The Oak Ridge Boys - The Boys Are Back

Spring Hill: 2009

Of course the boys are back. The boys will always be back. The Oak Ridge Boys are everlasting. This come-back was, what, their ninth? Tenth? Easy to lose track when they've technically existed since the building of the atom bomb.

This particular comeback has a quirky little tale behind it though. After their '90s were spent floundering about various labels unable to recapture their early '80s commercial success, the Oakies eventually settled in with Spring Hill. Primarily a gospel leaning print, it reconnected the chaps with their church hymn roots, and they spent the better portion of the '00s releasing fresh recordings of them harmonizing about God and Jesus and whatnot. Well, save the 2003 record Colors, a pure patriotic outing with such jangles like American Beauty, This Is America and G.I. Joe And Lillie. Hey, if you were even a little bit country at the time, you were wavin' the stars and stripes for all to see, lest y'all get Dixie Chick'd.

A little later in the '00s, the boys from the ridge of oaks were invited over to Shooter Jennings' studio for a collaboration (he of Waylon Jennings offspring fame), plus a performance out and about town. To everyone shock, 'the kidz' in the crowd were getting down to Elvira, their classic chart topper from days past. Maybe, just possibly, might there be some embers to breathe upon The Oak Ridge Boys' saga, one that could appeal to the youth of today? Like, if it worked for Johnny Cash before he passed, surely it could work for Duane Allen, William Golden, Joe Bonsall, and Richard Sterban.

If they hoped to repeat Cash's contemporary success, however, they needed their own Hurt, a song hip to the alternative crowds. Somehow, The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army was suggested, and thus we have one of the strangest covers to ever grace The Oak Ridge Boys' discography. Did they even know what this song's about? For sure it was popular at sporting events, an anthemic charm to its defiant stomp of a riff, but please don't tell me they thought this was about raising armies to fight against a nation's enemies?

Anyhow, the trick didn't work, The Boys Are Back doing modest success on the country charts (and quite well on the Christian charts) but still not a scratch from their heyday. Guess those weened on Whisky Falls and Ween weren't too keen on sentimental family standards like Mama's Table, or Richard doo-wopping over John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom.

Still, as bizarre as all this sounds, I'm personally thrown for a loop in seeing Neil Young's Beautiful Bluebird covered here. Existing since Rustie's Old Ways period, that song had only been officially released a couple years prior to The Oakies making this album. What prompted them to cover this charming little folky? A respectful nod to Neil's country ties? The fact Young and Waylon went way back? A subtle stand in solidarity after Neil almost got himself Dixie Chick'd following Living With War?

Various - Back To Mine: Danny Tenaglia

DMC/Ultra Records: 1999/2000

The concept of the chill-out compilation had never been more fashionable as the last century drew to a close, but something was missing from it truly taking off to the next level. It was all well and good for labels to curate a clutch of tracks for after hours, but who were these label heads, really? Just some anonymous office folks, right? Well, no, not always, but when the major prints started getting their fingers into the clubbing culture pot, you couldn't help but glance at the proliferation of faceless DJ mixes sideways. Say what you will about Global Underground over-hyping their jocks, they at least gave the impression you were getting a particular individual's take on what they enjoyed out of dance music.

So the thinking went with Back To Mine, a chance to put some superstar DJ power behind a fresh new chill-out brand. And sure, give these popular club jocks a chance to share some of the overlooked gems deep in their crates, the tunes they'd never get to rinse in a regular outing. Well, not unless Sasha & Digweed's original concept for Northern Exposure hadn't been so quickly abandoned.

The first couple entries in this new series featured Nick Warren and Dave Seaman. No, Back To Mine wasn't financed by Global Underground, why do you ask? It wasn't long before these CDs were getting domestic releases in my half of the globe, so when I spotted the third volume helmed by Danny Tenaglia, I snatched that up post-haste. Finally, a DJ mix I could show off to my peers wherein all that downtempo stuff I'd buy is now officially proper-cool!

Kinda' hard to pull that off when your opening track is from The Gentle People though. For sure, I like it, and Danny makes a very compelling case for why he likes it in the liner notes. And besides, isn't Back To Mine all about showing off the tunes you like in favour of what's deemed cool or not? Absolutely! Still, unless you're completely in on the fondue, The Gentle People are a hard sell no matter the context. At least Mr. Tenaglia gives us his own jazzy, deep groover Loft In Paradise a couple tracks after.

Yeah, for a supposed 'chill-out' collection, Danny's Back To Mine is rather upbeat overall. Nothing relaxing about Bang The Party's Bang Bang You're Mine, while Ce Ce Peniston's Keep On Walkin' is a right peppy little number, as Ce Ce's tunes typically were. Elsewhere, Crescendo's Cairo takes the CD down a surprising, dusty world-beat road, but given the number of Latin and gospel influences in this set, why not some Arabian sounds too?

