19. Play Nice

BACKGROUND: 

Play Nice was the 3rd of 4 albums released in 2015. All 12 tracks were previously released as singles. 11 of them are brand new and 1 is a re-recording from an older album.

TITLE: 

The title Play Nice accurately describes so many tracks on this album. The album begins with "He Spoke" (parody of "The Stroke" by Billy Squier), a parody about presenting an apologetic (see what I did there) to a non-Christian. The album ends with "To Be Rebuked" (parody of "To Be With You" by Mr. Big), a spoof about how to apply church discipline. In both cases, the Christian must carefully do so by playing nice. In part, one can place nice by talking softly and calmly. The music itself reflect this attitude. Only 1 song qualifies as heavy metal, and only 2 songs qualify as hard rock. The other 9 tracks fall under the category of alternative rock, blues rock, folk rock, soft rock, new wave and disco. Furthermore, 4 songs have female vocals, adding to that idea of soft spoken. The title Play Nice describes both the message of the album and the sound of the album.

CRITIQUE:

Now that we are out of the bottom 10, you'll notice the reviews will get shorter. Do not mistake shorter reviews for dislike of the album. If anything, the opposite is true. The earlier reviews were long because I felt necessary to go into detail to defend my negativity. Now that these albums have less negative features and more positive features, I have less to say. These middle 10 will differ from the top 10 because the top 10 I will shower with praise, once again making long reviews. The short reviews in the middle reflective the neutrality of the quality. There's not bad, but there's not exactly good either.

Ultimately, Play Nice is another one of those single compilation albums because all the tracks on the album originally came out as singles. Now at this time you'd expect me to go on my rant about how much I don't like ApologetiX releasing singles on a biweekly basis and how I wish the band would go back to annual albums. I won't, however, for good reason. At this point, the tide has changed. Before, ApologetiX would just record parodies as they came up, and when they got 11 or 12 or 13, they would throw them onto a CD. Now, it seems ApologetiX was album-minded just as much as singles-minded. When they create singles, they think of how they can arrange together on an album. As mentioned in the title section, all the tracks share a common message and have a common sound, and the title reflects it. See, this is what I mean when I say an album is planned. Therefore, even though all these songs first came out as singles, I will treat them as an album. See, I'm even calling Play Nice an album, not a CD.

Indeed, Play Nice fulfills the goal of its message. The album starts an end with a subject matter that requires the believer to play nice. The music accompanies the idea of playing nice, as it is the softer end of rock 'n' roll. In fact, this does the album well, as it presents a lot of subgenres of rock, as well as new wave and disco. This variety in music genres will attract fans from all ages and all backgrounds. One thing worth noting is that these songs are more theological than biblical, meaning they are less about Bible stories and more about Christian living. I notice this changeover happening more and more often as the years go by and ApologetiX perform more parodies. I personally prefer the Bible stories ones because that allows us to make our own interpretation, whereas the theological ones tell us what to believe. I won't knock the theological songs too hard, though, for ApologetiX's theology is on point and top notch. Just be aware that if you're looking more for Bible teaching than theology preaching, this album will not be for you.

Play Nice has 12 tracks. As always, I will blitz through them in a lightning-round fasion, culminating with the favorite song. You'll notice that I only mention 9 songs (including the favorite song). That's because there's 3 songs on this album I just don't care for, but that's on the original artist, not ApologetiX, and it's unfair to judge ApologetiX on that.

As stated earlier, "He Spoke" (parody of the "The Stroke" by Billy Squier) fits well for the introductory song of Play Nice, as it talks about a subject matter which requires nice play. It's a wonderfully composed subject matter, too. The God who spoke the universe into creation is the same God who spoke law and order into the world. To deny how the creation was made by claiming evolution is to deny the creator his deserved glory. It is also very fitting that the first song of the album finds it basis from the first chapter of the Bible. Definitely some redeemed lyrics there.

"Desperate Queen" (parody of "Dancing Queen" by ABBA) retells the story of Esther. Esther has been parodied twice before in ApologetiX's library: "Little Esther" (parody of "Little Sister" by Elvis Presley) on Isn't Wasn't Ain't and "Sufferin' Just Finished" (parody of "Suffragette City" by David Bowie) on Grace Period. Later on, lyricist and J. Jackson would write another parody about Esther called "Xerxes's Song" (parody of "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain). Repeating a Bible story doesn't mean it's the same. "Desperate Queen" focuses on the relationship between Esther and Mordecai, a new apporach to the story. Besides, even if the same story, it's fresh because of the music. All the other songs about Esther are rock songs. If you want to learn about Esther, but you don't like rock, you might want to try the disco "Desperate Queen."

