Clues for Next Single, Latest CD on iTunes, Spotify, etc.

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.

1591. Alpocalypse - "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic's drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, graciously sent me a copy this CD before I even knew it was coming out. Released June 21, 2011, Alpocalpyse was Al's 13th studio LP, and his second to make it into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, reaching #9, one position higher than its predecessor, Straight Outta Lynwood. One cut stood out to me immediately, "CNR," a style parody in the vein of The White Stripes about ... Charles Nelson Reilly, the late comedian-actor my generation probably remembers most from Match Game and Liddsville. The lyrics attributed superhuman qualities, abilities, and accomplishments to Reilly, who had already been lauded as legendary in a hilarious 2001 Saturday Night Live take-off on Inside the Actors Studio, with Will Ferrell playing a fawning, hyperbolic version of host James Lipton and Alec Baldwin as Reilly. Another sign of the Alpocalpyse: This was the first Al-bum that featured spoofs of songs I primarily knew because of my kids. My oldest daughter, Janna, owned the songs "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus and "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift, which the weird one lampooned as "Party in the CIA" and "TMZ," respectively, if not respectfully. I enjoyed both. The other straight-up parodies were "Perform This Way" ("Born This Way" by Lady Gaga), "Another Tattoo" ("Nothin' on You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars), and "Whatever You Like" ("Whatever You Like" by T.I.). Additional songs included style parodies of Weezer ("Skipper Dan"), The Doors ("Craigslist"), Queen ("Ringtone"), Jim Steinman of Meat Loaf fame ("Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me"). and Hanson ("If That Isn't Love"). All of them were well done. And don't forget the obligatory polka medley — the cleverly titled "Polka Face." My favorite songs were probably "CNR," Party in the CIA," and "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me." Alpocalypse had great consistency of quality; Al's abilities were not diminishing with age. In recent years, Janna, who got married in 2019, has repeated referred to him as her celebrity crush.

1592. Move Like This - The Cars
At long last ... a new Cars album! After bassist/vocalist Ben Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000, it seemed unlikely the group would ever reunite, especially since their frontman and lyricist, guitarist/vocalist Ric Ocasek, had resisted doing so ever since The Cars had officially broken up in 1988. But, lo and behold, in 2010, the remaining four members (Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson) got back together and began recording again. On May 10, 2011, they released their seventh and final studio LP, Move Like This. Rather than replacing Orr on bass and vocals, Ocasek sang lead on all 10 tracks (he had sung lead on more than half of the songs on each of their previous LPs), and Hawkes played Orr's bass and programmed bass parts on keyboards. Co-producer Jacknife Lee also played some of the bass. The days of charting singles were long behind The Cars, but the album itself reached #7 on the Billboard 200. I was initially unimpressed by the songs when I had them on as background music, but they grew on me with repeated listens and increased volume, particularly "Blue Tip," "Keep on Knocking," "Free," "Drag on Forever," "It's Only," "Sad Song," and "Hits Me." Sadly, Ocasek would die in 2019 from hypertensive heart and coronary artery disease. However, he lived long enough to see The Cars inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he participated in their performance at the ceremony in 2018.

1593. Replay - The Outfield
I purchased this album on iTunes soon after it came out on June 28, 2011. I remember listening to it on headphones late at night in the ApologetiX bus while doing late-night administrative work on my computer. Replay was The Outfield's eighth studio LP and their first in five years. It featured the return of the group's original drummer, Alan Jackman, for the first time since their third LP, Voices of Babylon, in 1989. Throughout the course of the band's career, they always had great opening numbers on their albums, but the one on Replay, "Aladdin's Cave," may be the best of the bunch. What a way to kick things off! The next track, "California Sun," was also excellent. My other favorite was "Disraeli Gears" the penultimate song on the album. " Next-tier tracks for me would be "A Long, Long Time Ago," "In Your Company," and "Who Would You Be?" I think I bought Replay at the same time as Move Like This by The Cars (although that one had already been out for almost two months), which is ironic, since each would prove to be the final studio its respective artist ... and for similar tragic reasons. In both cases, the bands would be unable to carry on because their two most prominent members and singers died. Outfield guitarist/vocalist and songwriter/producer John Spinks succumbed to liver cancer in 2014, and lead vocalist/bassist Tony Lewis passed away unexpectedly at age 62 in 2020, but no cause of death was given.

