All About Our Next CD
Thu., Feb. 29. 2024 6:18pm EST
Here's the story behind on our upcoming 73rd CD, Unchained Medley:
In November 2011, we released our 30th CD, Wise Up and Rock. Many folks felt the highlight was the final track, a medley of '80s parodies we nicknamed "Octagon but Not Forgotten." Our fans took the "not forgotten" part very seriously. They wanted us to do full-length versions of the song snippets that made up the medley, and they never let us forget it.
We resisted, they pleaded. They persisted, they succeeded. Part of that was attributable to an unseen ally; ApologetiX keyboardist Rich Mannion, who joined us in 2018, loved the songs in that medley and was eager to expand them. His support was vital, because he'd have to do the drum-programming, in addition to keyboards and backing vocals.
In June 2023, we tested the waters with a full-length version of the last song from the medley, "Wicked," a parody of Devo's "Whip It." We had already re-recorded the music for a new spoof called "Clip It" in our Samson rock opera, so it made sense to revisit "Wicked" while in the neighborhood. Longtime listeners went wild, and we officially decided to unchain the medley.
There were only 10 tunes in the original, so we added two more from the same time zone (1980-85). Ironically, we had used the phrase "Unchained Medley" in the headline of our newsletter way back in September 2011, two months before Wise Up and Rock came out. It seems we've come full circle. Will the circle be unbroken? Yes. And now it's unchained as well.
Here's what's on Unchained Medley:
1. Read Acts - Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
2. Bartimaeus Eyes - Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
3. Sweet Jesus (Made a Whip) - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
4. Psalm Passage at Night - Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart
5. Hundred Nineteenth Psalm - Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
6. They Blindly Speak of Science - She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
7. One Thing Leads to the Father - One Things Leads to Another - The Fixx
8. I Can't Grow From That (Nor Can You) - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) - Daryl Hall and John Oates
9. James 1:3 - Take on Me - a-ha
10. Wicked - Whip It - Devo
11. Little Jesus (Simeon's Song) - Little Jeannie - Elton John
12. Magi - Magic - The Cars
Note: We've released eight additional parodies in the past two months that are not on this CD, plus two more we plan to release at the end of this weekend, Lord willing. They're all earmarked for other CDs we already have in the works for this year.
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