Hues Corp. & Kansas, About Our Next CD
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J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
I hope you’re enjoying your summer. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are visiting us from Kentucky this weekend, and my oldest daughter, Janna, and son-in-law, Rob, are here from Delaware, too. It’s great having the family in town.
If not for our guests, my wife and I would be at a football game. ApX bassist Keith Haynie’s younger daughter, Abby, plays for the Pittsburgh Passion women's football team, part of the Women's Football Alliance. They were the first such franchise to be featured in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN.
The team was founded in 2002 and won national championships in 2007, 2014, and 2015. They were undefeated in the regular season this year and already won in the first round in the playoff. My wife, Lisa, and I attended that one. Today’s game is the semi-final.
ApX fans have heard Abby’s voice before. She sang lead vocals on “Get the Barber Started” and shared lead vocals on "Bought by the Egyptians,” “Don’t Scoff,” “Jesus (Sermon on the Mount),” and “Samson & Delilah.” She also sang backing vocals on “For Just You,” “Heaven’t Gonna Lift You Up,” and “Elizabeth’s Song.”
A Passion win would make a nice early present for Keith, whose birthday is this coming Tuesday. If they pull that off, they’ll go to the National Championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton OH, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s two weeks from today — Saturday, July 27.
Next Saturday, Lisa and I plan to attend a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game with ApX guitarist Tom Tincha and his wife, Deborah; ApX keyboardist Rich Mannion and his wife, Nettie; ApX alum guitarist Wayne Bartley; and former ApX webmaster and occasional fill-in bassist John Taylor and his wife, Kathy.
Hi diddly-dee, the sportin’ life for me! But that’s not all. I went to see The Music Man onstage in Pittsburgh on Wednesday with Lisa and three of our kids. Last month, we went to see West Side Story. Next Friday, we hope to spend the day in Erie PA with Keith’s family.
I’m also slated to sing four ApologetiX songs with a couple of my old musician friends from college at a big outdoor worship concert in Johnstown PA on August 9. I’ll plan to give you more info on that as the date gets closer. It’ll be a good warm-up for the big ApX show in Versailles OH on September 1!
O.K., I gotta get back to our guests. Have a great weekend! |
| New Single: Disco & Prog Rock |
On Monday night, we released our 14th single of 2024. It spoofs a disco hit from 1974 and prog-rock hit from 1978. |
Dock the Boat - Rock the Boat - The Hues Corporation The Point the Lord Returns - Point of Know Return - Kansas |
| The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single |
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again. Here are the stories behind the songs on our 14th single of 2024:
DOCK THE BOAT
Some music historians credit "Rock the Boat" as the first disco song to top the Hot 100. Others point to two instrumentals released earlier that year — "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra or "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB. I love both of those tunes, too, but "Rock the Boat" ruled the chart in my heart in the summer of '74, as my family vacationed in Nags Head NC.
When it comes to biblical chronology, "Dock the Boat" directly precedes “I Think We’re in Rome Now." In a providential coincidence, my two oldest daughters, Janna and Heather, sang both. A couple other ApologetiX parodies they didn't sing — “Yonder Island" and “It’s a Long Way to the Dock (If You Wanna Stop in Rome)” — help to expand the story. The word "Euroclydon," which appears repeatedly in the choruses, is a name for the hurricane-force wind the Apostle Paul and the other 275 people aboard the ship encountered on their voyage. It comes from the King James and New King James translations of Acts 27:14. The New American Standard Bible and Amplified Bible refer to it as "Euraquilo." The New International Version, New English Translation, and New Living Translation translate it "Northeaster.” I got the idea for "Dock the Boat" on November 1, 2023. We originally planned to put this parody on ApologetiX '74, but Janna and Heather weren't available in time, so we filled its position with "Media Circus" and assigned "Dock the Boat" to a later CD.
THE POINT THE LORD RETURNS
Though I only had the title at the time, we first considered this parody for our 2009 LP Recovery but elected to go with a different Kansas spoof. I didn't write the rest of "The Point the Lord Returns" until June 2024.
