(Released 2002)

Tracks:

1. Corinthians [parody of "In the End" by Linkin Park]

2. Cornelius [Parody of "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel]

3. I'm a Receiver [Parody of "I'm a Believer" by Smash Mouth]

4. YHWH [Parody of "YMCA" by the Village People]

5. Smooth Grandmama [Parody of "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm]

6. Devil Went Down to Jordan [Parody of "Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniel's Band]

7. Drop of Lucifer [Parody of "Drops of Jupiter" by Train]

8. Born Above [Parody of "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen]

9. Follow Me [Parody of "Follow Me" by Uncle Kracker]

10. Don't Fear the People [Parody of "Don't Fear the Reaper" by the Blue Oyster Cult]

11. Lemonade [Parody of "Renegade" by Styx]

12. How You Rewind Me [Parody of "How You Remind Me" by Nickleback]

13. Regeneration [Parody of "My Generation" by the Who]

14. Love the Jews [Parody of "Love Me Do" by the Beatles]

15. Good Guys, Bad Guys [Parody of "Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin]

16. Flurry [Parody of "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd]

17. Tom Saw Ya [Parody of "Tom Sawyer" by Rush]

18. Sufferin' Just Finished [Parody of "Suffragette City" by David Bowie]

19. Smells Like Thirtysomething Spirit [Parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana]

20. Baa! We're Lambs [Parody of "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys]

Once again the ApologetiX PR campaign that took place prior to the release of this CD promised us that this was the best recording they'd produced to date. Did it live up to the hype? Hard to say. ApologetiX' stuff is reaching a decent enough level of production that it's hard for mere mortals to tell the difference between their latest CDs.

Is this CD better than "Keep the Change"? A lot of people think so. Personally, I'm not sure. I think I like the material chosen for "Keep the Change" better, but the quality on this CD is a little bit better and the musicianship, overall, is definitely better.

One problem with doing "parodies/covers" as ApologetiX does is that the band has to be extremely flexible with respect to their style. Digital Signal Processing electronics can take just about any old guitar and amp combination sound similar to any other guitar/amp combination, but signal processing only goes so far on vocals. Some might claim that ApologetiX' vocal talents are mediocre, at best. This is silly. J. Jackson and Karl Messner have this tremendous ability to mimic so many different vocal styles - that puts them in a very special category. Of course, no vocalist can mimic every other singer around; part of ApologetiX' task is to select songs that fit their vocal abilities. One thing few people will notice on "Grace Period" is that ApologetiX has expanded the base of vocal styles the band can do. It's a shame this isn't totally obvious (except when there are flaws) to most people. ApologetiX probably had to put in a lot of extra work on this CD to produce this song. Some may criticize ApologetiX for not "creating their own sound." I'm personally far more impressed with the wide tonal range they've produced; few professional musicians even come close.

Corinthians

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song : N/A
Message: Love waits, is kind, and is faithful

Comments: To those who don't think J. Jackson can write some beautiful lyrics, I simply say listen to the words of this song. With the exception of one line that refers to "Linkin Park" that seems a little out of place, this lyrics in this song are very profound. I'm not familiar with the original Linkin Park tune, so I can't comment on the faithfulness to the original, and the song is a little too "rappish" at points for my personal tastes, but this isn't a bad tune at all.

Cornelius

Lyrics: Fair
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Good
Faithful to original song : 6
Message: Cornelius Meeting With Peter

Comments: Well, I didn't like the original tune (Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia") so there is little that Apologetix could do to this tune to make me like it. The vocals don't quite the high-pitched quality of the Simon & Garfunkel on this tune, but if you haven't heard "Cecilia" in several years (good for you!) then you'll probably not notice the difference. Not owning this song, I can't play the two side by side, but the music definitely sounds different than I remember (a lot more percussion or, perhaps, synthesized stuff).

