| ||||||
 | ||||||
 | ||||||
Nick Alexander Reviews: | ||||||
| [Christian Resources] [WEBster Home] | ||||||
| Disclaimer: If you don't like Christian Parodies of Rock music, you won't like Nick Alexander. 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. | |||
| A Time to Laugh (Released 2000) Tracks: 1. Old Time Gregorian Chant (parody of "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger) 2. Repent (parody of RESPECT by Aretha Franklin) 3. Transubstantiation (parody of "Revolution" by the Beatles) 4. I Got You Saved (parody of "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher) 5. Tradition (500 Years) (parody of "I'm Gonna Be 500 Miles" by the Proclaimers) 6. Should I Stand or Should I Kneel (parody of "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by the Clash) 7. Our Mass (parody of "Our House" by Madness) 8. Tithe After Tithe (parody of "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper 9. Confession (parody of "Pressure" by Billy Joel) 10. R.C.I.A (parody of "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People) 11. Father (an original song by Nick Alexander) | |||
| If you've listened to CDs by ApologetiX or Mark Bradford, you'll need to check your expectations at the door before listening to this CD. Nick Alexander parodies nearly everything about these songs: the lyrics, the music, and the vocal styles. If you purchase this CD expecting something polished (along the lines of ApologetiX' "Keep the Change" or one of Mark Bradford's "RPM" volumes), you're going to be disappointed. To put things in perspective, Apologetix was producing cassette tapes and touring for several years before they collected and recorded the material found on their "Radical History Tour" CD. And that particular CD was a compilation of their best stuff to that point. Nevertheless, much of the material on "Radical History Tour" is rather poor. Nick's CD liner claims that he produced this CD after some friends convinced him to do so less than a year after he first semi-public sang any of the parodies. So, perhaps, it is grossly unfair to judge this CD using ApologetiX' "Keep the Change" as the benchmark. Originally in this reviews, I kinda' nailed Nick to the wall over his vocal talents. But that's clearly unfair. I've sung (and recorded) some of my own parodies and I know how difficult the recording process can be (hey, at least Nick can sing in tune, which is something I have trouble doing). So it's best to judge this CD on its actual merits – as a complete parody, including parodical treatment of the vocals. Don't buy this CD expecting great covers of secular tunes. To understand the problem, consider the parodies that I've written (see "Parodeities"). I didn't decide which songs to spoof based on my ability to perform any of these songs. Instead, I wrote parodies for an arbitrary song as I felt inspired to do so; I never wrote the parodies with the thought of actually recording any of them. Nick admits as much about his parodies on the CD liner of "A Time To Laugh" when he says that his friends convinced him that the CD had to be made. The problem with this approach is that Nick has picked such a wide range of vocal styles that it's quite difficult to come close on many of them (J. Jackson's amazing vocal talents lets ApologetiX get away with a lot of this, but even J. Jackson has his limits). As I'm writing this, I'm waiting for Nick's second CD to become available. It will be interesting to see if he has chosen more appropriate material (suitable to his vocal range) on this new CD (note: the CD is available now, I promised to get it and review it someday...). One other warning I'll make about this CD. Nick is definitely Catholic. Some of the humor present on the CD won't have quite the same impact on non-Catholics. I'm not Catholic and I've not studied the Catholic faith enough to appreciate some of the humor on the CD (in fact, a few concepts bother me on this CD). On the other hand, if you're a staunch Catholic you probably feel the same way about some of ApologetiX' or Bradford's stuff; so you'll appreciate this stuff even more. Old Time Gregorian ChantLyrics: good Comments: The first time you listen to this song, you're probably going to think "These vocals stink!" Before you hit the track select button on your CD player, calm down, erase "Bob Seger" from your mind, and replace that thought with the image of a Monk in some Mission somewhere. Now the song is absolutely hilarious. This song really begs for a music video (think of a Monk-based version of the "Mrs. Doubtfire" video). RepentLyrics: fair to good Comments: Sometimes spoofing the vocals works (see "Old Time Gregorian Chant"), sometimes it doesn't. A male falsetto voice attempting to emulate Aretha Franklin just doesn't work for me. The background vocals are actually okay on this number, but the lead vocals don't work for me. I wish the lyrics were a little more focused on the title's subject, but they're fairly good as they stand (indeed, there are one or two really great lines in here; I really like the "nose is runny" verse). On the other hand, as Nick points out, this is the tune that still gets airplay on the Dr. Demento show. So clearly the vocals, as a parody in and of themselves, amuse people. Again, put yourself in the right frame of mind when listening to this tune and it will go over well. TransubstantiationLyrics: good Comments: Well, you're not going to confuse Nick Alexander for the Beatles on this remake of "Revolution," but the vocals are actually good on this tune. This is clearly one of those songs that fits with Nick's vocal style. Hopefully he's picked songs along this line for his new CD. You'll need to be Catholic (really Catholic) to fully appreciate the lyrics in this tune, but it's pretty good nonetheless. I Got You SavedLyrics: good to excellent Comments: Lyrically, this is my favorite song on the CD. The lyrics are totally funny. The vocals, unfortunately, leave a bit to be desired on this tune. To start off with, this song (both the original and the parody) was written for a male/female duet and this particular track is sung by two men. Lines like "Don't you remember, our honeymoon?" create a bit of confusion. "Are these guys