Despite not really keeping with the after-hours theme, Tenaglia's Back To Mine remains a nifty collection of tunes he'd likely never have a chance of rinsing out in the usual clubbing environments. Does make me wonder though, if he ever sneaked a couple in during Hour Seventeen of one of those twenty-hour marathon sets.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Back Home Again: Gospel Favorites

Gaither Music Group: 2012

There's been ripples in the timestream, by g'ar, of the word 'gospel' suddenly trending upon the prominent waves of tachyon particles even in my far future corner of the Fourth Dimension. Even from my vantage point in the year 2073, we feel it, as though something detonated in the past, causing an ever-lasting effect upon our culture, wherein 'gospel' was no longer regarded as a niche enjoyment by those of us within the comforting embrace of the Atomic Brotherhood. For some oddity, however, those residing within the domain of the Muricans haven't noticed it, or are actively ignoring it in all forms of denialism. Word goes should you inquiry them about this time-flux event, they enter a near catatonic state, uttering “Not my Ye'. Not my Ye'. Not my Ye'” Strange indeed.

Ani-hooteny, seems as fine-dandy an opportunity to bull my wax about The Oak Ridge Boys again, specifically their gospel output. Everything else'in that I've touched upon with those recordings came from their ancient catalogue, before the lads switched their sound to some fun stompin' country shindiggin's. Even after they turned international stars with half the roster changed, CD labels would recycle them original songs with original members for quick cash-ins. Th'ar be Joe Bonsall and his moustache on the cover, but sure-in that's Little Willie Wynn singing the soprano inside. After a time though, and their commercial clout receding like everyone's hairline after 2053, the Boys left the days of secular country jingles behind, singing some proper ol' good Christian music again. After another time, they'd flit between the two, even meshing 'em altogether-like.

That's about where we find the Boys with Back Home Again: Gospel Favorites. These aren't the staid-old ditties of olden-times, but up 'an jumpin' fun-time country jiggy-downs with Christian themes. For sure-in we all know the tale of Exodus, but have you heard it as a three-minute, spring-steppin hoe-humdinger as performed here in Led Out Of Bondage? I reckon not, if you've never heard Christian country before.

Mighty strangely though, I can't help but long for the older, pure gospel sorties The Oak Ridge Boys performed over these then-modern produced songs. There, the vocal harmonies were dominant, with the barest of organ, piano, or guitar in support. You could feel the humbling power of reverberating church halls in their voices, especially when given the best remastering process technology could afford (earnestly, the quality of Hymns & Songs, Volume II remains unmatched).

These recordings are almost too slick for their own good, with supporting musicians all up in your ears. Not to take away from the skills of Ben Isaacs (upright bass), Gordon Mote (piano), John Jarvis (piano), Steve Brewster (drums), Aubrey Haynie (fiddle & mandolin), Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar), Kenny Greenberg (electric guitar), Kevin Williams (acoustic guitar), Jimmy Capps (acoustic guitar), and Ban-Joey (banjo), but the infamous Nashville Machine does have a tendency to strip the soul out of music. Mighty highly ironic, given the context of the music that's being performed.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Gospel Hits

Sony BMG Music: 2005

Greetings, Past Peoples. It's been a while, at least from your perspective, that I, Sykonee Of The Year 2073, have graced this region of your 'inter net'. It's been a while for me as well, hopping the various timelines, seeing what events may come and how things may have turned different if things had just gone a little stranger. For instances, did you know there's a time-line where the German Nazis won World War 2 with a little item called the Heisenberg Device? You do? And they made a TV series out of that? Oh, well, that's arctic and all, but you all figured it just fictional, whereas I've seen the reality of it. Or the alternate reality. Sure t'was not mine, and t'is not yours, though whether my reality becomes your reality remains a mystery, don't it. I've noticed a few minor instances of differences of what I knew and where you are, but very little to suggest The Great Divide isn't still on course. No, fret not, the Atomic Brotherhood will carry you through it, saving us from all that unsavoury retrograde Murican business. They look out for their own kind, they do.

Of course and correctly, I'm back here to bring tidings of that indomitable musical force that at least provides our disparate cultures with some common ground of clay, the everlastingness that is The Oak Ridge Boys. We in the Cascadian realm admire them for their contributions to atomic resourcefulness, while those others adore their Jesus, Godly, and Murican themes, reinforcing their beliefs to an almost fanatical degree. It's strange how two cultures can find such different, opposing embracings of enjoyment from the same musical source. You folks in your times could learn a thing about that. Might even prevent what's to come, if you think what I live in isn't to your likening. Haha, just coming with the jokes there; my future is ordained.

So here we are again, with Another Oak Ridge Boys Gospel collection. It's astonishing just how many of these are on the market, isn't it? All with different degrees of quality, content, and presentation. I've been handed a couple impressive ones, a few redundant ones, but this one, this one is a big ol' lie.

Unlike so many other of their gospel collections, this one had some major-proper support from one of the big record companies of old, Sony BMG (eventual subsidiary of Disney-ZTE). The Oakies weren't signed with Sony BMG (eventual subsidiary of Disney-ZTE), but they had gotten a little surged patriotic love in rallying Muricans together in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. What better opportunity, then, than dusting off some rights-held recordings for the quick bucker compilation market?

