J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1507. Mr. Moonlight - Foreigner
Original lead singer Lou Gramm returned to the Foreigner fold for their eighth studio LP in 1994 ... although he'd…

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1500. Cloud Nine - George Harrison
Released on November 2, 1987, George Harrison's 11th studio LP, Cloud Nine, was his first in five years. I didn't…

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1493. Billboard Top Hits: 1992 - Various Artists
Remember General Halftrack from the Beetle Bailey comic strip? Well, half of the tracks on …

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1485. Rock On 1968 - Various Artists
The star of Rock On 1968 was Bobby Goldsboro, who opened and closed the album with two sad story songs (both…

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1479. Something Special for Young Lovers – Ray Charles Singers
I first heard of The Ray Charles Singers in the opening line of "Life Is a Rock (But…

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1472. Somewhere in England (Extra Tracks Original Recording Remastered) - George Harrison
George Harrison's proposed ninth studio LP, Somewhere in England, was originally submitted to Warner Brothers in September 1980, but the record label rejected it for not being commercial enough. They even made him come up with new cover art. Harrison eventually returned with four new tracks, including "Blood From a Clone," which was inspired by the initial album's rejection, and the record was released on June 1, 1981. In the interim, Harrison's Beatles bandmate John Lennon had been murdered by an assailant on December 8, 1980, and Harrison eulogized him in another one of the new tracks, "All Those Years Ago," which featured Ringo Starr on drums and Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, and Denny Laine on backing vocals. Released as the first single from Somewhere in England, it hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Radio & Radio Records chart. The second single, "Teardrops," also reached #2 ... on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart, which is the equivalent of hitting #102. It did make it to #51 on the mainstream rock chart, while "All Those Years Ago" went to #6. Somewhere in England climbed to #11 on the Billboard 200 and #13 on the U.K. album chart. It was remastered and reissued with the original cover art in 2004, and I bought a copy of that in September 2005, because I needed "All Those Years Ago" for my playlist of #2 songs (although I used to own the 45 back in college). Harrison's next LP, Gone Troppo, came out in November '82 and became his first non-instrumental album to miss the top 20. It sputtered to #108, but George later proved he could do much better once he set his mind to it. 

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX, here again. 

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1465. Best of Freda Payne: Ten Best Series - Freda Payne
Arguably the most famous Motown songwriting/producing team was Holland-Dozier-Holland — Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland — best known for writing many hits by The Supremes, The Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, and others. After they left Motown to strike out on their own, the three formed two record labels — Hot Wax (in 1968) and Invictus (in 1969). The biggest hits on Hot Wax were by the R&B trio The Honey Cone, who had four Top 40 hits, most notably "Want Ads" (#1 pop, #1 R&B). Other artists with pop success on that label included 100 Proof (Aged in Soul), The Flaming Ember, and Laura Lee. Meanwhile, on Invictus, the two big artists were Chairmen of the Board, whom I mentioned in my previous entry, and a great female R&B singer by the name of Freda Payne. Like Chairmen of The Board, Payne is best remembered for a huge #3 pop hit from 1970, "Band of Gold" (#3 pop, #20 R&B). That single did even better on the charts of Billboard's rivals (#1 Record World, #2 Cash Box) and also topped the U.K. pop chart. Payne didn't have quite as many hits as Chairmen of the Board, but she did have three additional Top 15 R&B hits — two of which hit the pop Top 25 — "Bring the Boys Home" (#12 pop, #3 R&B), "Deeper and Deeper" (#24 pop, #9 R&B), and "Cherish What Is Dear to You (While It's Near to You)" (#44 pop, #11 R&B). They can all be found on The Best of Freda Payne (part of the Ten Best series), which also included "You Brought the Joy" (#52 pop, #21 R&B), "The Unhooked Generation" (#43 R&B) and "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right" (#75 R&B). Her only Hot 100 hit missing was "The Road We Didn't Take," which just barely sneaked onto that chart (it stalled at #100) and never made the R&B chart. From 1976-79, Payne was married to singer Gregory Abbott, who went on to have a #1 pop and R&B hit in 1987 with "Shake You Down." The couple had a son together, Gregory Abbott Jr., who was born in 1977.   

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.

Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1458. I'm Breathless (Music From and Inspired by The Film Dick Tracy) - Madonna
I was a big fan of Dick Tracy as a kid. In fact, the first book I ever purchased with my own money was a big 1970 hard-cover anthology of his adventures in cartoon strips from 1931-51. Consequently, I was somewhat interested when the long-awaited Dick Tracy film finally came out in mid-June 1990. Warren Beatty starred as the titular detective, and one of his co-stars was Madonna, as the femme fatale Breathless Mahoney. The movie received mixed reviews from critics (and yours truly) but was the ninth highest-grossing film of America that year. Released several weeks in advance, on May 22, 1990, Madonna's I'm Breathless LP comprised jazz, swing, and pop songs, including a duet with Beatty ("Now I'm Following You," Parts I and II) and another with Mandy Patinkin ("What Can You Lose"), who played one of Tracy's celebrated foes, piano player 88 Keys. Three years earlier Patinkin had immortalized the role of Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride. A number of the tracks sound like they could have come from a stage musical, and famed Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim even wrote three of them: "Sooner or Later," "More," and "What Can You Lose." Tunes like "Cry Baby" and "I'm Going Bananas" also have a showtune feel, so it shouldn't be surprising that Madonna would go on to star in the cinematic version of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita in 1996. Two of the songs from I'm Breathlessbecame Top 10 hits for Madonna — "Vogue" (#1 U.S. and U.K.) and "Hanky Panky" (#10 U.S., #2 U.K.). The album itself reached #2 on the Billboard 200, selling three million copies in the United States and seven million worldwide.