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.
1563. Future Tense - ApologetiX
Released in June 2008,
Future Tense was the 15th ApologetiX LP overall and the first one produced by Bill Hubauer, who'd already been playing keyboards on our albums for 10 years at the time. This time around, he also played all the guitars and added backing vocals. We recorded the basic instrumental tracks in November 2007 at a place called Complex One in Indiana PA. Bill chose the studio, but I was delighted to return to the little town where I went to college. Three of the tracks dealt with the Christmas story, so we completed them first and put them out in December 2007 as part of a download-only project we called
The 12 Downloads of Christmas ... along with six previously released ApX Christmas-themed parodies and three previously released Christmas carols ("Carol of the Bells," "We Three Kings," and "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel") from Bill's previous band, Ten point Ten, which had also featured ApX drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner. Eight of the 12 selections on
Future Tense were spoofs of hits from 2006-07 by AFI, The All American Rejects, Disturbed, Fall Out Boy, The Fray, Gym Class Heroes, Hinder, and Three Days Grace. The others were classic rock hits from the '60s-'80s by The Beatles, Boston, The Cars, John Mellencamp. Actually, the Disturbed tune covered another '80s song by Genesis and wasn't that radical of a departure from the original.
Future Tense was also our first CD project designed in collaboration with Gerard Dominick, who had been the bassist in the first rock band I was ever a part of, Terminal. He and I went to the same high school. Although Gerard was a grade ahead of me, we'd been in some of the same classes, and I was impressed with his artwork even back then. He went on to play professionally in more bands than I can remember ... perhaps even more than
he can remember. I happened to run across him on Facebook and we reconnected. He's been involved in the design of every one of our CD packages since. My wife, Lisa, and I generally do the cover artwork together, but this one was all Gerard, and I love what he came up with.
1564. Hard to Find 45s on CD: Volume 5: Sixties Pop Classics - Various Artists
The title of this one wasn't quite as accurate as it was specific. Released in 2000,
Hard to Find 45s on CD: Volume 5: Sixties Pop Classics featured 20 tracks that weren't easily obtained on compact disc, but only 17 of them came from the '60s. Two were actually hits in the '50s: "White Silver Sands" by Don Rondo (#7 in '57) and "(I'll Be With You in) Apple Blossom Time" by Tab Hunter (#31 in '59). Another, "Looking for an Echo" by Kenny Vance, came out in 1975 and didn't even chart! Vance did have ties to '60s pop, though; he was a member of Jay and the Americans from 1960-73. It's a nice tune and sounds like it
could have come from '60s (and it does nostalgically refer to "old 45s" a couple times), but it's still a little out of place, although I'm sure it was hard to find. The rest of the tracks spanned from 1960-69. I bought this album in 2008 specifically to get the '67 hit "Little Ole Man (Uptight-Everything's Alright)" by Bill Cosby (#4), which I needed for my playlist of #4 songs. What a geek I am! For further proof, let me point out that the aforementioned single was built upon the music from a #3 hit from '66 that I already had which isn't on this collection, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" by Stevie Wonder. But the star of
Hard to Find 45s on CD: Volume 5: Sixties Pop Classics is Joanie Sommers — no relation to '70s icon Jaime Sommers a.k.a. the Bionic Woman. Jaime never had any Hot 100 entries, but Joanie had three, and her first two were included here: "One Boy" (#54) and "Johnny Get Angry" (#7). A total of five #7 hits made it onto
Hard to Find 45s on CD: Volume 5: Sixties Pop Classics. In addition to "White Silver Sands" and "Johnny Get Angry," there was also "Turn Around, Look at Me" by The Vogues, "Don't Say Nothin' Bad About My Baby" by The Cookies, and the highly amusing "Let's Think About Living" by Bob Luman, which also topped the country charts for three weeks. They were joined by two #17 hits: "Next Plane to London" by The Rose Garden and "Batman Theme" by The Marketts. Here's the rest of the roster in order of where they charted: "Deep Purple" by Nino Tempo & April Stevens (#1) "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher (#1), "A Lover's Concerto" by The Toys (#2), "Take a Letter Maria" by R.B. Greaves (#2), "Sixteen Reasons" by Connie Stevens (#3), "Al Di La" by Emilio Pericoli (#6), "Ebony Eyes" by The Everly Brothers (#8), "B-A-B-Y" by Carla Thomas (#14), and "Angel on My Shoulder" by Shelby Flint (#22).