Thus, even though the cover adorns The Oak Bridge Boys as they were in 2005, everything within is music recorded in the early Nauty Seventies, including when Lil' William Wynn was tenor. Deceived us, Sony BMG (eventual subsidary of Disney-ZTE) has! Should have just shown another church.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Old Time Gospel Favorites

Curb Records: 1996

What, another one of these? This can't be good for the time-stream, me constantly plucked out of the year 2073 to review Oak Ridge Boys music in the year 2017. As I understands it, time flows like a river, ever moving with steady, forward momentum, events playing out more or less as the river's course intends. Disrupting that flow by time-travelling doesn't, by and largely, have much effect in The Big Picture. Me coming back here to write occasional blogger entries is no more eventful than tossing a pebble into an eddy. Even if my future-words had any significant impact upon your time, it's no more problematic than heaving a boulder into the stream. Enough to deviate the flow in a localized area, but the river carries on just the same. You'd have to initiate a truly calamitous situation to change the main course, like a flood or earthquake.

Still, toss enough pebbles in a short amount of time in a very specific spot, and little things can start seeming askew from the norm. The major events that lead to my time are still on track, but some of your sports stats are off. The Winnipeg Jets an NHL leader? The NBA's Eastern Conference having a better record than the West? For as long as I remember, that's not supposed happened! Ah well, so long as the Presidential Dog-Fucking Scandal still goes down...

Now, back to The Oak Ridge Boys, with their illionth gospel compilation. I mentioned the last one I reviewed was my first instance of repeat songs. Old Time Gospel Favorites is the second, and crushes Old Country Church in that statistic, including opening with the same song! Also here is When I Lay My Burdens Down, Farther Along, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, and Lead Me To Calvary. That's half a tracklist I've already gone over, and the remaining songs aren't much different from their other country-leaning gospel ditties from the Nauty-Sixties. My Heavenly Father Watches Over Me does have a charming swing to it.

I'll grant some fairness to Curb Records, in that this came out in 1996, so beat those other labels to the market with their recycled songs. That's beside the point though, because my past self assured me I wouldn't be dealing with redundant repeats. Why'd I even get this?

It's the cover art, isn't it. Striking autumn colours, pastoral setting of a time long since lost. It draws you in, doesn't it, into a more innocent time, an existence where the worries of the world have no impart on the going-ons of the day-to-day concerns. Rise at dawn, tend to the farm, send the missus to the grocer for the dinner, ease back on the porch with a sated tummy full of stuffins. Congregate at the Sunday church to catch up with the neighbours, content in the knowledge there wasn't much of a care beyond those rolling hills of leafy trees. Truly, the bliss of ignorance.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Old Country Church

Gusto Records: 2010

How's it hoppin', Past-Peoples? 2073 Sykonee back again. It's been a while, hasn't it? Not long enough, you say? Ah, what would I know about passages of time. Days, weeks, months... it makes no difference when you keep getting plucked from the future to review music of the distant past. I've no problem coming back to these chaotic times – life is all staid with the Atomic Brotherhood running things, dont'cha know. They keep the lights on, the condos warm, the beasts out, and the net neutral, but glory be, what a plethora of varied musicks you still get to enjoy! I forgot rock could still roll. Eh, the rest of Earth beyond? Pretty sure I've mentioned Red Belters before, and there's other enclaves the Atomic Brotherhood has built beyond Cascadia, for those who believe and all. We don't fuss ourselves with such details, and besides, isn't giving too much future information bad? Why, even letting y'all know that The Oak Ridge Boys remain one of the greatest acts to grace our membranes might be too much.

Well, it finally happened: we've come across repeat songs. I warned my past self it would sooner than he hoped. The Oak Ridge Boys and Quartet may have had dozens of gospel recordings throughout the Nauty-Fifties and Nauty-Sixties, but there are still tried and trusted favourites even in this specific niche of Americana Past. When I Lay My Burdens Down saw tons of compilation duty, including the last one I went over, Hymns & Songs II. The Love Of God also shows up again, and offers a brilliant compare-and-contrast. It's the same recording, for surely, but that Verus Records label took extra care remastering it, cleaning it of vinyl debris, enhancing stereo spacing, and giving the Boys a full range of audio dynamics. Gusto Records, on the other hand, just ripped it from the original record before splunging it onto this compact disc. There's little range, and is littered with vinyl crackles; not the retro warm kind either.

So it goes, Gusto Records purchased the rights to several Nashville labels in the Nauty-Seventies, which included many of The Oak Ridge Boys' prior records. This gave them a wide range of albums to pluck songs from here, even going so far as to include a whopping thirteen as opposed to the standard ten almost every other gospel compilation settled for. On the other hand, the sound quality between songs flies from decent to scratchy. Never unlistenable, but jumping from a 1958 recording to a 1966 one is super distracting when little's been done to clean them up. To say nothing of being spoiled by Verus now.