I'm a Receiver

Lyrics: Good
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Fair to Good
Faithful to original song : 8-9
Message: Accepting Christ's Grace

Comments: Okay, now everyone has done a parody of this song. From minor "Christianization" jobs like Dean-o and the Dynamos version to complete rewrites. With the release of this tune by Smash Mouth on the "Shrek" soundtrack, guess it was about time for ApologetiX to continue their string of "Monkees" parodies. J. Jackson commented to me in an private email that he chose "I'm a Receiver" simply to be different than all the other parodies of this Neil Diamond song. I'll give J credit, the lyrics are coherent and he has done some interesting things to the song (like not using the same words for each of the three choruses in the song). I'd heard this song performed live three times prior to hearing it on the CD so I was prejudiced by the live version (which is a little less polished and a bit "harder"). I must admit that I prefer the live version better and that definitely affects this review. This is one of the few tracks on this CD that has some obvious production flaws. The musical instruments seem somewhat muted during the first verse. The saxophone parts sound like someone accidentally wiped out all the highs (the sax could use being a whole lot brighter). The "oy" at the end of the first line in the song is a bit muted as well (contrast this with the live performance or the Smash Mouth version); otherwise the vocals are quite good on this one (very close, though certainly not identical to the Smash Mouth rendition). Somehow, I feel that there is something missing from this cut on the CD; part of the problem is that I've written my own parody to this tune (and recorded it, see "Parodeities Greatest Hits Minor issues aside, if you like the Smash Mouth (or even Monkees) version of this tune, you'll probably like "I'm a Receiver".

YHWH

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 9
Message: Moses and the Burning Bush/God's Name

Comments: The only reason this song doesn't get a 10/10 for faithfulness to the original song is because J. Jackson had to stick an extra syllable into the song's title (Y.M.C.A is four syllables, YHWH is six that he contracted to five syllables [editorial note- Okay, after a couple of emails I must confess that I was wrong about this -- the title phrase is pronounced "why-aach-dub-yaach, requiring only four syllables. I stand corrected]). I predict this is one of the tunes on this CD that kids are going to love (of course, they'll undoubtedly be signing out YMCA to this tune). This is one of the more (overtly) humorous tracks on the CD. I love the reference to the "Wheel of Fortune" in this tune and the "..for short we'll call Mo" (referring to Moses). The vocals on this one are quite good.

Smooth Grandmama

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: N/A
Message: Grandmothers Praying for Their Family

Comments: When I heard that ApologetiX was doing a Michael Jackson parody (before the release of "Grace Period"), I was getting kind of worried. Never having really listened to any Alien Ant Farm (or, at least, recognizing a song by them, which is sad since they hail from my home town), I kinda' figured this would be "write-off" track. Then I heard ApologetiX play this tune live. It totally rocks. I can see why this is the first "single" from the CD to see airplay. This song is great! The lyrics are hilarious. One could even claim that this parody belongs in the same class as a lot of Weird Al parodies since it spends a lot of time talking about food. Having since the crowd reaction to this song performed live, I can attest that this song will be one of ApolgetiX' most popular.

The Devil Went Down to Jordan

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 9-10
Message: The Temptation of Christ

Comments: Oh boy! The fiddling on this one is great. Of course, it really helps that John Parrendo (Blackhawk, Charlie Daniel's Band) did the favors. The rest of the production was great too. Charlie Daniel's fans are going to love this one. The lyrics do a great job of telling the story of Christ's temptation in the desert. Musically, this is one of the better tracks on the CD. Anyone who is familiar with the original tune will be amused by the parallels in the lyrics between this parody and the original

Drop of Lucifer

Lyrics: Fair to Good
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: N/A
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: N/A
Message: Fall of Satan

Comments: I'm not familiar with the original song, so it's hard to comment on this song with any kind of authority. The lyrics seem weaker than most on this CD; but without knowing the lyrics to the original song that's a hard judgement to make. Ditto for the vocals. Without hearing the original song it's hard to determine how close these vocals are to Train (I wouldn't rate them amazingly high by themselves). Oh well, best to leave the decision about this song to someone who knows the original. [editorial comment- those who know "Drops of Jupiter" have let me know in no uncertain terms that this is a great rendition of the song; guess I'll have to go buy the Train CD to check it out]

Born Above

Lyrics: Good to Excellent
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8-9
Message: Nicodemus Asking Christ About Being Born Again

Comments: Bruce Springsteen fans will love this one. This is one of the tunes where ApologetiX has pushed their vocal style in new directions. It isn't exactly "The Boss" but you'd have to A/B this one with the original to tell the difference unless you're a die-hard Springsteen fan that listens to this tune regularly. Everyone I've played this song was totally amazed by J's vocal mimicry of Bruce Springsteen. I'd rate the lyrics 'excellent' on this song except for a couple of places where J snuck in a few extra syllables and the lines sound a little rushed. Other than that, the lyrics tell the story of Nicodemus' conversion within the metre and timing of Bruce Springsteen's original song.