1594. Feels Like the First Time - Foreigner
Foreigner's first LP with singer Kelly Hansen was an all-new affair in 2009, Can't Slow Down, which yielded a pair of pleasant Top 20 hits on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, "When It Comes to Love" and "In Pieces." On the 2011 follow-up, Feels Like the First Time, the band revisited classic Foreigner hits, very effectively demonstrating how much Hansen sounded like original lead singer Lou Gramm. It was a clever idea with a clever title and a clever cover depicting the new line-up posed similarly to the original line-up on the band's 1977 eponymous debut LP. This two-disc set featured one disc of acoustic renditions (titled "Acoustique") and another of full-fledged studio remakes (titled "Juke Box Heroes"), although it opened with a brand-new song called "Save Me," which alluded to a couple of their classic hits with these lyrics: "I wanted to know what love was, and I think that you might have shown me. I know I always told you, but that was yesterday." Hansen did a fine job on all 11 studio versions, but his vocals on eight of them really impressed me: "Feels Like the First Time," "Long, Long Way Home," "Hot Blooded," "Head Games," "Dirty White Boy," "Urgent," "Waiting for a Girl Like You," and "Juke Box Hero." As far as the unplugged versions, I particularly liked the new arrangements of "Long, Long Way From Home," "Cold as Ice," "Double Vision," "Say You Will," "Feels Like the First Time," and "Juke Box Hero." There was also a new tune, "The Flame Stills Burns," and a cover of the old Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup song "That's All Right," as made famous by Elvis Presley. An accompanying DVD featured Foreigner playing 13 songs live in Chicago, plus two more from their first televised acoustic performances, along with band interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Seldom has something so Foreign sounded so familiar.

1595. 30 Gold Bars - Status Quo
In early 2007, I started reading a British rock magazine called Classic Rock and eventually expanded to also reading the similar magazines Mojo and Uncut. Thanks to those publications, I learned more about many rock artists and albums I already loved but also ones I barely knew because they weren't nearly as big in the United States as they were in the United Kingdom. The classic example of that would be British rockers Status Quo. In 1968, "Pictures of Matchstick Men" became the band's first hit on both the U.S. and U.K. pop charts (#12 U.S, #7 U.K.). The follow-up single, "Ice in the Sun" (#70 U.S., #8 U.K.), became their only other U.S. Hot 100 hit. Neither of those are on 30 Gold Bars, which was released on September 28, 2011. I was already familiar with "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and always liked that tune, but I didn't mind its absence here. Why? Because this compilation focuses on the group's U.K. glory days from the early '70s through the mid-'80s, when Status Quo had 11 straight U.K. Top Five LPs — four of which hit #1 — followed by two others that reached the Top 10. 30 Gold Bars includes 19 U.K. Top 10 hits that charted between '72 and '86: "Down Down" (#1), "What You're Proposing" (#2), "In the Army Now" (#2), "Rockin' All Over the World" (#3), "Marguerita Time" (#3), "Whatever You Want" (#4), "Caroline" (#5), "Rain" (#7), "The Wanderer" (#7), "Paper Plane" (#8), "Break the Rules" (#8), "Rock 'n’ Roll" (#8), "Roll Over Lay Down" (#9), "Wild Side of Life" (#9), "Something About You Baby I Like" (#9), "Ol' Rag Blues" (#9), "Rollin’ Home" (#9), "Burning Bridges" (#9), and "Dear John" (#10). In addition to that, it has 10 other U.K. hits that charted between #11 and #20: "Mystery Song" (#11), "Lies" / "Don't Drive My Car" (#11), "Again and Again" (#13), "A Mess of the Blues" (#15), "Dreamin’" (#15), "Living on an Island" (#16), "Red Sky" (#19), "Ain't Complaining" (#19), "Going Down Town Tonight" (#20). The lone cut of the 30 not to hit the U.K. Top 20 was "All Around My Hat" (featuring Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span) (#47), which came out in '96. I'm not sure why it was included instead of one of their five Top 20 hits from '87-'90, but who am I to quibble with Quo? Besides, it's a great song! Status Quo is a British institution, accumulating more U.K. chart hits than any other band, and were the first act on the schedule at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985. Their classic line-up from 1970-81 of lead vocalist/ lead guitarist Francis Rossi, rhythm guitarist/singer/songwriter Rick Parfitt, bassist Alan Lancaster, and drummer John Coghlan was affectionately known as "The Frantic Four." That quartet briefly reunited for a series of concerts in 2013-14 that I remember reading about in one or more of the aforementioned magazines. My favorites on 30 Gold Bars are "Down Down," "Paper Plane," "What You're Proposing," "Rockin' All Over the World," and "Caroline," but I enjoy 'em all. I have long wondered if certain aspects of Status Quo's history and discography helped influence the 1984 fictional rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. I see some similarities, although I realize numerous artists undoubtedly factored into that mix. That being said, there are even parallels in the structure of the two bands' names, each made up of two words, the first word starting with S and having six letters and the second word having three letters.