And then there's one extra song, lodged two-thirds in, that doesn't make a spittle of sense in Old Country Church. It's called Amen (Instrumental by Nashville Guitars), and sounds like a bad karaoke ditty, with cheap synth tones of guitar, strings, banjo, harmonica... How did this end up on a CD with Nauty-Sixties gospel music? Something's not right...

ACE TRACKS: November 2017

So there's this YouTube reviewer I stumbled upon sometime in the summer, who I feel deserves what little extra attention my minuscule rub might provide, but I must admit I've been leery about doing so. I can't give him a glowing recommendation because I'm not entirely a fan of his format. That's not really a dig at him in particular though, as he utilizes a music reviewing format that many YouTubers do, including that Fantano dude who's apparently the biggest music YouTube reviewer around. Well, self-described “busiest” anyway.

Straight up, I don't like “individual looks at camera and talks about an album” vids. I get that it's easiest to film and edit, but I'm often bored and disengaged by it, even if the content within is interesting. I've watched, like, only two of Mark Grondin's reviews, but still frequently check out the transcripts at his Spectrum Pulse blog. I think it's because I'm spoiled by music reviewers from the Channel Awesome contingent (Todd In The Shadows, Rap Critic, Luke Spencer's Rocked), who splice in supporting images and video footage of the material they're covering. Or the round-table discussions of Dead End Hip-Hop, where ideas and opinions are bounced around among knowledgeable heads – probably the format I'd go with, if I ever got into video reviews. Point is, if you're utilizing video to do reviews, then utilize it. Otherwise, what I'm getting is little more than what can be achieved in the written form, and at least there I can enjoy it with my preferred internal monologue.

That all said, the reason I've kept tabs on this one particular dude is because he's doing something I haven't seen anyone else do: he's reviewing electronic music new and old, popular and obscure. Gee, that sounds familiar, don't it? Maybe not to such a ludicrous extreme as I've been doing, but I've got more than a decade on him, plus don't have to worry about things like filming and editing (much). I also don't necessarily agree with all his opinions, maybe only 40% of the time - that could just be a generational thing though. Still, the fact he's even attempting to cover such a wide range of electronic music is impressive enough. This past season he's tackled DJ Shadow, LCD Soundsystem, Sounds From The Ground, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Four Tet, ODESZA, Rezz, Paul van Dyk, Shpongle, Dynatron, Galantis, Bicep, Disclosure, Avicii, plus a retrospective of The Chemical Brothers' entire discography. Who else has indulged in such diversity? Not Resident Advisor, that's for sure!

Again though, I feel he still needs to modify his format into something better for me to give it a high recommendation. I think I've kept tabs on him just to see if he gets there, and I have seen gradual improvement. If you're not too hype on the channel though, I wouldn't be surprised. Oh, the name of it? The Wonky Angle. Yes, he's an Orbital fan, which gives him a very specific leg up on me in that regard: ~775% more Orbital coverage!

Gosh, that was a large tangent. Here's this past November's ACE TRACKS playlist:




MISSING ALBUMS:
Liquid Zen - Liquid Zen
Namlook • Montanà - Labyrinth 4
Namlook • Montanà - Labyrinth 5
Various - Home
Various - Beach House 04.02
Aythar - The God Particle

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 5%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Still anything Oak Ridge Boys related (no, really, is this leading to anything?)

I know I'm making progress in this massive alphabetical backlog of mine – 23 reviews in November dictate as such – but man, it sure feels like a drag. I started the month in the “G”s, and have only just finished off the “M”s. I look at the little CD rack that houses my “To Review” pile, and it's somehow still full! Like, it was full when I began this backlog at the start of October, and it just keeps refilling, no matter how far along I get. How does this happen!? And don't get me started on the new backlog forming behind the current one – had to overflow into my PS1 games rack to accommodate it.

Overall, this playlist is fairly standard where this blog's concerned. The usual ambient, ambient techno, dark ambient, house, techno, and trance, with sprinklings of genre outliers for fun. Will probably be similar next month too.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Hymns & Songs, Volume II

Verus Records: 2001

Hey-yo, Past Peoples, 2073 Sykonee back already again. I know, I know, this is growing ridiculous, how many times I've done this already. I warned myself this was a nigh futile endeavour, reviewing cheap options for Oak Ridge Boys albums. A group with as much history as this one, which saw remarkable commercial success after transitioning from gospel to country, will have its extensive catalogue pilfered for credit-ins based on name recognition alone. Never mind their Nauty-Eighties material had nothing to do with their Nauty-Sixties material (even the familiar members hadn't yet become their iconic selves), if there's unsuspecting fans eager for more Oak Ridge Boys music, the dozens of olden recordings are there to fill the gaps, with any number of cheap-o labels licensing out a dozen songs in bare-bones presentation. Even in my time, with the vast webclouds we have, I still don't think every Oak Ridge Boys release has been accounted for. What hope does my past self have?