1565. Warmer/Terraform - Randy VanWarmer
This compilation combined the first two LPs by singer-songwriter-guitarist Randy VanWarmer —
Warmer (1979) and
Terraform (1980). Each album featured one charting single, although one was much more successful than the other: the million-selling "Just When I Needed You Most" (#4 pop, #1 adult contemporary, #71 country) on
Warmer and
"Whatever You Decide" (#77 pop) on
Terraform. VanWarmer had one last Hot 100 single, the new-wavey "Suzi Found a Weapon" (#55 pop), which appeared on his third LP,
Beat of Love (1981). If you listened to pop radio in the spring of 1979, you couldn't escape "Just When I Needed You Most," and you probably remember VanWarmer's distinct vocal delivery on that tune: "You packed in the morning, I ... stared out the window, and I ... struggled for something to say ..." Aside from the singles, the highlights for me were "Losing Out on Love" and "I Could Sing" on
Warmer and the epic "Terraform: Falling True / I've Got a Ticket / 21st Century /Terraform" on Terraform," which clocked in at 10:29.
Warmer went to #81 on the
Billboard 200 and
Terraform missed the chart entirely.
Beat of Love bubbled under at #205. One of its other tracks, "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes," written by VanWarmer, became a #1 country hit for The Oak Ridge Boys in 1984. VanWarmer also had two mildly successful country singles in 1988, "I Will Hold You" (#53 country) and "Where the Rocky Mountains Touch the Morning Sun" (#53). Sadly, he died of leukemia at the age of 48 in 2004. I got
Warmer/Terraform on CD in 2008.
1566. British Beat: 12 Hits from the 60's Invasion - Various Artists
I purchased this 2007 compilation in 2008, mainly to get two songs I needed for my #4 and #5 playlists: "The Pied Piper" by Crispian St. Peters (#4) and "Have I the Right" by The Honeycombs (#5). However, it's loaded with great tunes, all of which hit the U.S. Top 20. The other Top Five hits on it were "Wild Thing" by The Troggs (#1), "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders (#1), "A Groovy Kind of Love" by The Mindbenders (#2), and "Hush" by Deep Purple (#4). Yes, that's two by The Mindbenders — their only U.S. Top 40 hits — the first with original lead singer Wayne Fontana, who left the group in the middle of a concert in 1965, and the second with their guitarist Eric Stewart taking over as the main vocalist. Stewart would go on to further fame as guitarist and vocalist group 10cc, with whom he sang the U.S. Top Five hits "I'm Not In Love" (#2) and "The Things We Do for Love" (#5). But getting back to
British Beat: 12 Hits from the '60s Invasion, the other tracks included "For Your Love" by The Yardbirds (#6), "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks (#7), "A Summer Song" by Chad & Jeremy (#7), "Pictures of Matchstick Men" by Status Quo (#12), "Tobacco Road" by The Nashville Teens (#14), and "Itchycoo Park" by Small Faces (#16). Now that's a deserving dozen! ApologetiX has spoofed "Wild Thing" and "You Really Got Me," although we did the Van Halen version.
1567. Greatest Hits 2 - The Oak Ridge Boys
Although they'll never be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Oak Ridge Boys made it into both the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2000) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (2015). Released on July 7, 1984,
Greatest Hits 2 was their 11th LP, arriving just four years after their first
Greatest Hits album. Between 1977 and 1990, the Tennessee-based quartet amassed 34 Top 10 country singles. Seventeen of them went the whole way to #1, and eight of those were on
Greatest Hits 2, including their best-known crossover hit, "Elvira" (#1 country, #5 pop, #8 adult contemporary). The compilation introduced two brand new songs, "Make My Life With You" and "Everyday," both of which eventually topped the country chart as well. The other #1s on
Greatest Hits 2 were: "American Made" (#1 country, #72 pop), "(I'm Settin') Fancy Free" (#1 country, #104 pop, #17 AC), "Thank God for Kids" (#1 country), "Love Song" (#1 country), and "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes (#1 country). The two remaining tracks didn't miss the top spot by much, either — "Beautiful You" (#3 country) and "Ozark Mountain Jubilee" (#5 country). The group's second biggest pop hit, "Bobbie Sue" (#1 country, #12 pop, #12 AC), hit the charts in 1982, two years before this collection, but it was held back for
Greatest Hits 3, which finally followed in 1989. Nevertheless,
Greatest Hits 2 provides a very satisfying listening experience. ApologetiX spoofed "Elvira" in 2000, and I bought this CD in the mid-'90s when first setting out to write the lyrics. One of the biggest shocks of my teenage years came the day I discovered that the tall guy with the long hair and big beard, William Lee Golden, wasn't the one doing the booming bass parts. It was actually Richard Sterben; Golden sang baritone.