Follow Me

Lyrics: Fair to Good
Music: Good
Vocals: Fair to Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: N/A
Message: James (the brother of John) Life and Death

Comments: Some songs ApologetiX does just don't work for me. This is one of them. It just seems to drag a bit. Slower songs are much harder to sing to that fast songs, and this is one of the few songs ApologetiX has done where you can hear some minor mistakes on the vocal track (well, I've not heard the original song, so maybe J is copying the original, but it still doesn't sound right in a couple of spots). Since I don't know the original, I can't really evaluate this one.

Don't Fear the People

Lyrics: Good to Excellent
Music: Excellent (needs more cowbell [that's a BOC joke]).
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 10
Message: Persecution for Christ's Sake

Comments: I may be unfamiliar with 'Uncle Kracker' ("Follow Me"), but I am quite familiar with the Blue Oyster Cult (they were my favorite secular band for the longest time). J does a great job of emulating Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser's vocals on this song. The music is right-on BOC. The lyrics suffer in one or two spots where J inserted an extra syllable, but otherwise this is a great track. Now ApologetiX needs to do a parody of "Godzilla." :-)

Lemonade

Lyrics: Fair to Good
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8-9
Message: Salvation by Grace Rather than Following the Law

Comments: Okay, using words like "soury" and "zowie" may be cute once in a while, but this is definitely below J's normal lyrical ability. They're almost balanced by the homonymic (see, I can make up words too!) phrase "If you want it man" (in place of "I'm a wanted man"). This is another tune where ApologetiX has pushed their vocal style off in a new direction. They do a good job, but there is a clear difference between ApologetiX and Styx. They haven't done a bad job on this tune, but the vocals are clearly discernible from the original (even when you're not A/B'ing the two songs). Still, there isn't anything technically wrong with the performance and Styx fans are probably going to like it. I must admit that this song doesn't have the impact on me that I would expect (I happen to like Styx quite a bit), but I can't put my finger on the reasons why other than I wish J had explored the concept of "lemons into lemonade" a little better with the lyrics. When I write parodies, I often get side-track in the story and tend to wander a bit. One thing that makes J a whole lot better than me is that his stories are consistently coherent. I think my complaint with the lyrics to this tune is that this is one of those rare instances where the message isn't as coherent as it could be (and most of the song has little to do with the title). The title was obviously chosen to rhyme with "Renegade" but the lyrics to the song were led off in a different direction in order to stay close to the words in the original song. This bothers me a little bit, though I admit this mainly because I was led to expect one thing by the title (and the CD pre-release P.R. about this song) and the song was different from what I expected it would be.

How You Rewind Me

Lyrics: Fair to Good
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Good to Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8
Message: Forgiveness

Comments: I've only heard the original a couple of times, but with the recollection I've got I believe ApologetiX has done a good job on this one. I've heard this song live prior to the release of Grace Period and, quite frankly, found the song boring. The CD track, however, is much better (unlike a couple of songs on the CD like "I'm a Receiver" and "Regeneration" which are much better live). This is one of those songs that works real well in the studio, but isn't quite the same when done live, I guess.

Regeneration

Lyrics: Good
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8
Message: Being Born Again

Comments: Okay, this one has the opposite problem of "How You Rewind Me." Just like the Who's version, this song is a bit weak in the studio but is great live. You gotta hear ApologetiX do this song live to really enjoy it. This is one of the few songs where Keith Haynie gets to show off a little bit (with some short bass "solos"). Keith cranks on this one live, too!

Love the Jews

Lyrics: Weak
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 7
Message: Politically Correct Nonsense

Comments: This is one song I really wish didn't make it onto the CD. The lyrics are really stupid. I hope I don't come off sounding anti-Semitic because I wholly support the message of this song; but the lyrics come off as Political Correctness gone out of control. I cringe every time I hear this song. J claims to have written between 500 and 1,000 parodies to date. If you count the tracks on all their CDs (and even the early cassette tapes they produced), you'll find that they've only released a fraction of the parodies J has done. Obviously there are some economic considerations (the band can't afford the money or time to record every parody J has written) and there are some skill problems (J's probably written parodies of songs that the band couldn't perform because of vocal differences or because the songs use instruments that ApologetiX doesn't use). However, I'd also assume that, like any other human endeavor, ApologetiX tends to choose the best parodies J has written to perform and that some of the lyrics he has written probably fall into the category "We'd be embarrassed to do that one." In my opinion, "Love the Jews" is in this category and they should have done something else. Granted, with the turmoil in the Middle East, Hitler, and the Middle Age Christian (Catholic) Church's views on Judaism this message probably needs to be told. However, this is not the song that does it. I hate to be blunt, but you have to go back to "Radical History Tour" (a compendium of ApologetiX' very early stuff) to find lyrics this bad. Certainly the music and vocal style are sufficiently similar to the original Beatles version that a die-hard Beatles fan is going to enjoy this. While I'm certainly not alone in my opinion of this song's lyrics, I've found some ApologetiX fan sites on the web where the person claims this is their favorite song; certainly some posts to the various ApologetiX groups on Yahoo confirm the fact that there are people out there who really love this song. Oh well, maybe I'm just off out in the ozone somewhere.

