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Release Date: February 15, 2006 Label: Oarfin Records Related Sites: · Official Site Grade: A-

Comprised of J. Jackson on vocals and rhythm guitar, Karl Messner on lead guitar and synthesizer, Keith Haynie on bass guitar, and Bill Rieger on drums, the band's talent for mimicry is nothing short of stunning. Hits: The Road is a collection of live music recorded on their 2005 tour, and features some of their most popular parodies. These versions of their songs have been perfected on the road and the band readily admits that they are mostly improvements over the originals. Jackson writes all the parody lyrics, and has an absolutely amazing ability to imitate the vocals of divergent musical styles.

Lyrically, the revisionism is just brilliant, with a clever knack for incorporating Scriptural verse into the flow of the song. Not the content of the verse, necessarily, but its location in the Bible. For example, "Found God" (a parody of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog") states: "He said to me I'd pass from death right into life/Well, in verse 24 I read it there in St. John chapter 5", and concludes with "You keep knockin' till you've found God/Christ, He doesn't hide/Well, it's in 7:7 Matthew/You seek and then you'll find". Or, talking about the creation of the Psalms in "With a Harp David Writes" (a parody of "A Hard Day's Night" by the Beatles), you'll hear, "In First Corinthians, you will find verse 9:22, and them you'll see it's all right".

Often, songs are rewritten to highlight a specific story from the Bible. "Enter Sampson" recalls the life of the mighty Judge, "It's Tough" is a song about Nehemiah, and the story of Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24:1-61) is presented in "Are You Gonna Be Ike's Girl". The latter suggests "I should pray before Isaac’s Elimidate" and manages to drop many game show references, including the Dating Game, The Bachelorette, eHarmony, and hosts Chuck Woolery and Gene Rayburn. There's a long break in the middle of this song where there's some discussion about tambourine playing that stifles the energy built up, but this is the only moment that interrupts the flow of the entire album.

Curiously, a popular topic for parody seems to involve animals. "Cheap Birds" twists around Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and there's two of them revolving around Noah's Ark -- "All the Stalls Stink" and "Story of a Squirrel ("This is the story of a squirrel whom God preserved when He drowned the whole world").

The altered lyrics sometimes transcend being biblical spoofs and are poignant unto themselves. "Devil Went Down to Jordan" tackles the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) in a clever dialogue, and "Yes Today" ("If today you should hear His voice don't turn away/Now's the time that you should kneel and pray/And finally say yes today") is beautiful in its simplicity. And then there the fact that some songs -- at least for me -- will never be heard the same again. The guilty pleasure of "Stacy's mom has got it going on" has been forever replaced in my mind with the repeated chorus of "JC’s mom has got a growin’ son" as that song now reflects the early life of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of His mother.

ApologetiX has complete mastery of impersonation to the point of awed eeriness. As an introduction to their body of work, Hits: The Road is a diverse representation of the band's capabilities that will only have you yearning to dig into their prolific discography. A few weak spots technically in the vocal department is the only thing I can knock about this collection. The final three songs are previously unreleased in any way, shape, or form. A companion DVD, "Samson Comes Alive: An Evening With ApologetiX," has also been released in conjunction with this offering.