gay?" immediately comes to mind when listening to this song. This is a big (and nearly fatal) distraction while listening to this song. Nick really should have rounded up a woman to sing the other part. Even ignoring this issue, the vocals are fairly poor quality. This is a real shame, because this song could be absolutely great. Maybe in the future Nick will decide to redo this song on some new CD and correct the issues with the vocals. Mind you, I'm not panning the vocal style here (which actually works out okay), I've just got a problem with the male/male duet that really needs to be male/female. I bet this song would work great live (with some appropriate props). I'd love to see a music video made out of this one. Tradition (500 Years)Lyrics: good Comments: If you're not Catholic, you'll probably not like the lyrics to this tune (it basically talks about how Catholicism is great because it's been around for so long). Still, I think it's a cute song even if I disagree with the premise for the lyrics. It's been a long time since I've heard the original tune, so I can't compare the quality of this tune against the original. However, I can say that this is another one of those tunes that meshes well with Nick's vocal style; he pulls this one off rather well. Now Nick disagrees completely with me about the lyrics discussing Catholicism. His claim is that this is a song about Christians uniting (of course, that will give certain people theological fits!). Okay, I'll grant him that; he did write the song after all. So he should know better than I. Once I'm willing to accept his explanation and listen to this song again, I found I liked it a whole lot better. Nick's theology and mine don't always mesh, but I'm willing to stand corrected on this one. Here is Nick's "rebuttal":
Well, Nick, when you put it that way, how can I argue? Should I Stand or Should I KneelLyrics: good Comments: This is the story of an individual's first attendance at mass. Absolutely hilarious. Catholics and non-Catholics alike can relate to this one. You aren't going to confuse Nick Alexander with the Clash, but his vocals work okay on this song; a little weak in spots, but within the limits of acceptability. Definitely one of the better songs on this CD. Our MassLyrics: fair Comments: My guess is that you have to be Catholic to appreciate this song. Perhaps you even have to attend the same church as Nick to fully understand the message in this tune. The vocals are decent on this track, though there is no confusing this track with the original. Despite not making a personal connection with this tune, it is a cute story. Tithe After TitheLyrics: fair Comments: Songs about giving require very special treatment given the reputation the church has on this subject. This parody is deadly serious; unfortunately, I feel that this subject would have been handled much better using a lot of humor. That would be hard to do using the Cyndi Lauper tune "Time After Time" (which begs for a serious subject). The title was great and I guess I expected something humorous and the mismatched expectations ruined it for me (though, again, I'd probably be complaining if one took such a beautiful song as "Time After Time" and tried to make someone laugh with it). One mechanical complaint I have with the lyrics on this tune is that they're a bit rushed at points; the number of syllables doesn't match the original tune on many lines, so they don't flow as well as the original song (it's often easy to get by with fewer syllables, but difficult to insert more syllables into a line without it being noticeable). The "phone call" appearing in the middle of this song seemed kind of hokey. I'll give Nick credit, I never would have attempted this myself, he pulled it off much better than I could have. As for the humor, I guess I've been listening to too many parodies lately and I've come down with "reviewer's disease." (That comes from trying to take the review process too seriously.) Most people probably don't listen to the lyrics as closely as I do, and therefore find songs like "tithe after tithe" a lot more humorous than I do. Let me relate a story: I was playing Nick's CD a week or so before updating this review page and my wife walked in. She said "Gee, that's really awful." Then the chorus started playing. She started busting up. She was singing the chorus for quite some time after that. Now I can complain about Nick's vocals and lyrics all I want, but it's very clear his work has impact on people. It's one thing to analyze this stuff to death and comment about how this works and that doesn't; but impact is the ultimate measure of a production, and this one definitely has impact. ConfessionLyrics: good Comments: Here's another song that's mostly within Nick's range. Again, you won't confuse him with the original artist (Billy Joel), but he's vocals are actually good on this song. Obviously, it helps if you're Catholic when listening to this song, but even non-Catholics have heard enough about confession via Hollywood to appreciate most of this song. This is definitely one of the better songs on this album. R.C.I.A.Lyrics: fair to good Comments: Until the CD arrived, I didn't have a clue what "R.C.I.A." meant. I even asked a couple of my "Catholic" friends and they couldn't tell me either. Fortunately, Nick explains this in the CD liner (by the way, it stands for "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults," if you're wondering). Definitely, you need to be Catholic to fully appreciate this tune, but anyone who knows "Y.M.C.A." will be singing along soon enough. I'm really surprised that there weren't stronger backing vocals and harmonies on this track. Nevertheless, it is one of the better tracks on this CD. FatherComments: This is an original tune, not a parody (which is why I don't have the normal ratings above). It's also quite serious and very well done. This tune does well on its own as a praise tune; but I really appreciate its presence on the CD because it shows us what Nick Alexander's normal style is like. Definitely a nice tune. It also provides us with a benchmark where Nick is not parodying some other singer, so we can see that he really does have a very fine voice. | |||