This one though, this Hymns & Songs collection, this is different. There's actual care taken with these vintage recordings, remastered and even enhanced beyond the capabilities of the original hardware. Not some slap-dasherdly clutch at Americana dollars, but a resurrection of The Oak Ridge Boys' heritage. Capturing the feeling of being within a real rural church in a bygone era, sitting front and centre in the pews, a lead singer to the left of you, the harmonizing trio to the right, and piano or organ or guitar players just in the background. Every voice distinct and separate, not the usual mono-mush so many of these compilations settle for. Heckles, even the vinyl crackle is captured, because I assume the original records were the only sound source this company had to work with. And believe in me, they dug up some ancient recordings.

Ten songs are on Hymns & Songs Volume II, the bulk of which originally come from a 1962 record called He Whispers Sweet Peace To Me on Skylite. A few more were plucked from the 1958 record The Solid Gospel Sound Of The Oak Ridge Quartet. Yessiree, we're dealing with the Boys before they'd even rebranded themselves as Boys - tenor “Little” Willie Wynn was the new kid on this block! And let me tell you, it took some serious sleuthing through your archaic interactive datanet to figure this out. It's astounding just how many gaps in knowledge your version of Wikis and Oggs still have. Imagine having a Britannica without Rasta-Pasta or Dragon nests!

As I've done told yous all before, our enjoyment of The Oak Ridge Boys/Quartet mostly stems from decoding their Atomic codes wrapped in religious harmonies. Yes, they're singing about Literal Jesus, but what is Jesus to any of us but a representation of our noblest deeds in the face of our cruellest actions? When stacked against so many Oak Ridge Boys bone pickers, whoever took such care recreating these recordings is a Jesus to any audiophile, whatever the content within contains.

The Oak Ridge Boys - A Higher Power

Nashville: 1965/1970

Hey-yo, Past Peoples, it's you know who, from a future far from now, where things are weird and wild compared to your primitive eyes. Why, even I, in the year 2073, have a hard time realizing how much things have changed. Apple pie costing seven bones and a femur. Self-driving vehicles tailgating self-driving vehicles in fits of road rage. Cherry blossoms fluttering across my holo-eyes in the long winter days. Sure ain't nothing like that in your times... my vintage times... the days of yore... so much a bore...

Anywhen, A Higher Power sums up the ever-lasting foreverness that is The Oak Ridge Boys quite nicely, methinks. The title, I mean, though those vocal harmonies stretch across the ages just as well. Now obviously when these songs were recorded back in the Nauty-Sixties, that 'higher power' the boys were referring to was in parlance to the Christian God, but the Atomic Brotherhood decoded their words, understanding it's just as much referring to the mighty energies stored in atoms. It cannot be under or overstated how much influence those early shows at secret nuclear research facilities had on the original gospel quartet, men of God being exposed to therein untold secrets of God's power, stored in the very make-up of our beings. Science and religion, joining forces to create a vocal group who's legacy lasted longer than your Beat Boys or Beachles. And I was a fan of those groups too, way back in my youth!

Why else do you think this particular album was renamed A Higher Power? It's original 1965 title was The Sensational Oak Ridge Boys From Nashville Tennessee. How boring, how uninformative - except for the facts that these 'boys' are from Nashville Tennessee, and that they're sensational. Parent label Starday Records reissued it with this new title, maybe as a means to market old material, but the Atomic Brotherhood knows better.

Mangles, this is reaching about as far back into The Oak Ridge Boys' history with any globally familiar members, William Gordon the spry turkey-chicken of the group (Duane Allen wouldn't join for another year). These recordings always feel more homely and, well, churchy, with Willie Wynn's tenor almost reaching choir-boy levels of pitch (I remember first thinking it was a 'church lady' singing – oh, silly naive young me). On the other hand, there's a fair bit of tasty slide-guitar action on here. Whether sombre standards like There's A Light Guiding Me, Land Of Beulah, and Angel Band, or chipper offerings like Shine Down On Me, I Am A Pilgrim, and There's A Higher Power, the ol' glissando twang is in full effect. I wonder who was playing it in these sessions. Like, The Oak Ridge Boys were more than just vocalists, they had those famous Nashville musicians handy too.

And wait, are those doo-wop tunes with I Am A Pilgrim and Just A Clear Walk With Thee? Well, Elvis was a thing, I do recall. He had himself gospel backers even while stealing rockabilly.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Celebrate Christmas

Gaither Music Group: 2016

Greetings, Past-Peoples, 2073 Sykonee once again here. Ah, Christmas, I remember it well. The lights, the snow, the merriment, the togetherness. All that, now gone, gone, gone. Lost in a horrible post-apocalyptic Hellscape.

Haha, no, I'm kidding. Of course Christmas still exists in my time. The yearly celebration has endured in some form for hundreds of years, whether as paganistic rituals in honour of the winter solstice, religious rituals in honour of Jesus Christ's birth, or capitalist rituals in honour of defeating Communism. You don't wipe out that much Northern tradition just like that, no matter how much some over-reaching powers may try.