"We Got the Feet" (parody of "We Got the Beat" by The Go-Gos) does a nice job of combining Jesus washing the disciples' feet in John 13:1-17 to Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 52:7 and Paul's proclamation of said prophecy's fulfillment in Romans 10:15. To date, this is the best performance of Janna Jackson and Heather Jackson. Todd Waites and Bill Hubauer do an excellent job feeding off one another on the keys. While it doesn't sound exactly like the original, it sounds very close to the original.

"Patients" (parody of "Patience" by Guns N Roses) is a re-recording. It originally appeared on the cassette Get Your Wigs and the CD Isn't Wasn't Ain't. Being so early in ApologetiX's life, Isn't Wasn't Ain't has a quality of sound that would best described as "rough." I actually thought that "Patients" on Isn't Wasn't Ain't wasn't that bad, especially in comparison to the rest of the tracks on it. I didn't think it needed the re-recording, either music-wise or lyric-wise. Yes, the revision on Play Nice is closer to the Guns N Roses original, which is appreciated, but it wasn't necessary. As I have said in many reviews before, I will prefer brand-new and fresh parodies before re-recorded spoofs, but I understand ApologetiX feels differently.

For those fans who wanted something more along the lines of hard rock, Play Nice has "Drop Your Knife and Hurry Man" (parody of "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by Scorpions) and "Unfinished Job" (parody of "Unskinny Bop" by Poison). "Drop Your Knife and Hurry Man" tells the story Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac in Genesis 22. This story has already been covered in in "Genny 22" (parody "Jenny/867-5309" by Tommy Tutone) and technically "Sin of the World" (parody of "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young). The classic rock of "Genny 22" sounds very different from the hard rock/heavy metal sound of "Drop Your Knife and Hurry Man," so it's all a matter of preference how your would like your retelling of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac to sound. "Unfinished Job" relays the difficulties and the struggles about fulfilling the Great Commission. Another great redemption from what the originally lyrics sing about. Again, these 2 tracks scratch the hard rock itch on an album of soft rock and other alternative forms of rock.

Finally, Play Nice wraps up with "To Be Rebuked" (parody of "To Be with You" by Mr. Big). As talked about earlier, this was the perfect song to conclude the album because the subject matter also requires people to play nice. Again, I compliment J. Jackson's willingness to tackle such a difficult subject. It's hard enough talk about it; I can't imagine what it is like to sing about it! J. does an excellent job of intertwining Proverbs 27:5 and Luke 17:3-4 into the main text of Matthew 18:15-17. That leaves one last song...

FAVORITE SONG: "Tufftumbling" (parody of "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba)

Again, this might be the 90s kid experiencing 90s nostalgia here, but I love this parody. The voice of Krista Haynie, the wife of Keith Haynie, was indeed a perfect choice to do this spoof. Her female vocals and J.'s male vocals feed off each other well, just like in the original. This is definitely another good example of redeeming the lyrics. The original song sings about a drunk man, so drunk he can't even stand, rambling on and on about his political views in his drunkenness. This parody sings about the Lord supporting us, no matter how many times we stumble and fall. That's the true way we get up again after getting knocked down! The only complaint is having a first chorus and a second chorus. Having new lyrics misses the whole point of a chorus. Besides that, an all around good spoof!

FINAL VERDICT: 19th

Play Nice falls short on only providing 12 parodies, whereas older ApologetiX albums have 18-22 spoofs. Furthermore, it doesn't help that 1 track is re-recorded song that, in my opinion, didn't the re-recording. Personally, it doesn't help that I only like 9 of the 12 songs on this album, including the re-recorded one. In order to like this album, you'll have to prefer the theological songs over Bible songs, for the theological songs outrank the Bible stories 2 to 1. You'll also have to love a variety of genres, with hard rock and heavy metal in the minority. If you are a lover of hard rock and heavy metal, this album is not for you. Thos who don't mind the genre variety and the theological songs outnumbering the Bible songs, Play Nice will serve as a lovely additional to the collection.

(Just a quick excursus. Since is the 29th album, the second-to-last album in this ranking, let me just say that the albums after this one continue the pattern of releasing 11-13 singles related to one another, followed by unifying them on an album. Some albums do this better, while other albums do it worse. Worse albums do re-recordings and live songs in their track list. Better albums have 11-13 brand new studio recordings, unified through musical genre, musical decade or theological them. Play Nice is one of the better examples of what ApologetiX should do for the future).