29. Soundproof

 BACKGROUND: 

Soundproof a statement piece. J. Jackson and the rest of ApologetiX knows how much the secular world doesn't want to hear their parodies because the lyrics of the spoofs carry the gospel message. Therefore, in Soundproof, ApologetiX gives into the secular world's sinful desires. Soundproof is a live acoustic album. All the songs on the album are performed on quieter acoustic instruments, as opposed to their louder electric counterparts. This is very much a live album, as the album records a whole concert, merely cutting out the talking parts between the songs.

TITLE:

Soundproof is a beautiful wordplay, using a double entendre.  Literally speaking, Merriam-Website defines soundproof as "impervious to sound" or "to insulate so as to obstruct the passage of sound." Figuratively speaking, to soundproof is to make a solid argument, free from criticisms. The ApologetiX seek to do both in this album. They have created a soundproof apologetic for the Word of God with the songs in this album. They also soundproof the music by playing with softer acoustic instruments. When the ApologetiX named this album Soundproof, they truly made a double entendre.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:

I will be up front with my bias here. I am not of fan of any live albums, no matter what band releases them. I know the purpose of the live album is to capture the feel of being at a live concert, either because not everybody can afford to make it to a concert (costs too much, too far away, etc.) or because the band wants to preserve the concert feel when they can no longer perform live concerts. Particularly to the ApologetiX, I understand why the chose to do a string of live albums from 2005 to 2010. The ApologetiX started feeling their first financial crunch at this time, and they did live albums as a cost saving measure. With studio albums, there are several takes of each individual instrument (including vocals), plus re-recording, re-mixing and re-mastering, which can all add up on the bill. With live albums, the band has 1 take, and that's it (with some minor tweeking in the studio, which still overall costs less). It renders the the former the more expensive option, and the latter option becomes the cheaper option. Still, this does not change my distaste towards live albums. I willingly suspend belief and acknowledge that studio albums use the best music technology to produce the best quality sound, even if that sound is not "true" to the band. By default, therefore, live albums will always be lesser in quality. Even if the live album is "more true" to the band's sound, I rather listen to that top-notch "fake" quality sound than listen to a lesser "true" sound. If I wanted a concert sound, I would go to a concert. I do not want not hear wild and crazy fans screaming or spikes in the sound due to technical difficulties while I am casually listening to music at home or in my car.

At this point, you might think, "Wow, Graham hates acoustic albums, and Graham hates live albums, so Soundproof should end up at the lowest rank album," yet you can see it is second-to-land, standing solely ahead of Apol-acoustiX. Why? How? Well, there is some things that Soundproof gets right, some of which "fix" what Apol-acoustiX gets wrong.

Recall how I said Apol-acoustiX should have used songs famous for being acoustic. Well, Soundproof does that! "I'm Cured" (parody of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz) and "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd) are famous for being acoustic songs! I wish that the ApologetiX would have held off "Amos" (parody of "Layla" by Eric Clapton and Derek & the Dominos) for Soundproof, instead of using on The Boys Aren't Backing Down. Remember how I said Apol-acoustiX should have merely made acoustic version of the previous hits? Well, Soundproof does that! "Lions" (parody of "Signs" by Five Man Electric Band), "Ain't That A Miracle" (parody of "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp and "That Daughter" (parody of "Black Water" by Doobie Brothers) all appear on Isn't Wasn't Ain't. "Yer Maker" (parody of "D'Yer Maker" by Led Zeppelin") occurs on Radical History Tour. It's the perfect compromise. Re-performing these songs from Isn't Wasn't Ain't and Radical History Tour on Soundproof allows lyricist J. Jackson to updates these parodies from his early years, when he was very new at this. If they fans like the older version with the full band, they can go back to Isn't Wasn't Ain't and Radical History Tour. If the fans prefer the new lyrics and the acoustic instruments, they can gravitate towards these songs' performance on Soundproof. Fans never has to sacrifice one for the other, feeling like they missed out on something.

