Sacred Cows

The Swirling Eddies (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• ASIN: B00021XO78
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,309 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Come on fellas, let's have a burger bash!, August 19, 2007

By 

Steve Stowers (Springfield, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Cows (Audio CD)

The title of this album refers to a Mark Twain quote: "Sacred cows make the best hamburger." Here, the Swirling Eddies serve up a platter of ten burgers--not hamburgers, but cheeseburgers. They've taken songs (from the mid-80's to mid-90's) that are beloved by some segment of the fans of Christian rock music, but are at least a little bit cheesy, and made them way, way cheesier. It's good musicians playing deliberately bad music.

It is my distinct impression that what the Swirling Eddies are doing here is amusing themselves. Whether the listener is also amused will depend on how closely that listener's sense of humor aligns with the Eddies'. Upon giving this disc a listen, you may find yourself grinning wildly, or with your jaw dropped open in shock, or wincing and covering your ears, or just bored by the whole thing.

Personally, I don't play this disc very often (and some of its tracks are more listenable than others), but the fact that it exists makes me happy, and I'm glad I own a copy.

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, if dated, June 7, 2009

By 

WitherWing (Naknek, AK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Cows (Audio CD)

For a long time people asked the strange question "Who is the Christian Weird Al?" which implied that a) Al was not a Christian and b) CCM needed someone to make song parodies. Unfortunately CCM songs seem to have the shelf life of a carton of milk, and every attempt to parody CCM has been either cute-but-tame (Mark Lowry) or unlistenably humorless (Apologetix). This doesn't keep the Eddies from trying and being dead-on more often than not.

Much of the humor relies on the fact that CCM, and by extension CCM radio, tended to put out a lot of "youth music" in the early 80s-mid 90s that could only be enjoyed by those immersed in the subculture and unexposed to the trends around them. A lot of moralizing and us-vs-them talking was popular at the time, and it shows in the songs that The Swirling Eddies picked on. It was music for the parent to be comfortable giving their kids. Even their slam at Audio Adrenaline's rip-off of the Spin Doctors had to be masked.

Not only were these songs picked on, the music was mocked endlessly: If Whiteheart was known for musical precision in the 80s, the Eddies slopped through it. If Terry couldn't sing as high as Michael Sweet, he could speed up his voice enough to sound like a chipmunk. If Carman took his "Tough Guy for Jesus" act a little too seriously, The Eddies gave him a lisp. If DC Talk's "I Love Rap Music" was already pretty un-hip, they'd take it even farther and make it a lounge song with someone singing "I Love Black Music" just to belabor the point.

Anyway, if you have friends of a certain age, find a copy and slip it in when they're not paying attention. At the very least "Baby, Baby" and "Big House" should be hits. Others will remind you of those Weird Al albums from years past where you have no idea what he's parodying (and the chances anyone remembers "Alcatraz" or "Not For Me" are low), but you'll laugh anyway because of the silliness.

5.0 out of 5 stars a spoof-lover's paradise!, November 21, 2008

By 

R. Miller "bald spot" (Toledo, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sacred Cows (Audio CD)

You either have a sense of humor as a listener to Christian rock music, or you don't. For those who've had a humorectomy, pass this one by. But if you love a good laugh, and love to laugh over and over (as I do whenever I listen to this CD) then buy it. These guys are such good musicians, and so good in the studio that I find new levels of humor and spoofishness almost every time I listen, kind of like a musical Firesign Theater.