another Day" (#28 Dance), and "Dust Off and Dance" (#19), which was credited to "Hydra Productions Featuring Tiffany." She and Debbie Gibson co-starred in the 2011 monster/sci-fi film Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. Tiiffany played Park Ranger Terry O'Hara and Debbie played Dr. Nikki Riley. Playing up on the late '80s rivalry between the singers, the two find themselves at odds during the film and even duke it out in one of the scenes. Sadly, neither survives till the end credits. Terry (Tiffany) is devoured by an alligator, and Nikki (Debbie) is eaten by the head of a recently decapitated python. Each contributed a song to the soundtrack: Tiffany's was the country-flavored "Serpentine," and Debbie's was the electronica-pop dance tune "Snake Charmer." The dueling divas later shared the bill in 2019 on The Mix-Tape Tour with New Kids on the Block, Salt-N-Pepa, and Naughty by Nature. ApologetiX spoofed Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" in 2022. 1806. Dylan - Dylan I've always credited Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits as being the first of his albums I ever purchased, but I recently realized that distinction might actually belong to a much-maligned 1973 LP simply called Dylan. Sometime in the second half of the '70s, my oldest sister, Jeannine, worked briefly as a volunteer at WQED, Pittsburgh's PBS affiliate, and at one point they were offering records and other items at greatly discounted prices. I'm pretty sure I bought Dylan and gave it to one of my brothers-in-law, who both were more than a decade older than I and had plenty of '60s albums in their collections. Dylan's longtime record label, Columbia Records, assembled this nine-track hodgepodge from outtakes and released it on November 16, 1973, just two months before his first album on Asylum Records was due to come out. Despite the title, not a single song on Dylan was written by the legendary songwriter, but he does sing them all. There are three traditional ballads, "Lily of the West," "Sarah Jane," and "Mary Ann." A fourth song, "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue" was originally composed in 1907 (lyrics) and 1925 (music). The other selections are cover version of songs written by and/or associated with others "Big Yellow Taxi" (Joni Mitchell), "Mr. Bojangles" (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (Johnny Cash), "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley), and "A Fool Such as I" (Presley again). Ironically, although Dylan seems to have made no attempt to imitate Presley on "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "A Fool Such as I," he sounds a lot like him on "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue." Yes, I'm aware that I may be the only person who ever said Bob sounded like Elvis. For all the complaining people have done about this record, it's not terrible. I'm not claiming it's great, mind you, but I like his interpretations of "Lily of the West," "Sarah Jane," "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," and "A Fool Such as I." That last one features the smooth-crooning voice Bob first unveiled on Nashville Skyline. 1807. Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan Released on August 8, 1964, Another Side of Bob Dylan was the singer/songwriter's fourth LP and the last one before he went electric (on the second side of Bringing It All Back Home). Like his previous three albums, it yielded no hit singles (those would finally start coming his next time out), but it did contain some songs that became hits for others: "It Ain't Me Babe" (#8 for The Turtles), "All I Really Want to Do" (#15 for Cher, #40 for The Byrds), and "My Back Pages" (#30 for The Byrds). It also featured "Chimes of Freedom," a song famously covered by both The Byrds and Bruce Springsteen, plus many other artists, including Jefferson Starship, Warren Zevon, and Joan Osborne. I prefer The Byrds' versions of "All I Really Want to Do," "My Back Pages," and "Chimes of Freedom," but I've always thought Dylan's take on "All I Really Want to Do" is (intentionally) hilarious, and there's great power and authenticity in the way he sings "Chimes of Freedom." As much as I like The Turtles, I've always favored Bob's raw rendition of "It Ain't Me, Babe," although I love what Johnny Cash (with his future wife, June Carter, on backing vocals) did with it, and I'm apparently not alone ... Cash's version went to #58 on the pop chart but #4 on the country chart. As for the remaining tracks, my favorites musically are "Black Crow Blues" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)." Comedically, I like "I Shall Be Free No. 10" and "Motorpsycho Nitemare." Meanwhile, the eight-minute "Ballad in Plain D" hints at the extended storytelling Dylan would later take to new heights with songs like "Tangled Up in Blue" and "Hurricane." Another Side of Bob Dylan reached #8 on the U.K. albums chart, but peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 ... a noticeable dip from his two previous LPs, which had reached #22 and #20, respectively). However, it did sell half a million copies in the United States. What's more, his next 11 albums would all hit the Top 10 in the States. Ah, the power of electricity! |
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If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it. |
If you prefer to mail a check or money order, please make it out to "ApologetiX" and send it to:
ApologetiX
208 Charlemma Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15214-1414
Although the donations are not tax-deductible, they will be received very gratefully and used immediately. Thank you! |
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Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” Matthew 20:17-19 |
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P.O. Box 101705
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