Furthermore, to be fair, Soundproof differs from Apol-acoustiX in another big factor. As the flavor text under title says, Apol-acoustiX is just pair of acoustic guitars. Soundproof has every instrument expected in a full band, except they are the acoustic (non-electric) versions. Both Toms (Tincha and Milnes) play on acoustic guitars, feeding well off of each other as lead and rhythm guitarists. Bill Hubauer played a grand piano instead of an electric keyboard. Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner played on his usual "acoustic drums" (most bands don't have an electric drum set because they know it sounds fake). The only played his normal instrument was Keith Haynie, and I'm honest surprised that he did not play an acoustic bass guitar, since such a thing exists (a former member of my church's worship team use to play an acoustic bass guitar). All in all, since the songs on Soundproof contain a full acoustic band, instead of a pair of acoustic guitars, listeners of Soundproof don't feel like they are missing out on an instrument's part, as they would with Apol-acoustiX. Soundproof songs don't miss out on the bass line or the beat of the drums, unlike the songs on Apol-acoustiX.

The question remains, however, if the listener misses out on some of these songs because they lack the hard-rocking electric instruments. Sadly, I would say the answer is yes to many of these songs. As the biggest example, "Aquilla" (parody of "Aqualung" by Jethro Tull) lacks without that strong electric guitar intro and outro, as well as the solo. Yes, a majority of that song has the acoustic guitar in the verses, but the most famous chord of the song is the electric guitar's intro and outro, as well as that electric guitar solo. In a close second is "Second Glance" (parody of "Second Chance" by Shinedown) for missing its electric guitar. Yes, I know the acoustic guitar in verses sticks out as prominent, but the chorus misses out on the electric guitar backing it. To list off a few more in rapid fire, "Sin of the World" (parody of "Cinnamon Girl" by Neil Young), "Did You Ever Ask Where Cain Got His Wife?" (parody of "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" by Lovin' Spoonful), "Gideon (Man of God)" (parody of "Get It On" by T.Rex), "Trust Him" (parody of "Truckin" by Grateful Dead), "Huge Slumber Party" ("Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon) and "It's All In God's Control" (parody "It's Only Rock N Roll" by the Rolling Stones) all were originally composed with full electric bands in mind, as seen in their original secular counterparts. Therefore, these acoustic band parodies, even though it's a full acoustic band, seems incomplete without them. Just like I said with Apol-acoustiX, these song should have been recorded with a full electric band in studio before making this live acoustics album. To this day, I still hope and pray that every one of the songs mentioned in this paragraph land on a studio album, or at least get a single (one came kind of close).

FAVORITE SONG: "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd)

Naturally, all the songs I said missed out without a studio recording of electric instruments would not make my favorite song. Of course, all the redone songs on the album would not make it either because I prefer the original master recording on the older albums. I almost gave it to "No Shepherd Tonight/New Other Nature" (parody of "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" by The Guess Who) because when the Guess Who performs it live, they play with all acoustic instruments. Listening to original studio recording, however, it sounds like the original song had electric instruments, and I would rather hear that. That pretty much leaves "I'm Cured" (parody of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz) and "Wish You Could Hear" (parody of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd) because both songs are famous for their acoustic performances. "I'm Cured" is a nice song about Jesus healing the paralytic man, but it's just another song about a Bible story. "Wish You Could Hear," on the other hand, is a song about Jesus, who healed those physically suffering from blindness, deafness and mutness, also came to heal the sinner, who is spiritually blind, spiritually deaf and spiritually mute. It makes a good altar call song, and I imagine the ApologetiX used this as their altar call song for their altar call. It would not surprise me at all if somebody came to Christ due to this song. But to be honest, I do feel like this is my favorite song by default just because there is so many that did not qualify due to nit-picks (I swear I like this album better than Apol-acoustiX!)

FINAL VERDICT: 29th.

Soundproof improves from Apol-acoustix because it knows what it wants to be and it takes that into consideration for its setlist. Since it wants to be an acoustic album, it parodies songs famous for being acoustic. Since it wants to be a live album, it spoofs songs that already have studio recordings, even if those studio records are from some of the band's oldest albums. Even the brand new songs get the get the full band, not just a pair of dudes and a pair of guitars. Still, the absence of electric instruments from these songs, especially the new songs, reminds the listener that these parodies are glorified covers because they don't sound like the original. The ApologetiX are a Christian rock band, even if that's a Christian parody rock band, so these songs should sound like they rock! Unfortuneatly, they do not. I hope that all these songs on Soundproof, especially the news ones, get the studio treatment.

29. Soundproof
30. Apol-acoustiX