My inspiration for the opening line came from a commercial I saw as a teen in 1980. A guy named Hal Lindsey was talking about a bestseller he'd written 10 years earlier, The Late Great Planet Earth, and his brand-new book, The 1980's: Countdown to Armageddon. Both dealt with Bible prophecies pertaining to the end times and his belief that they'd soon be upon us.
My friends and I made fun of the commercial — it didn't help that Hal Lindsey's name was so similar to Hal Linden, the actor who played the title role on the TV comedy Barney Miller — but part of me still wondered, "What if he's right?" In 1988, I finally read Late Great, and it had a profound impact on me. I eventually read seven of his books, including Countdown to Armageddon. Not all of them tackled that topic, but his ultimate focus in each was on salvation through Christ.
I bought a copy of Late Great for my mom in '88. Decades later, I found it on her shelf. Here's part of what I'd written inside: "If you don't agree with his interpretations of some symbols, don't worry about it; no man can know the meaning of everything. It's the message I feel is important in this book — not specific points. I feel some of his later books are better, but this is the one that opens up eyes."
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Our next CD, ApologetiX ’74, has been at the manufacturer for over three weeks and should be in stock later this month. We plan to start taking orders by the end of this weekend.
ApologetiX '74 is our 74th LP and exclusively spoofs Top 10 hits from 1974. We're releasing it in 2024, exactly 50 years later. As ApX lead singer/lyricist J. Jackson explains, "I turned 10 in '74, and it's my favorite year for pop music. It had some of the cheesiest, corniest, greatest hit singles ever. I already had parody ideas for some of 'em and finally thought, 'Let's do a whole album!'
"It was a good year for Hank Aaron, a bad year for Richard Nixon, a controversial year for Patty Hearst, and a ground-breaking year for me. I was suddenly learning the words to many songs on the radio, and I began singing them for my friends in the neighborhood. At the same time, I was starting to sing publicly as a choirboy at my school and church."
A record-setting 36 singles hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, and eight of them are spoofed on ApologetiX '74. A couple other tunes covered on this project got as far as #4, and the remaining two went to #5 and #8. All the parodies are presented in chronological order of when the original song reached its peak position on the chart. For example, our opener spoofs "You're Sixteen," which hit #1 on January 26, 1974, and our closer spoofs "Kung Fu Fighting," which hit #1 on December 7, 1974. The original recordings are all half a century old, but the topics addressed here are all timely and/or timeless. Although the music brings back memories of the way we were, the lyrics reflect the way we are.
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| Bible-Reading for Next Two Weeks |
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 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
Sat., July 20 - 2 Kings 16-18
Sun., July 21 - 2 Kings 19-21
Mon., July 22 - 2 Kings 22-25
Tue., July 23 - 1 Chronicles 1-3
Wed., July 24 - 1 Chronicles 4-6
Thu., July 25 - 1 Chronicles 7-9
Fri., July 26 - 1 Chronicles 10-12
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.
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| Getting Our Complete Library Just Got Easier |
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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 1682 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single, “Got My Mindset From You / Media Circus" and our latest CD, Unchained Medley.
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- Standard CDs 1993–2024 (919 tracks)
- Remastered Classics CDs (219 tracks)
- Singles, EPs, Rarities, Side Projects (544 tracks)
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New USBs Include Latest CD & Single
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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.
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| Influential Albums 1521–1527 |
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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.