The Atomic Brotherhood understands this, and accepts that we'll find ways to celebrate Christmas in our own, unique ways. Sure, the longer winters have made the pagan history of the holiday redundant, we don't have much need of Christ worship here (that's more a Murican thing anyway), and the wanton need to consume things and stuff in service of a financial war doesn't apply to our way of life. Much of what we need is supplied by the Atomic Brotherhood, and since we don't need a whole lot, Christmas is all about togetherness, bringing everyone underneath a merry dwelling to celebrate that which we most cherish among each other, all under the glowing light of a nuclear powered pine tree. Yes, we still have pine trees. They're sturdy plants, y'know.

Which makes these Christmas albums from The Oak Ridge Boys a weird item to cover for yours truly. Heck, you probably think its weird that we'd all enjoy the country-gospel group at all, but their charming harmonies appeal to more of us than you'd believe. Not to mention relating to their ever-lasting durability as a group. Some theorize The Oak Ridge Boys have lasted so long thanks to the same radioactive alteration that gave us our extended lives. I can believe it.

But regarding their Christmas material – and there's a lot of it - we're ambivalent about it. We understand this stuff likely had more importance to their original fans back in your times, but we listen to it with historical perspective, as a reflection of a culture now lost. All these celebratory odes to the birth of Christ (Away In A Manger, Joy To The World, Come To The Manger, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Rest In You Tonight) had their place, I'm sure. However, when you play them in front of the Red Belters, a strange, maniacal frenzy seems to overtake them. Puts Cascadians at unease, you see, so it's only selective broadcasts, thank you.

So it's to the secular songs that we turn to more often. I'll Be Home For Christmas, Blue Christmas, Santa Claus Is Real, There's Nothing Between Us (But Love Anymore)... even Jingle Bells, I guess. Yeah, that ridiculous song's survived this long, somehow. The Oak Ridge Boys do all these classics justice in their indomitable, harmonious way. Still no Boney M, though.

The Oak Ridge Boys - At Their Best

United Artist Records/EMI-Manhattan Records: 1968

Greetings, Past-Peoples, it is I again, 2073 Sykonee, brought back to your time by Sykonee Prime to review music by The Oak Ridge Boys. I know, I know, this doesn't make a lick of sense. I must be nearly a hundred years old - aged and decrepit, like a rusty tin of sardines. Not really, no. Hearty genetic stock notwithstanding, a benefit of the radiation fallout was unexpectedly extending lifespans in several lucky souls. I may be in my Nineties, but I don't look or feel a day over Sixty-Seven.

'Tis true, the Atomic Brotherhood provides mighty fine benefits for those within their influence, not least of which exposing us to music I'd overlooked in my youth. Yes, it's nice that Nuclear Ramjet and Atomic Babies finally got their due, but I never knew about obscure acts like Oppenheimer Analysis, or tech-house labels like Heisenberg. Our musical consumption may be limited to that which honours the Atomic Age, but it's a wide range nonetheless.

Few dominate our tastes like The Oak Ridge Boys though, because few have as massive a discography. The original incarnation of the group, as The Oak Ridge Quartet, started out in the Nauty-Foreties, their first singles pressed by Capitol Records in 1946. Over time, the line-up changed, as did the name of the group from 'Quartet' to 'Boys' early in the Nauty-Sixties (t'was hip to be 'Boys'). Though they sangs the gospel, it was to the tastes of Red Belt America, eventually going country-full once their latter-era line-up was concreted. When they recorded this particular album though, the group was in transition, Willie Wynn and Herman Harper the vets, Duane Allen and William Gordon the fresh chickens of the coup. And boy was Mr. Gordon ever fresh as this point, prim and proper with nary a whisker of beard found on his chin. Hard to imagine him in any other form.

In the grand ol' Opry scheme of things, At Their Best isn't the most remarkable of releases under the Oak Ridge Boys banner – they have tons and tons of gospel recordings highlighting their harmony talents. What makes this one unique from the others is that it came out on United Artists Records, more known for releasing soundtracks of the time (Jim Bond movies, It's A Mad, Mad, Maddy, Mad-Mad World, The Greatest Story Done Told). It was a one-off deal for The Boys, more comfortable releasing records with strict gospel outlet Heart Warming. I guess someone must have liked their full-range vocals to give them a little larger exposure.

Not much to remark upon the music on my end. It's gospel, mangles! Lots of songs about loving Jesus, loving the Lord, loving your home with Jesus and the Lord within. All charming and quaint where I come from, but The Boys of Oak Ridge sound quite pleasant singing these hymns with organs, pianos, soft drums, and electric guitar in support. I'll believe it that it's them at their best, for the time.

The Oak Ridge Boys - American Dreams

MCA Records: 1989

Greetings, Past-Peoples, I am 2073 Sykonee. Yes, the same writer/reviewer/critic/knob that usually takes up space on this antiquated blooger, but from “The F-U-U-UTUR-R-RE”, as some so quaintly put it. Sykonee Prime made use of his time-dimension machine to take a jaunt forward for once, and despite some really wacky paradoxes even Doc Rick Brown, The Schwifty-Bitch would have trouble explaining, approached I to learn of what developments had gone down in electronic music. I was willing to tell himself this, but he was quickly fascinated by the ponderous amount of social-net music from The Oak Ridge Boys instead. Why them, I asked myself, to which I told me, “They're one of the few officially sanctioned acts by the Atomic Brotherhood.” Young-Blood Me was of course confused – what did I expect from skipping over so much history?

