23. Unconditional Releases

 BACKGROUND:

Not much to say here. Simply put, ApologetiX had released their next 12 singles, so it was time to release another CD. According to ApologetiX, this is the 4th volume of singles on CD.

TITLE:

ApologetiX at least attempts to give the name of this CD. Naturally, ApologetiX does what they do best by putting using double entendre to give the title multiple meanings. The CD is called Unconditional Releases because all the songs on the CD were originally singles that anyone purchase with any donation of any amount. 2 of the songs on this CD talk about the unconditional release of slaves. "Set Him Free" (parody of "Let It Be" by the Beatles) is about Paul's command to Philemon to unconditionally release Onesimus from his physical slavery. "Seek Out God To Be Free" (parody of "People Got To Be Free" by the Rascals) is about spiritual slavery. ApologetiX also uses this term in irony. Wheras when a sports team releases their athlete unconditionally, they have no use for him, the Lord's unconditional release of us results in us becoming more useful to the Lord than ever. Like I said, ApologetiX did this CD better than others, but not much better.

CRITIQUE:

Now that I have gotten past all the acoustic albums, all the live albums and that 1 compilation album that barely qualifies for the list, we should be in the clear, right? Not exactly. Let me give you a little sneak peak, not only into this album's ranking, but also the next 2 album's ranking. The next 3 albums will be Unconditional Releases, Loaded 45's and Singles Group. Here's why.

At this point in ApologetiX's career, the band has shifted from releasing an album on an annual basis to releasing singles on a biweekly basis. Now let me be clear I know why they did this. At this time, the band began feeling the financial crunch. This was done with the intention of hopefully bringing in more income. Also, ApologetiX lyricist and lead singer J. Jackson has very well explained that that, when they started doing this, the new trend with music (both in the secular and the sacred realm) was to release a bunch of singles, due to the growth of digital outlets, like iTunes. Therefore, ApologetiX is merely following current trends. J. Jackson has also explained very well that, in a way, this is going back to older days, when bands would release singles on 45-rpms on top of relesasing albums. I get all of that. It seems like, however, that they had strong negative feedback from the fans, who insisted on CDs over singles, who insisted on albums over 45s. Thus, after ApologetiX released about 12 or 13 singles, they would put them onto a CD. I don't know, but for some reason, I imagine ApologetiX just did this because the fans, not them, wanted it. I imagine ApologetiX reading over fan e-mails crying for albums over 45s and CDs and them yelling, "Fine! After we release 12 or 13 singles, we'll put them on CD!" I'm surprised they didn't just say, "If you want them on CD, you can burn them onto one," like they did for the Rare Not Well Done rarities (ApolpgetiX Songbook, p.39). 

While I wasn't one of those fans who sent a [hypothetical] complaint e-mail, I can definitely relate to their complaints. Call me a traditionalist (which may not be as traditional as I thought), but I miss the old way of doing things. I miss getting a new album once a year. It wasn't over-saturated, and it gave something to look forward to as a fan. I get pre-releasing some singles from an album as a pre-order bonus, like they did for Wordplay and Recovery. This, however, does the complete opposite. Fans who already bought the singles don't want to buy the CD if they already got all the songs on the CD downloaded, and fans who will wait for the CD because they don't want to download singles will have to patiently delay getting some quality music. I truly feel like it's one step forward and one step backward because the band ends up literally in the same spot. This is a numbers game, too. Prior to 2014, when their strategy became releasing singles, ApologetiX would release 1 album annually, which averaged 18-22 parodies on it. When they began releasing singles biweekly, it resulted in about 36 spoofs per year. That's an increase in the number of released songs, so that should be good, right? It should be, but it's not exactly. ApologetiX chooses to release these 36 songs on 3 albums, averaging 12 tracks per album. Do the math. The ApologetiX should release 2 albums per year, with 18 songs on each of them. Again, I know the ApolgetiX did this to increase their income, and my heart goes out to them for their financial struggles, but the buyers should feel like they are getting their money's worth for being fans. Trust me, the true fans will gladly donate more if they feel like they are getting more out of their donation. Furthermore, this complicates this ranking. If the singles come out first and then the CD, doesn't that make most of their CDs from 2014 and onward all compilation albums? Normally, I would say, however, some of these "singles compilations" have all the parodies go together so well, the band deserves praises for that. Therefore, I will keep all 8 albums made in 2014 and 2015 (albums 2016 and afterward are beyond the first 30 albums) in the ranking, but those that feel like compilations of singles will get a demerit for feeling like compilation albums.