1568. Americans - Byron MacGregor
I ordered this CD in September 2008, exclusively for the song the album is named after — a Top Five hit I never found on any various-artists compilation. The last time I checked, it still wasn't available on iTunes, either. "Americans" by Byron MacGregor was a patriotic spoken-word record that reached #4 in on the
Billboard chart in February 1974. Moreover, it made it to #1 on the rival charts
Cash Box and
Record Word. Although born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, MacGregor was news director at CKLW radio in Detroit MI when he had his only hit. The recording consisted of him reading aloud a 1973 editorial written by fellow Canadian Gordon Sinclair, with the song "America the Beautiful" played by The Detroit Symphony Orchestra as background music. Sinclair had written it to recognize good deeds by the beleaguered United States that he felt had largely gone unheralded and underappreciated by the world at large in the cynical '70s. Ironically, Sinclair released his own hit recording of the editorial at about the same time as MacGregor, but it was not as successful, peaking at #24 on
Billboard, #36 on
Cash Box, and #20 on
Record World. On the Canadian chart, however, Sinclair's version outpaced MacGregor's (#30 vs. #42). As far as I can tell, though, Sinclair never released an album. MacGregor's 1974
Americans LP bubbled under the
Billboard 200 at #208. The similarly titled album I purchased appears to have initially come out in 1991 with a reissue in 2001, but most of its tracks are from the '74 edition. It also contained recordings of him reading Abraham Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address and John Newton's "Amazing Grace," plus pieces with titles such as "It's Time," "Lincoln Lives On," "The Strongest American," and "Stand Up America." The disc included instrumental renditions of other famous patriotic songs, too, such as "Stars and Stripes," "The Star Spangled Banner" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." Sinclair's original editorial had mentioned the humanitarian work of the American Red Cross and the fact that the financially strapped organization had recently announced "that it was broke." Consequently, MacGregor donated all his proceeds from the single, which sold over 3.5 million copies, to the American Red Cross. He eventually held dual citizenships of Canada and the United States. Sadly, he died of pneumonia in Detroit in 1995 at the age of 46. Sinclair, who was almost 48 years older than MacGregor, had died in 1984 at the age of 83. If you've never heard the "Americans" single, you can find it in numerous places on YouTube, including
here.
1569. Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 8 - Various Artists
William Shakespeare's play
The Tempest contains the line, "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows," which has long since been repurposed as "Politics makes strange bedfellows." Well, the same goes for
Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day Volume 8, a Rhino collection that exclusively featured hits from 1972, which just happened to be a famous year for U.S. politics, most notably the Nixon-McGovern presidential election. There weren't any political songs on this disc, but it sure did make some strange bedfellows. Of course, many volumes in the
Super Hits of the '70s - Have a Nice Day series were eclectic mixes, and so was pop radio in the early '70s. But any album that features Sammy Davis Jr. and the cast of
Godspell side by side with rock bands like Argent and Jo Jo Gunne is quite a variety pack. More than half the roster was made up of Top 10 hits: "The Candy Man" by Sammy Davis Jr. (#1), "Alone Again Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan (#1), "Nice To Be With You" by Gallery (#4), "Sylvia's Mother" by Dr. Hook (#5), "Hold Your Head Up" by Argent (#5), "How Do You Do" by Mouth & MacNeal (#8), and "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (#9). Four others reached the Top 30: "Motorcycle Mama" by Sailcat (#12), "Day by Day" by Godspell (#13), "We've Got To Get It On Again" by The Addrisi Brothers (#25), and "Run Run Run" by Jo Jo Gunne (#27). The sole track that missed the Top 40, "In A Broken Dream" by Australian rock band Python Lee Jackson (#56) still had sizzle, because it featured lead vocals by Rod Stewart. The song was recorded in 1969 and originally released in 1970, before Rod's rise to Stewart-stardom. After the massive success of the double-sided single "Maggie May/Reason to Believe" the following year, "In a Broken Dream" was re-issued in 1972 and actually made it to #3 on the U.K. pop chart. It's an interesting tune, but my favorites on
Have a Nice Day Volume 8 are probably "Motorcycle Mama" and "Run Run Run," although I like all 12 tracks. ApologetiX has spoofed "Hot Rod Lincoln" and "Hold Your Head Up." I also performed two spoofs of "The Candy Man" long before I ever started writing Christian parodies — one as part of a customized singing-telegram service with my sister and another as part of the entertainment for the journalism department banquet during my senior year in college. A couple ApX band members used to amuse each other by doing Sammy Davis Jr. impressions backstage, and at one point someone would always say, "How about some candy, man?" I guess you had to be there, but I figured I'd share the memory anyway. Hey, I gotta be me.