Good Guys Bad Guys

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Good to Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 9-10
Message: The Reign of Various Judean Kings

Comments: J Jackson does a pretty good Robert Plant imitation. Karl does a great Jimmy Page imitation. So it's not surprising that they did a good job on this Zep song. This is one of the few tunes on this CD where an average person can actually hear how much work ApologetiX has put into Grace Period and how much they've improved over past albums. J hits a lot of the notes with much more strength than he has done on past Zep numbers. If this song weren't quite so 'hard' I'd use it in Sunday School classes (I've actually taught lessons on the subject of this song and it would have been useful back then).

Flurry

Lyrics: N/A
Music: N/A
Vocals: N/A
Production: N/A
Faithful to original song: N/A
Message: N/A

Comments: This is one of those songs that does absolutely nothing for me. Not knowing the original song, I just don't feel qualified to comment on this (since all I'd come up with is something negative and that's not particularly fair since I'd probably feel the same way about the original song and I'm not willing to place all that blame on ApologetiX).

Tom Saw Ya

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Good
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8-9
Message: The Story of Doubting Thomas

Comments: Like "Lemonade" this is another example of a song where ApologetiX really stretches J's vocal skills. He does a good job on this one and the song sounds very similar to the original Rush tune. But someone who has heard "Tom Sawyer" recently might be able to tell the difference between J's vocals and the original, someone other than a die-hard Rush fan is going to be amazed (similar quality to "Born Above"). This is another tune where J's lyrical abilities really shine through; he did a great job on these lyrics and the use of homonyms (e.g., "Tom Saw Ya" for "Tom Sawyer") is awesome. The drumming is absolutely great on this tune. Bill rocks!

Sufferin' Just Finished (Haman)

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Good to Excellent
Vocals: Good to Excellent
Production: Good
Faithful to original song: 8-9
Message: The Story of Queen Esther and Haman

Comments: The first couple of times I heard this song, the title line "Sufferin' Just Finished" really bothered me; I kept thinking that "J. does a better job of picking words that rhyme with the original song than this; I'm sure he could have come up with something a little closer to 'city' in the lyrics." Of course, the whole time I was thinking he was singing "Hey Man" (like David Bowie in the original tune). When I read the lyrics in the CD booklet and discovered he was really singing "Haman" rather than "Hey man!" I was blown away. Yep, this was the kind of lyrical twist I'd come to expect (and enjoy) from J. He really pulled one over on me and that 'trick' raised my opinion of the lyrics considerably. For the most part, the vocals sound very Bowie-esque. There are a few spots where it sounds different from the original vocals, but overall he did a good job on this one. The production suffers a little bit on this tune. The opening guitar riffs sound a little muted. Ahhhhh.... Wham bam hang Haman!

Smells Like Thirtysomething Spirit

Lyrics: Excellent
Music: Excellent
Vocals: Excellent
Production: Excellent
Faithful to original song: 8-9
Message: Get Energetic for the Lord

Comments: Hey, ApologetiX did a better job performing this than Weird Al. 'nuff said.

Baa! We're Lambs

Lyrics: Silly and Sometimes Hilarious
Music: Fair to Good
Vocals: Hilarious
Production: Good
Faithful to original song: 4-5
Message: The Lord is My Shepherd...

Comments: Some songs are parodies by virtue of the message they're spoofing. Some are parodies because of the actions of the performer in a live setting. Some are parodies because of the crazy vocal style in use (Nick Alexander, for example, does this sort of parody). This particular song falls into this later category. Except for a line about petting zoos, the lyrics aren't that funny, but the performance is one of those campy things that makes you bust up.