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From the Vault...
02/06/2022
#1816 |
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info
Apologetix
"Apol-Acoustic"
© Paraodudes Records
Year of Release: 2005
Rating:
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track listing
Talk About The Lord
Don't Be Fooled
The Sounds Of Silas
We're Not Gonna Drown
Mediterranean
Wholebook News
Scripture
Last Rain The Clouds Spill
Eight Ways To Be
More Than Works
Trinity
Two-Time Baby/
Lord'sHouse Blues
Yes Today
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Apologetix related sites:
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Apologetix
"Apol-Acoustic"
If there was a "Weird Al" of Christian music, that would be the band Apologetix. A Christian band, that creates parodies of well known songs, using Christian
lyrics. Apologetix debuts this week, with their acoustic release from 2005, Apol-Acoustix. Apologetix has been recording for 29 years, starting in 1993.
From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the band has used their lyrics from Biblical passages, practices and scripture references. All in good humor, Apologetix takes a
different approach in Chrsitian music - that is, parody songs of popular Rock songs, using Christian lyric themes.
From the Apologetix Website:
One of the biggest trends in the 90's was for artists to release "Unplugged" projects. Everyone from Clapton to KISS did it, except us. That's ironic, considering
ApologetiX co-founders J. Jackson and Karl Messner met each other in 1990 and played a lot of acoustic stuff in their early days at Bible studies before taking the
name "ApologetiX" ... and at plenty of coffee houses afterward till the band started touring on a national scale in the mid-90's.
Of course, we wouldn't be too keen on releasing any of those old performances. We wish we'd known then what we know now in terms of playing, singing, songwriting and
recording. Well, we can't rewrite history. However, we can rewrite, re-perform, and re-record some of those old songs (and some newer ones), being able to apply a
decade and a half's worth of experience. So that's what we did on "Apol-acoustiX."
We hope you'll enjoy this trip down memory lane with us. We repaved the roads for you, so it'll be a much smoother ride.
This project was recorded in January 2005 at ApologetiX Studios in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The photos herein were taken on a recording break by Karl's sister, Z,
and Karl's wife, Deb, in front of Z's shop in Dormont, PA, and at the Eat n' Park restaurant where J. & Karl christened the band "ApologetiX" 13 years earlier.
Believe it or not, when we tried to get a local newspaper from the machine in front of the restaurant, the headline said "Deja vu." God has a great sense of humor.
Then again, we've always believed that, and that's one of the reasons we do what we do.
Fifteen years after its foundation was laid, the mission of ApologetiX remains the same: "to reach the lost and teach the rest." Some things don't need to change,
no matter how many times you revisit them.
Apol-acoustix is basically an acoustic album, of acoustic guitar accompaniment. Twelve songs total for this album, all the songs are well-known Rock song
parodies.
| Apol-Acoustix |
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| Apologetix Parody Title | Original Song Title and Artist |
|---|
| 1) | "Talk About The Lord" | "Rock Around The Clock"--Bill Haley |
| 2) | "Don't Be Fooled" | "Don't Be Cruel"--Elvis Presley |
| 3) | "The Sounds Of Silas" | "The Sounds Of Silence"--Simon & Garfunkel |
| 4) | "We're Not Gonna Drown" | "When I Come Around"--Green Day |
| 5) | "Mediterranean Wholebook News" | "Subterranean Homesick Blues"--Bob Dylan |
| 6) | "Scripture" | "Picture"--Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow |
| 7) | "Last Rain The Clouds Spill" | "Last Train To Clarksville"--The Monkees |
| 8) | "Eight Ways To Be" | "Eight Days A Week"--The Beatles |
| 9) | "More Than Works" | "More Than Words--Extreme |
| 10) | "Trinity" | "Thank You"--Led Zeppelin |
| 11) | "Two-Time Baby/Lord'sHouse Blues" | "Love Me Two Times/Roadhouse Blues"--The Doors |
| 12) | "Yes Today" | "Yesterday"--The Beatles |
"Talk About The Lord" with it's "Rock Around The Clock" arrangement is different than the original: Not only the lyrics, the arrangement is clever
compared to Haley's version. An excellent arrangement on Elvis' "Don't Be Cruel" - "Don't Be Fooled" is a great arrangement; with the background singers
just as the original had. It would be a wonder if Elvis himself did a song lyrically like this, since he did record Gospel recordings. Simon & Garfunkel's "The
Sounds Of Silence" gets a good arrangement, with "The Sounds Of Silas."
I really wasn't a big fan of Green Day, but their song I do remember hearing, and it gets a good arrangement by Apologetix -
"We're Not Gonna Drown." Then there is the Bob Dylan classic - "Subterranean Homesick Blues" - "Mediterranean Wholebook News." (Is there a
video of the Apologetix parody? Dylan's original video of this song is a must to see.)
Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow's "Picture" gets a great arrangement - "Scripture." But, on Apologetix's version, the duet is of two MALE bandmembers,
not a male and female as the original. A good parody in sound, just was expecting a male/female duet.
The next two songs were originally recorded by two great bands, The Monkees and The Beatles. And, just like the originals, the Apologetix version are just as
exceptional: "Last Rain The Clouds Spill" ("Last Train To Clarksville") and "Eight Ways To Be" ("Eight Days A week.")
And it just gets better: Extreme's "More Than Words" is another great (acoustic) song (and video). Apologetix does a great parody on this song -
"More Than Works." (An Apologetix video of this one would also be good to see...) Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" gets a good parody treatment -
"Trinity." And The Doors medley of "Love Me Two Times/Roadhouse Blues" being "Two-Time Baby/Lord'sHouse Blues" you could see the lead singer
with the acoustic guitar player performing this at the local bar. Ending the album is another Beatles parody - "Yes Today," based on... yes, you guessed it..
"Yesterday."
I've mentioned this before, how Christian music is not recognized as it should be, in general. The concept of parodies to well-known rock songs have made
Weird Al Yankovic famous. What makes this concept more interesting, is how the band Apologetix have followed the parody concept to Rock songs, but with re-creating
the lyrics in Christian themes, passages, and scriptures. You have to give Apologetix major credit in doing this - it's a great concept. And for those who
can take this parody concept of Christian humor, the lyrics are just as positive as any other original Christian or Gospel oriented songs.
The "unplugged" of Apologetix's Apol-Acousix is a fantastic look at how the parody song concept with Christian lyrics works together. It's the acoustic
sound that makes it work also. Apologetix is a great Christian parody band. If you haven't yet discovered their mix of Christian lyrics set to well-known Rock
tunes, they are worth looking into. Almost 30 years, they've given Christian music a whole new approach - With humor, and using Christian themed lyrics ... to
well-known Rock and Roll songs. Just as they wrote on the back of the Apol-Acoustix CD:
ApologetiX specializes in Biblical parodies of rock songs from the 50's through today. In 1994, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that parodies can be a fair
use of an original, requiring no permission of royalties. The band's name comes from "apologetics," which means the defense of the Christian faith.
True, the music copyrights is to watch out for. However, the "originality" of the Christian themed lyrics gives a great concept to these well-known Rock songs.
And for that, Apologetix is truly a great and gifted band.
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Review or any portion may not be reproduced
without written permission. Cover art is the
intellectual property of
Paraodudes Records
and is used for reference purposes only.
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