2. Wordplay

 BACKGROUND:

Wordplay is ApologetiX's 13th album. It came out in December 2006, after recording between concerts in the spring, summer and fall of that same year. Indeed, the band had to pretty much record the album between concerts, as they had 134 concerts that year, an all-time high at that point. Wordplay was a breath of fresh air for fans, as it was the first studio album since 2003. 2004 had a compilation album, and 2005 had an acoustic & live album, but neither year had a live album. Wordplay also has some notoriety because longtime drummer Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner.

TITLE:

Wordplay is the simplest yet most profound title for an ApologetiX album. As a parody band, ApologetiX has a dependency on wordplay. They need wordplay for their lyrics, their song titles, the album titles, and heck, the band's name is in a way a wordplay. Therefore, this one-word title says it all when it comes to what's in the album. The band's use of wordplay reflects how biblical they are, for the Bible has tons of wordplay within itself. The title Wordplay is a wordplay within itself, too. The parodies that retell Bible stories, or stories from the Word of God, are mini-plays, like Jesus Christ Superstar or Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. That makes them plays on the Word, or Word plays. Like I said, such a simple, one-word title has such a profound impact on the album.

CRITIQUE:

As always, let's look at Wordplay for its diversity and its unity.

Wordplay covers a span of 37 years, from "Back in the New Testament" (parody of "Back in the U.S.S.R." by The Beatles) in 1968 to 3 songs from 2005. Don't let this span fool you, though. It does not mean it covers 5 decades. The 90's are completely absent. The 60's only has representation once. The 80's only receives representation twice. A majority of this album's songs originated from 2003 to 2005. While not every musical decade has good representation, or any representation, the spread over the years means a good balance between classic rock and modern rock. Indeed, this is probably one of the best balanced ApologetiX albums. So many other albums with either focus mostly on classic rock and throw in modern rock as an afterthought, or they will focus majorly on modern rock and throw in some classic rock at the end for extra flare. While not exactly 50:50, the balance between classic and modern rock attracts both the older and younger generations. This balance feels intentional, and if not, they had me fooled.

Speaking of musical genres and speaking of balance, this album has some of the best diversity in genre. Of course, since ApologetiX is a Christan rock parody band, most of the entries of this album is rock, both classic rock and modern rock. ApologetiX hasn't forgotten their non-rock fans, however, for they give each of them a little something. Desire your rock to sound more like heavy metal? "Swimmer" (parody of "Slither" by Velvet Revolver) is your heavy metal. Like rap and hip hop? Take a listen to "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West). For those lovers of country music, Wordplay has 2 entries for you: "Save Your Voice, Quiet Down Boy" (parody of "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" by Big & Rich) and "Humpty Dumpty Country Club" (parody of Honky Tonky Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins). Even for the remaining rock, some of them fall under the subgenres of rock. For example, "Boulevard of Both Extremes" (parody of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day) falls under the subgenre punk rock. As you can see, Wordplay definitely has variety in musical genre.

Wordplay has variety in other ways. The album has variety in original band. This album has 20 tracks, and those 20 track come rom 20 original bands. No single band has multiple songs on this album, which is good for variety. Wordplay also has variety in its Bible story songs and theology teaching songs. Not only can the 20 tracks divide equally in Bible story songs and theology teaching songs, not a single Bible story or theological theme is repeated, which was a problem in previous albums. With so much variety in Wordplay, this album truly has something for everybody.

What also make this album so good is that every band member is at the height of their performing abilities. This is the best singing lead singer J. Jackson has done to date. This is the best guitar playing lead guitarist Karl Messner has done to date. This is the best bass playing from Keith Haynie to date. This the best keys playing from Bill Hubauer to date. I would say the same for Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner, but since this is his debut for ApologetiX, I wouldn't know because I didn't follow his previous band Ten Point Ten. What I will say, though, is that Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner seamlessly and smoothly integrates into the band. No offense the ApologetiX band numbers of past, present and future, but if somebody were to ask me to imagine ApologetiX in my hand, the band members that recorded this album is what I picture. It does kind of fit, as they are the longest tenured in their respective position.

If I had to find any complaint, it would be again that this album only has 20 tracks when we know ApologetiX albums can have 21 or 22 tracks. We also know, however, that audio CDs can only hold 1 1/4 hours of music. I imagine "Won't Get Born Again" (parody of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who) can take some of the blame, taking up almost 7 minutes on the album. Still, I would prefer 2 shorter songs over 1 long song.

FAVORITE SONG: "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West).

When it comes to rap, you have to be saying something. Rap needs to have a message, a strong message. Lyricist and lead singer J. Jackson has something to say in "Bone Digger" (parody of "Gold Digger" by Kayne West). J. Jackson has a loud and clear message that evolution is wrong and creation is right. J. Jackson has clearly done his research with this song. He does an excellent job of keeping up with the pace of the rap, which few people can do, like Kayne. To think that this one of the last songs to make the album! I'm glad it did.

FINAL VERDICT: 2nd

Wordplay has so much variety. It has variety in musical genre. It has variety in original bands. It has variety in Bible stories and theological teaching. It kind of sort of has variety has musical decades. It spans over 5 decades, although not all 5 decades are represented. Musically speaking, this is the band's best performance on the instruments. Lyrically speaking, J. has written the most knowledgeable, wise and understanding lines. If I had any complaint, it's the fact it's too short because I just want more of it. It's hard for any album to compete with it, yet one album will, and it will take 1st place.