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Righteous Pop Music Reviews:
RPM Volume IV

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Disclaimer: If you don't like Christian Parodies of Rock music, you won't like Mark Bradford. That being the case, why waste your time reading this stuff? It would be much better for you to go praise the Lord in a way that is acceptable to you rather than get all caught up in the emotions associated with this subject.
RPM Volume Four

(Released 1999)

Tracks:

1. Love is a Wonderful Thing (parody of "Love is a Wonderful Thing" by Michael Bolton)
2. Walk Like a Christian (parody of "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles)
3. My God (parody of "My Girl" by Smokie Robinson)
4. Help Me, Jesus (parody of "Help Me Rhonda" by the Beach Boys)
5. His Love Will Go On (parody of "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion)
6. Tell God About It (parody of "Tell Her About It" by Billy Joel)
7. I Will Follow Him (parody of "I Will Follow Him" by Peggy March)
8. Payin' Your Tithe (parody of "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee-Gees)
9. Put the Love of God in Your Heart (parody of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" by Jackie DeShannon)
10. Sanctuarian Rhaposdy (parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen)

Love is a Wonderful Thing

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

Comments: Don't know the original Bolton song, so I can't really comment on this.

Walk Like a Christian

Lyrics: good to excellent
Music: good to excellent
Vocals: good to excellent
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 8

Comments: This is one of the better songs on this CD. Fairly close to the original Bangles' tune. Good lyrics, too. Worth buying the CD for this one song.

My God

Lyrics: fair to good
Music: good to excellent
Vocals: good to excellent
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 8

Comments: Okay, this one was already done in "Sister Act." It seems kind of cheap to redo this parody in a manner almost identical to the original parody. The good news is that this is a very good version of the song, almost as slick as the one on the "Sister Act" soundtrack. Great vocals and great harmonies. The music was obviously sequenced, but it's quite good.

Help Me, Jesus

Lyrics: fair to good
Music: good
Vocals: excellent
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 8

Comments: Normally, I hated it when Christian parody artists attempt to cover a Beach Boys song; generally, the result is less than convincing. Although you won't confuse Mark Bradford's band for the Beach Boys, they are very good on this song. The only bad thing I can say about this tune is that the lyrics could be a little stronger, but hey, it's not like the original lyrics were strong to begin with (like Mark's says "Who is Rhonda, anyway?"). This one is worth buying the CD for.

His Love Will Go On

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

Comments: Not having heard the original Celine Dion song, I can't comment on faithfulness to the original, but this song is beautiful and performed rather well. Another winner on the CD.

Tell God About It

Lyrics: good
Music: good
Vocals: good
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 7

Comments: Another decent Billy Joel tune done by Mark. The lead vocals are quite good (except for the lead-off falsetto); interestingly enough, the background vocals are weaker on this song than the lead vocals (usually it's the opposite on the RPM CDs). You won't confuse the lead vocalist with Billy Joel (in the same way you would confuse J. Jackson of ApologetiX with Elton on "Daniel"); still, this is a good performance.

I Will Follow Him

Lyrics: fair
Music: fair to good
Vocals: fair
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 5

Comments: Something needs to be done with the drums on this one; it sounds like "George of the Jungle!" The vocals are a tiny bit irritating too. Unlike "My God" this version of "I Will Follow Him" does quite match the performance in "Sister Act."

Payin' Your Tithe

Lyrics: good
Music: fair to good
Vocals: good
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 7

Comments: I hate disco. Okay, I hate Rap worse than disco, but I still hate listening to Bee-Gee's tunes. I must admit, though, that the lyrics to this one are fairly cute and halfway humorous. This particular subject is one that I feel needs to be treated with a lot of humor and Mark Bradford does a better job on this one than, say, Nick Alexander's "Tithe After Tithe." Okay, the performance isn't as good as ApologetiX' "Stay in the Light." But it hardly matters since this will be a tune I normally skip over anyway. If you like disco, you'll probably dig this tune.

Put the Love of God in Your Heart

Lyrics: fair
Music: fair to good
Vocals: fair
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 6

Comments: The lyrics are fairly close to the original song, which is to say that they're kind of weak. The vocals are also a bit weak on this one. Sounds like a Coke commercial.

Sanctuarian Rhaposdy

Lyrics: excellent
Music: fair to good
Vocals: fair
Production: good
Faithful to original song : 6

Comments: Well, ApologetiX got two shots at this one before they got it decent. Guess we have to give Mark Bradford the same opportunity. Of course, we have to expect that the vocals are going to hurt on this song; it's just hard to do justice to the original Queen tune. Still, they sing in tune through the whole song even if the timbre and strength doesn't match Queen. On the plus side, the lyrics are absolutely great on this one.