1596. Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys' 11th studio LP, Pet Sounds, was moderately successful when released in May 1966, going to #10 on the Billboard album chart in 1966 and selling a million copies in the States. I first bought the CD for ApX keyboardist Bill Hubauer in 2006 and bought myself a digital copy in 2011. Inspired by The Beatles' most recent LP at the time, Rubber Soul, which came out in December '65, head Beach Boy Brian Wilson told his wife, "I'm gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!" According to many critics, he succeeded or came very close, although it took a little time for people to recognize this. Pet Sounds was ranked #2 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003, 2012, 2020, and 2023. Across the pond, it was also ranked #1 by notable British publications The Times (1993), New Musical Express (1993), Mojo (1995), and Uncut (2016). Meanwhile, VH1 ranked it #3 (2001). The Beatles later stated that Pet Sounds greatly influenced them in the making of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the album that kept Pet Sounds out of the top spot on the 2003 and 2012 Rolling Stone lists. Of course, Sgt. Pepper famously had no singles, but Pet Sounds had three: "Caroline, No" (#32), "Sloop John B" (#3), and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (#8), whose flip side, "God Only Knows" also made the Top 40 (#39). Getting back to The Beatles, Paul McCartney has called "God Only Knows" his favorite song of all time, and he's not alone. In fact, it was ranked 11th on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021. It's one of my favorites on Pet Sounds. The same goes for 'Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Sloop John B." I first learned the latter in music class back when I was in grade school. It's a folk song from the Bahamas, dating back to at least 1916. The arrangement we learned seemed like a dirge to me, and I'm sure my fellow students' half-hearted attempts at singing didn't help, so I was amazed when I heard what The Beach Boys did with it. My favorite non-hits on Pet Sounds were "I Know There's an Answer" (originally written and recorded as "Hang on to Your Ego," which was also included as a bonus track on the version I bought), "You Still Believe in Me," "I'm Waiting for the Day," and "Here Today." I also love the title of "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." Yeah, Brian, I can relate to that!

1597. The Smile Sessions – The Beach Boys
Although it took four and half decades, The Beach Boys' long-awaited, previously unfinished Smile album finally came out on October 31, 2011 as The Smile Sessions. Despite years of false starts, this Halloween release was no trick ... and it turned out to be a real treat. By that time, the group's 1966 LP Pet Sounds had attained "masterpiece" status, and critics and fans alike longed to hear what the proposed follow-up, Smile, would have sounded like if Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson hadn't shelved it after pursuing seemingly impossible perfection and suffering severe mental and emotional issues. Bits and pieces had trickled out on other albums over the years, starting with the substitute 1967 LP, Smiley Smile, which contained variations of five of the songs among its 11 tracks. In 2004, Wilson himself had released a rerecorded, reimagined version, Brian Wilson Presents Smile, to great acclaim. Seven years later, The Smile Sessions hit the market and presented fans with multiple options of various lengths/depths: a single CD (or double LP), a deluxe two-CD edition, or a massive box set (5 CDs, 2 LPs, 2 singles, a poster, and a booklet). I opted for the 40-track version on iTunes, but I prefer to listen to just the first 20 tracks (the rest are variants and extras), which are sequenced in a similar order to Brian Wilson Presents Smile. A couple of the songs had become pop hits in 1966-67, "Good Vibrations" (#1) and "Heroes and Villains" (12), although the album versions of each are longer, and "Heroes and Villains" takes some significant detours on The Smile Sessions. Aside from those two, the best-known cut is probably "Surf's Up," which was released as a single in 1971 but failed to chart. That's a terrible shame, because it's one of the most beautiful songs The Beach Boys ever produced. As for the rest of album, The Smile Sessions goes off in some weird directions thematically and lyrically, but the music is amazing. The whole thing is quirky but captivating. My favorite non-single tracks are: "Our Prayer," "Gee," "Cabin Essence," "Look (Song for Children)," and "Child Is Father of the Man." After that, I like "Barnyard," "Wonderful," "Wind Chimes," "Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)," Vega-Tables," and "You're Welcome." However, The Smile Sessions sounds best when listened to front start to finish, and the tracks I didn't mention play important roles as well.