Paul Aldrich

Item: The History Of God And Man
Author: Chris Well

The History Of God And Man

(1994)

Reviewed by Chris Well

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Broken RecordsSyndicateAug 1994

ccm comedy spoken word

When Paul Aldrich appeared on the national scene a while back with his first major release, there were glimmers of potential. Since the album was essentially a clearing house of his old ideas—not an all-new album—those glimmers seemed very promising. Unfortunately, with the soph release The History Of God And Man, we still only see glimmers, and fewer of them.

It's a mystery why "Christian comedy" is still such an oxymoron. Where "Christian heavy metal" has evolved beyond just some guy with a scratchy voice and "Christian rap" has evolved beyond just some guy with a scratchy record, "Christian comedy" has never really blossomed. Where are our Christian rock comedians? Where is the comedic equivalent of the 77s or Sixpence None The Richer or Rick Elias?

The rare glimmer on History is "Modern Church Historical," patterned after Gilbert and Sullivan's "Modern Major General" (reprised at the end with a rap version). It's not insanely funny, but it is amusing (mostly because it reminds me of the Simpsons where Sideshow Bob was going to kill Bart, and Bart tricked Sideshow Bob into performing an entire Gilbert and Sullivan musical, which stalled for time until the police showed up—now that was funny).

Even more disheartening is that producer Terry Taylor is certainly capable of better. Not only has he written some very funny songs, he's also recorded a very funny comedy album of his own, Dr. Rev. Edward Daniel Taylor's Miracle Faith Telethon. I find it puzzling a proven artist like Taylor let some of Aldrich's material get this far.

If modern Christian rock fans want something funny, check out some of the more satirical moments from songwriters Steve Taylor, Terry Taylor and Randy Stonehill. If you haunt the collectibles bin, look for the Holy Ghost Players, Rockomedy's Eternal Vision (very layered, like Firesign Theater), and maybe half of Isaac Air Freight's old material.

Don't write Paul Aldrich off quite yet—after all, Adam Sandler's non-live comedy album was an atrocious disappointment, but he's still a live wire on Saturday Night Live.

Aldrich and Broken need to regroup and rethink: If they were hoping for the typical bland, ccm comedy album, History Of God And Man is about as good as anything available now. But if Aldrich really wants to make a comedy album for the rock generation, he needs to raise his sights a great deal.

1.5/5