16. Apoplectic

 BACKGROUND:

ApologetiX considers Apoplectic a sequel or successor to Ticked! Now this isn't the first album to get that designation. Hot Potato Soup also got called called a follow-up to Ticked! Apoplectic deserves the designation even more, though. First and foremost, Apoplectic reflects Ticked! in tone. It addresses some of the hot topics modern Christians face, and they are not afraid to answer them with attitude. Second, Apoplectic reflects Ticked! in musical decade. Just like Ticked!, all parodies from Apoplectic come from the 90s. In fact, somebody could argue Apoplectic better represents the 90s more than Ticked, for Apoplectic covers from 1991 to 1998, and Ticked! only covers 1991 to 1996 (to be fair, though, Ticked! came out in 1997). Even more to the point, lyricist and lead singer J. Jackson states that he wrote all these parodies at the same time as Ticked! parodies (with the exception of "God Know Your Tried," since the original "Slide" came out in 1998), so even the rewritten lyrics come from the 90s! Third, Apoplectic reflects Ticked! in musical genre. Apoplectic has the same ratio of alternative rock, grundge and pop as Ticked! Fourth, Apoplectic reflects Ticked! because it spoofs the same artists. Alanis Morissette, Bush and Foo Fighters all make an appearance on both albums. Apoplectic is truly indeed the sequel or successor to Ticked!

TITLE:

The term "apoplectic" simply means "to be very ticked." How fitting for this album! Apoplectic is just more of Ticked!, thus it is very much like Ticked!, and thus it is very Ticked! I bet there is a lot of synonyms out there that mean "very ticked," but apoplectic is definitely the best one because it sounds similary close to the band name ApologetiX. While I don't talk about it much, the album cover fits the title. The album cover for Apoplectic  imitates the album cover for Nirvana's Nevermind, the most famous album to come out of the 90s. Even the cover reinforces the album, just like the title!

CRITIQUE:

ApologetiX counts Apoplectic as one of the 4 volumes of singles CDs, which is so ironic, for Apoplectic is very different from Singles Group, Laoded 45s and Unconditional Releases. For those 3 albums, they very much feel like a bunch of singles thrown onto a CD. For Apoplectic, all the songs share unity in musical era, musical genre and theological themes. If these 4 volumes are singles compilation, this is the best one. In fact, after these 4 volumes, ApologetiX would get better minded thinking about the singles individually and the albums as a whole. Even in comparison to those, Apoplectic may just the best one.

Apoplectic constists of 13 tracks, 1 more than the average "singles compilation" album! That alone is already worth celebrating! Of the 13 tracks, 8 parodies come from recently released singles (3 to be exact), and other 5 spoofs are brand new and never released. I have mixed feeling about this, and I will admit that my mixed feelings might be out of fear of coming across as a hypocrite, or at least contradicting myself. On one hand, I love the idea. The 5 brand new, never released spoofs give reason to buy the album, even if you already own the singles. On the other hand, I hate the idea. If a fan has already purchased those 3 singles, he or she will feel like he or she is purchasing duplicate songs. If the fan does not purchase the album, he or she misses out on 5 parodies. You can see my indecisive feelings here. Like I have said in the past, I didn't mind ApologetiX releasing album tracks earily as a download for pre-ordering an album. Perhaps it would have been better if the single was a free reward for pre-ordering the album. Maybe it would have been better if numbers were swapped, with the 8 brand new, never released spoofs and 5 parodies previously released.

As far as I know, the only re-recording on this album is "Proving My Religion" (parody of "Losing My Religion" by REM). This dates back to the ApologetiX's cassettes, and it also appears on the Rare Not Well Done rarities. Fortunately for me, somebody did upload this song to YouTube, so I got the opportunity to listen to it. This re-recording was definitely warranted. The sound quality is worse than Isn't Wasn't Ain't. While it is a re-recording, it's so old, I will allow it.

FAVORITE SONG: "One of Us Indeed" (parody of "One of Us" by Joan Osborne)

The change J. did the title says everything. Talk about redeeming a song! In original, Joan Osborne contemplates what it would be like if God was a human who wandered with humanity. Of course, Christians know that God actually did  walk with humans, and his name was Jesus. Christians don't have to ask "What if?" because Christians know "He did!" Not only does "One of Us Indeed" clearly established Jesus as God incarnate, it establishes Jesus as the Messiah, the suffering servant, the sacrificial lamb and the perfect human being. Musically speaking, Janna Jackson, daughter of J. Jackson continues to progressively improve, and this may be her best performance. J. also does a good job backing vocals, too. Like I said, the one addition of "indeed" makes all the difference, in the title and in the song. It is the emphasis that makes it absolutely true.

FINAL VERDICT: 16th

Apoplectic is the best volume of the singles CDs. It has the most songs of all the singles CDs. It has unity of an album, unified in music genre, unified in musical decade, unified in theological theme. It really does feel like an extension of Ticked! Unfortunately, it also falls short of Ticked! or any album for that matter. 13 tracks is too short for a full album, especially when their older albums contained 18-22 tracks. It may feel like even less, considering that 8 songs already were released as singles, and another 1 a re-release. Still all these parodies are solid, so solid it is worth purchasing again. I can only hope and pray that future ApologetiX albums are all like Apoplectic .