1521. Any Time Now - The Outfield
The Outfield's seventh studio LP came out on March 21, 2006 — their first collection of new material in the new millennium. Drummer Simon Dawson, who had played on the previous three LPs, left the team and was replaced by Jeffery Gish, but the core of John Spinks (guitars, keyboards, vocals, songwriting, and production) and Tony Lewis (lead vocals and bass) remained intact. Any Time Now may be the group's most adventurous musically and lyrically. I have wished that The Outfield would broaden their horizons topically, but when they finally did so on this album, I felt they took a well-intended-but-overly-simplified "make love, not war" approach in a number of songs ... exemplified by lines like "Hey, little soldier boy, be my witness — sometimes we make a choice" (in "No Fear"), "Wasted like soldiers caught in the crossfire — all in the name of religion" (in "Wasted"), and "I would give up my life for my country — even sacrifice my religion — all that I pray for is one day there's peace” (in "Peace"). With The Outfield being a British band, I'll say that it seemed to me like too much Chamberlain and not enough Churchill. Yes, we all know war is bad, and nobody wants peace more than I do, but it's a little more complicated than rounding up all the weapons and equally distributing the property. And it comes off as rather double-minded to me to sing that you're praying for peace immediately after you sang that you'd sacrifice your religion. As often happens, when somebody comes from the mindset that humanity is basically good, God (or, at the very least, the people who claim to follow Him) gets blamed for war. I'm reminded of Ecclesiastes 7:29, which says, "This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes." Now I'll get off my soapbox and back to my boombox: Much of the music on Any Time Now is superb. The high points for me are the majestic, achingly melancholy "Rainbow's End" and the Beatle-esque "Photograph," but I also enjoyed "I Can't Wait," "This Love Affair," "Long Walk Back (From Nowhere)," "There She Goes," "The Sound of Love," and "Give It All You Got." Furthermore, although I complained about the implications of some of the sentiments in "Wasted" and "Peace," the production and performances were excellent. Only one song on Any Time Now was released as a single, "It's All About Love," but it did not chart, and neither did the album itself. The Outfield had one more new LP left in them while they were still together, and it would contain a few of their finest efforts, but we'll have to wait until we get to 2011 for that entry.
1522. The Captain & the Kid - Elton John
Elton John's 28th studio LP, The Captain & the Kid, arrived on September 18, 2006. As I wrote long ago on this list, his autobiographical ninth studio LP, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, is my favorite Elton album (although Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is right up there with it). Consequently, it definitely piqued my interest when I heard he was putting out a sequel ... with lyrics written by his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, the Brown Dirt Cowboy himself, who was also referred to as "the Kid" in the original record's title track. Both men appeared on the front cover of The Captain & the Kid, a first in the Rocket Man's discography. Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson, who played guitar and drums, respectively, on Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in 1975, were on hand to reprise their roles. They provided backing vocals again, too. Unfortunately, bassist/vocalist Dee Murray had died in 1992, so his spot was filled by Bob Birch, who had also been on Elton's previous project, Peachtree Road, in 2004. Even 31 years after its precursor, The Captain & the Kid did not disappoint. Elton was in fine form, and the same goes for the other participants. There were 10 tracks on the U.S. version, and my favorites were "Postcards From Richard Nixon," which opened the album, and the title track, which closed it. Other highlights for me included "Tinderbox," "And the House Fell Down," and "Blues Never Fade Away." The only song issued to radio as a single, "The Bridge," did not chart. The second track, "Just Like Noah's Ark," used a biblical allegory from the Book of Genesis, as did the second track on the original Captain Fantastic, "Tower of Babel." The Captain & the Kid went to #18 on the Billboard 200 but remained on the chart for only six weeks and became Elton's first album of new material since Leather Jackets in 1986 not to go gold (i.e. sell at least half a million copies). None of his subsequent releases did, either. However, if you liked Captain Fantastic, you'd probably like The Captain & the Kid. In 2019, I also saw Elton's jukebox musical/biopic Rocketman, and read his autobiography, Me.