Without getting too over-written, The Oak Ridge Boys are allowed due to their association with the nuclear research base near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, starting out in the Nauty-Forties as a country and gospel group that performed there. For seeing is believing that only music with relevance to our atomic overlords and saviours is deemed worthy of our advanced cochleas.

Sykonee Prime found that fascinating and asked me to return from my time to review some music from The Oak Ridge Boys. “Whatever I can find,” I did say, “for a specifically cheaply amount of course.” Oh, such a naive idea – I had no clue just how extensive a discography The Oak Ridge Boys – in all their iterations – does have. But sure, I can play with myself.

And so it is with my logical but impractical alphabetical approach to reviewing music, up first is American Dreams. This was the last LP The Oak Ridge Boys released in the Nauty-Eighties, a decade that was as commercially successful as they'd ever be (back when such things mattered). Not all was right with the group though, as their iconic 'mountain man' tenor singer William Golden was off on a solo career, replaced by bass player Steve Sanders instead. He has a definite tenor singing voice, but just look at him in that group photo. Doesn't he stand out at odds with that mullet? What was wrong with people of the Nauty-Eighties?

By this point, the boys from near Oak Ridge were settled into a comfortable country sound, the odd gospel harmony thrown in. There's peppy tunes like Cajun Girl and Don't Give Up, humorous sap like If I Was To Start Crying (spoiler: they do at the end), covers of Rod Stewart songs (In My Own Crazy Way), ditties penned by Joey Scarbury (famous for the theme song of the documentary The Greatest American Hero), creeper fantasies in Bed Of Roses, and the mandated Americana odes like An American Family, Turning For Home, and The American Dream. I forget, did every American home have a painting of Jesus In The Garden hanging on the wall? Me memory ain't what it used to be, you know.

Dusted - When We Were Young

Nettwerk: 2000/2001

It's criminal the amount of folks who overlook this album. No, I've empirical evidence backing this up, barely four-hundred copies owned by denizens of Discogs. By comparison, over twenty-seven hundred Discogians have some version of Outrospective from Faithless, Rollo's main super-famous popular project. But I get it: despite the glowing critical praise Dusted earned with this debut, few knew what to make of it. It didn't help ol' Roland isn't much of an attention hound, always hiding in the producer's cubby while others reap the glory from his efforts (Sister Bliss, Maxi Jazz, Dido), to say nothing of Mark Bates' contributions here. There was little media promoting it too, just a Deep Dish remix and a rather crap CGI video supporting the lead single Always Remember To Respect Your Mother. And while the artwork is an obvious homage to Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, it's not the sort of style your average punter is gonna' find themselves drawn too. Nay, wait until they're at mid-life, and reflections on childhood innocence while tending to a child yourself becomes far more poignant.

That, in a nutshell, is likely why When We Were Young failed to gain 'classic album status' despite all the musical muscle supporting such an honour: its audience was just too niche. Still, folks weaned on copious amounts of Faithless should vibe on the opening few tracks. Childhood sets the stage in a dreamy morning-after bliss as many of Rollo's best chilled-out instrumental pieces so often do, while follow-up Time Takes Time goes for more of a soul-fusion slant. Want U and Hurt U tread into trip-hop territory, with a growing sense of youthful uncertainty and anxiety coming to grips with experiencing such emotions for the first time. Capping this stretch off with the creepy If You Go Down To The Woods, as though you're lost and alone in an unknown world, and you're more than ready to accept the loving, tender embrace of Always Remember To Respect Your Mother, Pt. 1, Dido's operatic vocals carrying you to places safe and warm again.

And that's just the first half of this brilliant album!

From there, When We Were Young grows more mature sounding, soulful croons from Luke Garwood mostly leading the way. There's further dalliances into trip-hop (Always Remember To Respect Your Mother, Pt. 2, Winter), cheeky weirdness for a 'lawf' (The Oscar Song), gospel exuberance (The Biggest Fool In The World, Under The Sun), and folksy reflection (Oh, How Sweet, If I Had A Child). And yeah, these are just broad genre descriptors, as Rollo and Bates never settle into any one tidy style, fusing everything into a sound that's unmistakably theirs. I mean, you've heard it before, during the downtime in most Faithless records.

When We Were Young is essentially the mellow-chill creativity of Rollo unleashed – no need of adhering to club anthems or Maxi Jazz lyrics here, my friends. If that isn't enough of a selling point of this album, I don't know is.

