Audio Adrenaline: Underdog (1999)

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Tracks:

1. Mighty Good Leader
2. Underdog
3. Get Down
4. Good Life
5. Let My Love Open the Door
6. Hands and Feet
7. Jesus Movement
8. DC-10
9. It is Well with My Soul
10. This Day
11. It's Over
12. The Houseplant Song

With Burkum and Cissel permanently installed as members, Audio A upped their musicianship and after a couple of years of touring came up with an even stronger album, Underdog.  They still played around with samples, hip-hop beats and other assorted samples, but now cranked out heavier rock pieces in the spirit of Bloom.  Indeed, Burkum actually starts to sound like a Barry Blair disciple on this one, as his playing takes on much of the Southern-fried tones of the founding guitarist.  It's his electric grooves that provide much of the record's spark, as the first six tunes form a solid slab of fun rockers that take the Audio A sound in a few new directions.  "Mighty Good Leader" is good opener, with a nice build-up on the verse and pre-chorus a la "Some Kind of Zombie."  The title track is also strong, with a decent chorus melody and a sermon excerpt on the break.  In fact, the melodic approach on the album is probably the most sophisticated yet, as Stuart and the gang have moved beyond shouted lines and "bah-de-bum-bum" singalongs and really coming up with some decent tunes.

"Get Down" and "Hands and Feet" were the two big singles, and represent the two big themes of the album.  The former, based on the title, sounds like an invitation to boogie, but it's really about God's intervention when we "get down" emotionally when facing life's struggles.  It's the only song to really carry over the "techno-acoustic" sound of Zombie, with a rhythm riff right out of the Blair playbook.  "Hands and Feet" sings of the timeless AA message of missions, and has a more epic feel than most of the songs on the album.  

The album also has three cover songs, starting with a tight, fast run-through of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door."  The author once described the song succinctly with the phrase, "Jesus sings."  And while Townshend is hardly a voice for orthodoxy (He's actually much closer to Hinduism in his beliefs), the song represents the next in a long line of Pete's "spiritual" songs that can be interpreted in a Christian context (Such as "Bargain," "Christmas", and even "Behind Blue Eyes").  Audio A's version turns the chorus into more of a rock chant than the original, and what it takes away from its poignancy and heart-felt romanticism, it makes up for in fun and power.

They also cover the classic Horatio Spafford hymn "It is Well with My Soul."  The somewhat languid arrangement puts a weird, dark spin on the song, and having Jennifer Knapp echo Stuart on the refrains doesn't make it any easier to swallow.  Still, the lyrics pack a deep spiritual punch, echoing the sentiments of "Get Down."  More twists are made in their cover of their own "DC-10" from the self-titled album.  What started as a blustery hard rock/hip-hop hybrid is now turned into a rockabilly swing exercise, played at a breakneck tempo.  Still, Burkum pulls off a decent Brian Setzer impersonation, and again, speed and humor win out over any shortcomings.

It's telling that the band chose to list their names on the cover, as the group was finally beginning to sound like they were greater than the sum of their parts.  Still, they have their laughs with the closer, Herdman's "The Houseplant Song," which re-introduces Smooth Steve into the mix.  And Underdog manages to maintain a much more cohesive feel than the somewhat discombobulated Zombie.