1523. Anthology - Roger Daltrey
Released in 1998, Anthology featured 20 tracks from the solo career of The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey. You might be surprised to discover that a dozen of them charted in the United States, seeing as he only had one U.S. Top 40 hit, "Without Your Love" (#20 U.S pop., #55 U.K.). However, a number of songs made the U.S. Hot 100 and/or U.S. mainstream rock chart (after it was initiated in 1981). Here are the 11 other ones on Anthology: "After the Fire" (#3 U.S. mainstream rock, #48 U.S. pop, #50 U.K.), "Walking in My Sleep" (#4 U.S. mainstream, #62 U.S. pop, #56 U.K.), "Under a Raging Moon" (#10 U.S. mainstream, #43 U.K.), "Let Me Down Easy" (#11 U.S. mainstream, #86 U.S. pop), "Say It Ain't So, Joe" (#41 U.S. mainstream), "Hearts of Fire" (#46 U.S. mainstream), "Free Me" (#53 U.S pop., #39 U.K.) "(Come and) Get Your Love" (#68 U.S. pop), "Giving It All Away" (#83 U.S. pop, #5 U.K.), "Avenging Annie" (#88 U.S. pop), and "Waiting for a Friend' (#104 U.S.). Four additional tracks that didn't make the U.S. charts, were semi-successful in the U.K.: "Written on the Wind' (#46 U.K.), "Walking the Dog" (#52 U.K.), "Thinking" (#61 U.K.), and "The Pride You Hide" (#92 U.K.). I was a major Who fan back as an upperclassman in high school and all through college, but I liked "Without Your Love" on its own merits when I first heard it on the radio in 1980, before I ever learned who Roger Daltrey was. I knew songs like "After the Fire," "Walking in My Sleep," "Under a Raging Moon," and "Let Me Down Easy" before I bought Anthology in 2006, but the rest of tunes were new to me. My favorites among them were "Avenging Annie," "Giving It All Away," and "Say It Ain't So, Joe," but I pretty much liked everything I heard on this collection.
1524. Endless Wire - The Who
Even though it didn't come out until October 30, 2006, Endless Wire was just the 11th studio LP by The Who. Doesn't that number seem ridiculously low for such an iconic group, especially one that had been around since 1964? It was also their first in 24 years, after It's Hard in 1982. By that time, The Who were down to The Two — lead singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist/songwriter Pete Townshend — as bassist John Entwistle passed away in 2002. Of course, drummer Keith Moon had died tragically many years earlier, in 1978, and his replacement, Kenny Jones, stayed with the band only until 1988. Endless Wire featured 19 tracks, the last 10 of which comprised a mini-opera titled Wire & Glass. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in some of the vocals and the lyrics. None of the cuts hit the U.S. or U.K. pop charts, but six of the songs from the mini-opera ("Sound Round," "Pick Up the Peace," "Endless Wire," "We Got a Hit," and "Mirror Door") were released on an EP called Wire & Glass, which made the top three on the Canadian singles chart. Without even knowing that when I first heard the LP, I thought a number of those songs were among the best the album had to offer. As for the first half of Endless Wire, Townshend's often-spiritual lyrics seemed all over the board theologically, from "The Man in the Purple Dress," which seemingly rails against religion, to "Two Thousand Years," which includes lyrics like "Two thousand years have I waited — and so I have a chance to love as you intended — You really lived and died for me — Is the waiting really ended." Meanwhile, somewhere between those extremes, there were the abstract absurdities of "God Speaks of Marty Robbins." Other musical highlights on Endless Wire included "Black Widow's Eyes," "Fragments," "Tea & Theatre," "Fragments of Fragments," and "It's Not Enough," which actually hit the U.S. mainstream rock Top 40 (#37). The album itself entered the Billboard 200 at #7, but that's as far as it got, and it only remained on the chart for eight weeks.
