We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3.

Here's our Bible-reading plan for the next two weeks for those of you reading along with us:

Sat., July 6 - 2 Samuel 19-21
Sun. July 7 - 2 Samuel 22-24
Mon., July 8 - 1 Kings 1-3
Tue., July 9 - 1 Kings 4-6
Wed., July 10 - 1 Kings 7-9
Thu., July 11 - 1 Kings 10-12
Fri., July 12 - 1 Kings 13-15
Sat., July 13 - 1 Kings 16-18
Sun., July 14 - 1 Kings 19-22
Mon., July 15 - 2 Kings 1-3
Tue., July 16 - 2 Kings 4-6
Wed., July 17 - 2 Kings 7-9
Thu., July 18 - 2 Kings 10-12
Fri., July 19 - 2 Kings 13-15

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.

We recently revamped the downloadable version of our complete library. Now it comes in a PDF with pictures of every album and single for easy reference. You just click on the ones you need to download them instantly.

We're giving our complete library on download to everyone who donates $100 this week.

That's 1680 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single, “Ain't Talkin' 'bout Fluff / Smart Blest Man," and our latest CD, Unchained Medley.

We recently got a brand new batch of ApologetiX USB thumb drives.

They contain the digital versions of all 73 of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren't on CD ... including our latest single.

Emblazoned with the band's logo, they have a storage capacity of 16 GB, and they’re write-enabled, so you can add more music to them if and when you get future ApX downloads.  

They’re available for a donation of $150 or more. If you've donated for our complete library before, they're available for a donation of $50 or more.

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.

1514. Zig Zag - The Hooters
The Hooters released their third LP, Zig Zag, on October 26, 1989, but it only went to #115 on the Billboard 200. I'm partially to blame, because I didn't pick up my second-hand copy till early in the fall of 2006. I'd recently heard four of the 10 tracks on the Hooterization compilation: "500 Miles" (with backing vocals by Peter, Paul & Mary), "Brother, Don't You Walk Away," "Beat Up Guitar," and "Heaven Laughs." I was particularly taken with the first three on that list, although there were three additional songs on this album that I'd also include among my all-time favorites by the group: "Deliver Me," "Mr. Big Baboon," and "You Never Know Who Your Friends Are." Zig Zag generated five singles, although only two of them charted: "500 Miles" (#97 U.S. pop, #20 mainstream rock, #60 Canada, #12 Sweden), "Brother, Don't You Walk Away" (#37 mainstream), "Heaven Laughs," "Don't Knock It 'Til You Try It," and "Give the Music Back." Those last three tracks were all quality recordings; I just preferred the ones I mentioned earlier. "Mr. Big Baboon" probably wouldn't have made it as a single, either, but it was ... dare I say it ... a real hoot!
 
1515. Diamond Days - The Outfield
Released October 30, 1990, Diamond Days was The Outfield's fourth LP, and their first without drummer and founding member Alan Jackman, who left the band and was replaced by session drummer Simon Dawson. Consequently, only lead singer-bassist Tony Lewis and songwriter-guitarist-vocalist John Spinks appeared on the cover. Spinks also produced the album, after co-producing the previous one, and sang lead vocals on one of the better tracks, "John Lennon." Dawson would go on to drum on The Outfield's fifth and sixth LPs, too. Diamond Days featured the group's final Top 40 single, "For You," which also became their only adult contemporary hit. It reached #21 on both of those charts and did even better on the mainstream rock chart (#13), which surprised me, since it's one of their more mellow numbers. A second single, "Take It All," didn't take at all on any of those charts. In my opinion, Diamond Days didn't have as many memorable selections as its predecessors ... or its successors ... but it wasn't bereft of catchy tunes. My favorite musical moments are "One Night in Heaven" (with lead guitars by Alvin Lee of Ten Years After ), "Unrespectable," and the aforementioned "John Lennon." My second-tier would probably consist of  "Eye to Eye," "After the Storm," "Magic Seed," and "Burning Blue." Diamond Days was the last Outfield album to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching #90. That's a shame, because I think their subsequent albums were actually better.  
 
1516. Out of Body - The Hooters
The Hooters waited three and a half years between their third and fourth LPs. Released on May 11, 1993, Out of Body saw the group expanding from five members to six, as they added violinist and singer Mindy Jostyn. She also provided harmonica, string arrangements, and even some guitar on the album. Although the label issued three singles, none of them made it onto any of the U.S. charts, but two of them registered a blip in Europe: "Twenty Five Hours a Day" (#28 Netherlands, #74 Germany) and "Boys Will Be Boys" (#53 Germany, #20 Sweden), which featured Cyndi Lauper on female vocals. The third single, "Private Emotion," failed to chart for The Hooters but became a hit duet for Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin and Swedish singer Meja in 2000 (#67 U.S. pop, #21 U.S. adult contemporary, #17 Canadian AC, #9 U.K.). That cover version also reached the Top 10 in seven other European countries, including #1 in the Czech Republic. Moreover, it topped the Mexico International chart. I absolutely love "Twenty Five Hours a Day," and the other two singles are fine tunes as well. Of the non-singles, my favorites are "Great Big American Car," "Dancing on the Edge," and "All Around the Place." If you listen carefully to the endings of the choruses on "Great Big American Car," particularly in the outro section of the song, I think the keyboards are playing a chord progression and pattern that's a subtle nod to The Cars' 1984 hit "You Might Think." Considering the subject matter, I doubt it was coincidental. The Hooters would not release another studio LP until 2007. Sadly, Jostyn died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 49.
 