Unconditional Releases definitely feels like a compilation of singles. Yes, it does have those 2 songs that have to do with unconditional release of slavery, but that's it. I guess they could all fall under the category of "classic rock," as the original music for all these parodies spans the timeline from 1962 to 1981, but "Hannukah" (parody of "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summers) is more disco, and "Offer Your Prayer" (parody of ""Scarborough Fair/Canticle" by Simon & Garfunkle) is more folk. On the flip side, there is not enough different to praise it for its variety. Most of the songs come from the '60s or '70s, with a couple outliers in the early '80s. Besides that 1 disco song and that 1 folk song, it's all classic rock. It appeals to only a certain fanbase of certain music. Again, it very much feels like ApologetiX said, "OK, we got 12 singles, release a CD!" Even the cover artwork for this CD reaffirms this, as it merely puts together all 6 of the singles' artwork, with the CD title in the middle.

Honestly, personally, I only like about half the songs on this album (again, acredit it to a limited time frame and a limited musical genre), so let me tell you what I like about those songs, and it will culminate with the favorite song. "Set Him Free" (parody of "Let It Be" by the Beatles) is simply a song that covers the whole book of Philemon, which is easy, considering it's only 1 chapter (or 0 chapters, depending how you look at it). "Another One Died For Us" (parody of "Another Bites the Dust" by Queen) is kind of disappointing because it feels like a lost opportunity. ApologetiX turned this parody into a theological song about Jesus as the substitutionary atonement. Another Christian parody band parodied "Another One Bites the Dust" into "Adam was made from Dust," which just sounds like it fits so much better. "Bad Case of Leprosy" (parody of "Bad Case of Loving You" by Robert Palmer) simply retells the story of Naaman and his leprosy, a classic ApologetiX spoof retelling a Bible story. It's cute that J. got the idea for "Offer Your Prayer" (parody of "Scarborough Fair/Canticle” by Simon & Garfunkle) from his childhood, when he mistaken thought a line of original sung "Save Rosemary in time." This parody is a prayer that none shall perish but all shall have eternal life, a prayer Paul told Timothy to pray in 1 Timothy 2:4. "The Whole Darn Roof Leaks" (parody of "Hold on Loosely" by 38 Special) is what I like to call one of ApologetiX's "object lesson" songs. They take an object (in this case, a leaky roof), and they use it to teach a lesson (in this case, that God is control, so hold onto faith in Jesus). With a title like "The Whole Darn Roof Leaks," I was surprised the parody wasn't based off of Proverbs 27:15, which reads "A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm" (maybe J. just didn't want to get in trouble with his wife ;-) ). The spoof still works, though. I like how the original songs makes losing control sound like a bad thing, but this parody makes it clear the surrendering control to the Lord is a good thing. While a close 2nd favorite song, it is not better than...

FAVORITE SONG: "Hannukah" (parody of "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summers)

You would not expect a song about Hannukah to come from a Christian band. You would expect that from a Jewish parody band! Yet here it is, and it makes good sense. Did you know Jesus celebrated Hannukah? Yes, he did! In John 8:12, John records that Jesus went down to Jerusalem to celebrate the winter festival. You can read all up and down the Old Testament as much as you want, but you will not find a winter festival. The closest you will find is that Daniel prophesies of the events that Hannukah celebrates. All of this is explained very well in this ApologetiX parody. To make things cooler about this spoof, J. directly cites the Old Testament apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees in this parody! If ApologetiX has any Roman Catholic fans, they would appreciate that. And as stated in J.'s journal, it is not lost on me that a song about a winter festival was originally sung by a woman with the last name of Summers. Also, music-wise, ApologetiX, a Christian rock band, brings about the rock elements of this disco song, especially with the guitar solo, so the disco song doesn't feel out of place with this Christian rock band.

FINAL VERDICT: 23rd.

Of all the "volumes" (12-13 songs really doesn't feel like a "volume") of singles, this CD feels the most like a compilation of singles. You may have notice this whole review I have been careful to say "CD" instead of "album." That is because it does not feel like an album. An album has a united theme, whether that be the music of the instruments or the lyrics from the singer or something else. All these songs come from a 19 year timespan, which could technically put them in the same music genre, but that really is a stretch. Unconditional Releases does feel like 12 singles burned onto a CD, like a mixtape of sorts. If there was thought behind it beyond the double entendre meaning of the title, it doesn't show. I just should be glad that all 12 songs are studio recordings of brand-new parodies. In fact, most of these spoofs J. didn't even think of until 2014, the year Unconditional Releases came out. Therefore, Unconditional Releases feels like the freshest of all ApologetiX spoofs in a long time.