1525. Hannah Montana: Songs from an Inspired by the Hit TV Series - Miley Cyrus and Various Artists
Miley Cyrus had her earliest hit recordings as Disney character Hannah Montana. Released November 11, 2006, the Hannah Montana album was the first of five soundtrack LPs she released under that name. It topped the Billboard 200, as did her next two. Miley sang on nine of the 13 tracks, including a duet with her famous father, Billy Ray Cyrus. There were a couple singles: "The Best of Both Worlds" (#92 pop), and "Who Said" (#83 pop). The first went platinum and the second went gold, despite the relatively low chart positions. The album itself sold over three and a half million copies in the States. I never really listened to this CD, but it still deserves a mention, because it impacted my life. Allow me to explain: My oldest daughter, Janna, owned a copy. She enjoyed watching the Hannah Montana television show (I did see some episodes of that) and had just turned 10 when the album came out, and one of her classmates asked to borrow it. He had it for quite some time. When she finally got it back from him, the playing side was scratched so badly that the disc looked like he had strapped it to his foot and skated on it around the house! I have never seen a CD look so damaged and still be intact. My wife and I are not the confrontational type, but I had to write a polite note to the boy's mother and make her aware of the situation. I included a photo so she could see for herself, and they got Janna a new copy. I don't know if she still has the CD, but I still have the photo, and it still amuses me. The other four tracks were by The Click Five, Jesse McCartney, B5, and Everlife. The three ladies in Everlife — Amber, Sarah, and Julia Ross — had contributed vocals to four songs on the 2003 ApologetiX LP Adam Up: "Meshach," "Choose Your Daddy," "Get Found Tonight," and "Sweet Oholibamah."
1526. Love - The Beatles
I think Love was the last Beatles LP I ever purchased, and I did that soon after its November 20, 2006 release date. Produced by famed Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles, the project was put together as the soundtrack for the Cirque de Soleil show Love. There were 26 tracks (almost 79 minutes of music) on the CD, with two additional tracks on the digital version (almost 87 minutes), but that's only part of the story. The album was full of mash-ups and other remixes that used elements of various Beatles songs and recordings ... 130 in all. Some are subtle, others are dramatic. For The Beatles fan who'd "heard it all before," Love revitalized the listening experience, and I'd imagine it was significantly more powerful when experienced in conjunction with the show. My favorites are "Get Back" (which included bits of "A Hard Day's Night," "The End," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [Reprise]" and "A Day in the Life"); "Glass Onion" (which added parts of "Things We Said Today," "Penny Lane," and "Hello Goodbye"); "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" (which also threw in some "Taxman," "Savoy Truffle," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," and "Helter Skelter"); "Octopus's Garden" (with pieces of "Good Night," "Yellow Submarine," "Lovely Rita," "Helter Skelter" and "Sun King"); "Lady Madonna" (also incorporating "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Hey Bulldog," "I Want You [She's so Heavy]," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite/I Want You (She's so Heavy)/Helter Skelter"; and "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows." Do those descriptions make the whole thing sound like it's all too much? Ironically, "It's All Too Much" seems to be one of the few Beatles songs not appearing in some partial form on this album. Love made it to #4 on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million copies in the United States and over five million worldwide. If you're going to give it a listen, I'd recommend you wear headphones or play it on a good stereo, so you can hear more of the musical modifications.
1527. The Tubes - The Tubes
Back in 2006, there was a limited amount of music by The Tubes available digitally, so I bought a few compilations in an effort to assemble all the songs from their first five studio LPs. One of them was cleverly titled Goin' Down ("goin' down The Tubes," get it?) and two others were named after the band's first "hit," White Punks on Dope. One of those identically-titled anthologies featured their first two albums in their entirety. I already wrote entries about The Tubes' second through fifth LPs long ago on my list, so I'll use this entry to elaborate upon their self-titled debut LP, which peaked at #113 on the Billboard 200. Released in June 1975, it started out with two of my favorite Tubes tunes, "Up From the Deep" and "Haloes." There were eight cuts in all, including a couple of the group's best-known songs from the '70s, "What Do You Want From Life?" and "White Punks on Dope" (#28 U.K.). The group would get a makeover in 1981 when Canadian producer David Foster took the reins. The new approach resulted in a couple legitimate Top 40 hits, but their subversive humor remained intact beneath the glossy surface.
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If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it.
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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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So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:6
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P.O. Box 101705
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
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