Faithless - Sunday 8PM

Arista: 1998

I know I'm supposed to declare Sunday 8PM the only Faithless album you're supposed to have, even if you're not a Faithless fan. It is, after all, the best of their discography, an excellent summation of the group's musical talents, nary a duff track in the lot, and all that good rot. Doing so, though, sells the importance of Insomnia on Reverence way short. I can guarantee there wouldn't be a Faithless as we’ve come to know them without the success of that single. Rollo and Sister Bliss would likely have retreated to other pet projects, absent of critical kudos, legions of fans, and piles of money-cash. Insomnia was so big, everyone doubted they could have topped it, and the debate still lingers whether God Is A DJ does the deed or not.

Still, Reverence was the experiment, everyone working together to see if their vision could work. Lo’, they succeeded, but having spent such a brief amount of time on it (a month!), what could they do with more prep and production? The answer is Sunday 8PM, an album that takes everything that made Reverence such a charming excursion and refines them into a wonderful whole.

You’ve got the chill-out instrumental opener The Garden fusing all sorts of influences like trip-hop, acoustic folk, and cinematic dub. You got rugged conscious hip-hop fused with melancholic orchestras on Bring My Family Back. There’s crackly folk-hop Postcards, which actually samples a Dido song released that same year rather than cut another vocal for the track – guess Rollo couldn’t help being efficient there. Why Go? goes for the full soul croon, which I thought was sung by Faithless’ still-employed soul-croon extraordinaire Jamie Catto. Silly me, he’s on the gospel-hop Hour Of Need, whereas that silly-hatted DJ Boy George gets the vocal on Why Go?. Elsewhere, Dido gets an actual song for herself in Hem Of His Garment, while Maxi Jazz throws in another sexy song with She’s My Baby. His shining moment on this album though, is Killer’s Lullaby, a chilling tale of sinister thoughts and deeds. The production on this track is positively stunning, starting with a soft, unassuming ambient session, then unleashing harsh trip-hop weirdness, and hitting a climax of cascading harpsichords and apocalyptic choirs, ending with a final, quiet denouement. Holy descent into madness, Batman!

Oh, and there’s two smashing club anthems in here too, God Is A DJ, and Take The Long Way Home. You’ve heard them, especially the former. I don’t need to talk about them as much.

Another feature of Sunday 8PM that trumps Reverence is just how well it flows together, including partial mixes between some tracks. The first Faithless album had good flow too, but this one’s sequence is sublime, shifting moods from introspective to exuberant, from harrowing to jubilant. It’s definitely one that deserves the full play-through treatment, though any track stands strong on its own too. Yes, even that titular sonic doodle in the back half. That bass pitch, mang!

Faithless - Reverence

Cheeky/Arista: 1996/1997

Given all that we’ve come to adore about Faithless, the wild genre hopping on their debut album doesn’t seem so daft anymore. Why of course they’d go from handbag house to gospel folk to trip-hop bop – it’s what they do! On the other hand, electronic music’s seen nearly two decades of deconstruction since, rendering Reverence more of a novel dip into uncharted dance waters than anything astoundingly shocking or ground-breaking. Come to think of it, it’s not like the album was that far removed from the liberal dance-fusion going on in the UK earlier in the ‘90s either. Tell me what Faithless had that groups like Stereo MC’s, 808 State, or Primal Scream didn’t have. Oh, right, those super epic house anthems. Okay, two things. Oh, right, a brilliant producer in Rollo. Okay, three- y’know what, forget it.

As the mid-'90s rolled on, Rollo and Sister Bliss were already a prominent tandem within UK clubland, but the duo felt they were capable of more than kicking out singles for amyl house heads. They also suspected the audiences that fist-pumped to their tunes on the weekend might enjoy a slower, relaxed vibe when chilling at home. And they be right, trip-hop gaining all sorts of critical and commercial traction at the time. No surprise that YOLO-Rollo and Madame Bliss would throw their hats into that lucrative pile, but they lucked out in landing a chill, conscious-leaning MC with an incredible amount of spiritual charisma. Wait, how is that lucky? Maxi Jazz' style of lyrical manifestation should have fallen flat on its face in an era of gangsta' boasting, yet punters quite enjoyed his laid-back words of wisdom and anecdotes.

Then there’s the other half of Faithless’ vocals, Jamie Catto. Most know him these days as Who’sThatNow?, but way back in the group’s formation, he was just as vital a component to the Faithless sound as your Maxis and Didos. He provided a husky, soulful croon that complemented Rollo and Bliss’ dalliances into R&B and gospel, making songs like Don’t Leave and Angelina all the more powerful for it. Wow, considering I was kinda’ blasé about his songs when I first played Reverence, I never thought I’d miss his presence in later Faithless albums. Guess it helps to grow an appreciation for music outside the easy ear-candy of plucky stadium house bangers like Salva Mea and Insomnia.

Was that the plan all along, woo in the clubbed-up caners with a pair of undeniable anthems, then drop serious music education on them when they buy the album? Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Bentovim never claimed as such, merely making the tunes that captured their interest (in less than a month, no less!) and letting the chips fall where they may. The duo sound just as surprised by Reverence’s two-fold success in interviews, though they must have suspected they had something unique going for them. The only fault with this LP I can make is Faithless had yet to realize their full potential.