1517. Modern Times - Bob Dylan 
Released August 29, 2006, Bob Dylan's 32nd studio LP became his fourth #1 album overall and his first chart-topper in 30 years. Ironically, it was titled Modern Times. As far as the music was concerned, it continued on the same path of its 2001 predecessor, Love and Theft, and that was a good thing. My favorite tracks were "Someday Baby," "Thunder on the Mountain," "Workingman's Blues #2," "The Levee's Gonna Break," "Nettie Moore," and "Ain't Talkin'." Modern Times sold over a million copies in the United States. Dylan's 2009 follow-up LP, Together Through Life, would also go to #1. For the record, his previous #1 albums were Planet Waves (1974), Blood on the Tracks (1975), and Desire (1976). Two others peaked at #2 — over 50 years apart — John Wesley Harding (1969) and Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020).
 
1518. Rockeye - The Outfield
The Outfield's fifth LP, Rockeye, hit the stores on March 31, 1992. Unfortunately, it didn't hit the charts, although the first single did. "Closer to Me" stalled at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #46 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart but was a Top 40 hit on two rival charts — Cash Box (#31) and Radio & Records (#21). Three other cuts were released to radio, and two of them also "bubbled under" the Cash Box Top 100: "Winning It All" (#104 Cash Box), "The Way It Should Be" (#106 Cash Box), and "Going Back" (did not chart). Of those, "Closer to Me," "Winning It All," and "Going Back" are standouts. "Winning It All" gained additional exposure when it was used at the end of the Disney movie The Mighty Ducks in 1992 and during television broadcasts of the NBA finals from 1992-96. Rockeye returned The Outfield to their rockin' ways. Although bassist Tony Lewis still did most of the lead vocals, guitarist and chief songwriter John Spinks sang lead on three of the album's 11 tracks — "Under a Stone," "Jane," and "On the Line" — none of which are second-rate. He also produced the album. Three other prime cuts with Lewis on lead vocals are "Young Love," "Take Me Home," and "Stranger in My Own Town." I think Rockeye may have been the band's strongest overall effort since their debut LP, Play Deep. However, believe it or not, some of my favorite songs by The Outfield were still yet to come.   
 
1519. Straight Outta Lynwood - "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic's 12th studio LP brought about two major milestones for the president of parodies; it was his first Top 10 album (#10) and yielded his first Top 10 single, "White and Nerdy" (#9), which spoofed "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire. Released September 26, 2006, Straight Outta Lynwood also featured a second Hot 100 hit, "Canadian Idiot" ("American Idiot" by Green Day), which went to #82. Believe it or not, those two clever cuts were actually the second and third singles from this disc. They were preceded by "Don't Download This Song," an equally amusing Al original along the lines of "We Are the World." Three additional parodies anchored the album: "Confessions Part III" ("Confessions Part II" by Usher), "Do I Creep You Out" ("Do I Make You Proud" by Taylor Hicks), and the extensive, painstakingly detailed "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" ("Trapped in the Closet" by R. Kelly), which stretched to almost 11 minutes yet still didn't seem overlong. From first listen, I thought Straight Outta Lynwood was Al's most consistently excellent LP to date thematically, lyrically, musically, vocally, and productionally. The other originals were "Pancreas," a phenomenal send-up of The Beach Boys that sounds like it came from their 1967 Smile sessions; "I'll Sue Ya" (in the vein of Rage Against the Machine), "Virus Alert," "Close but No Cigar," "and "Weasel Stomping Day." Everything Al tried on this album worked. No dogs allowed. ApologetiX never attempted any of the songs spoofed on Straight Outta Lynwood, but we did record parodies of four of the songs covered in its prerequisite polka medley, Polkarama! ... and we had considered three of the others. That was all in preparation for our own 2006 LP, which I'll get to soon on this list. Anybody who has put out a parody since 1980 owes a huge debt of gratitude to Alfred Matthew Yankovic for legitimizing the genre as an acceptable art form. Thanks to "Weird Al," I can honestly say that every song we've ever spoofed has been a hit.  
 
1520. Extra Innings - The Outfield
Released July 27, 1999, Extra Innings featured all 12 of the tunes (combining two of them into one) from The Outfield's 1998 fan-club LP, It Ain't Over, plus four new tracks. Consequently, I don't know whether to refer to It Ain't Over or Extra Innings as the group's sixth LP, but this is the one I owned. It contained two of their prettiest songs, "Heaven's Little Angel" and "Slow Motion." Other noteworthy numbers included "Chic Lorraine," "Out to Lunch," "Lay Down," "Certain Kinda' Love," "Kiss the Rain," and "Girl of Mine." The band had such a sensational signature sound, although some of their selections were a bit suggestive for my sensibilities. With that having been said, you'd never find a parental-advisory level on any of their albums. If I were to personally rank The Outfield's output over the years, "Heaven's Little Angel" would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer — easily Top 10, probably Top 5, and possibly #1. The sentiment is sweet, and the lyrics are guilt-free.  

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!