I was hoping to barrel through these before Camp Nanowrimo started, but life has a tendency to get in the way on my Diablo III time. So having four albums left to review before July 15th I'm breaking them up two and two. I apologize for any inconvenience. Ever. As of this moment all of the world's inconveniences are apologized for.
Running with Scissors
So now we come to the 'modern' era of Weird Al where he shaved the mustache and lost his glasses, and since he needed them to find them he had to get corrective eye surgery (I assume he was able to find his glasses after that). Al was approaching almost two decades in the business, which was pretty monumental for an artist the mainstream had continued mistaking for a one-hit wonder.
This was around the time that Al's wider appeal was being noticed. The first generation fans were grown up and having kids who were invariably going to be raised with a solid grasp on humor. VH1 took a real interest in Weird Al and treated us to the famous Behind the Music special, which was the first time anyone had seriously examined his career.
The Running with Scissors album was also a personal rite of passage for me in that I was finally able to see Al perform in concert. For whatever reason the Strand Theater in Shreveport, La. neglected to go through Ticketmaster which meant I had to do some real telephone/dial-up internet searching to find some tickets. Two of my conspirators and I crammed into the front seat of a pickup truck and drove four and a half hours across Louisiana to get to a theater that was less than half full (or more than half empty); but let me tell you those occupied seats had true Weird Al fans in them, probably also attending their first concert after going through the back alleys to get tickets.
The concert was electrifying. Al was phenomenal. The band was amazing. It was also my first real exposure to Ruben Valtierra who may be the only person in this world capable of upstaging Al at his own concert. When we applauded, we filled that place up with sound. We chanted, cheered, and sang in all the right places. And me being an introvert, it was one of those extremely rare circumstances where I truly felt like I fit in with the whole world around me. All that and I even got to shake hands with Jon Schwartz and Steve Jay.
That's all well and good, but how does the album he was promoting measure up? Well, funny I should pretend you asked that:
The Saga Begins: You know all that griping I did during Alapalooza when Al had to go all the way back to 1871 to find a song to parody for his opening track? When I found out he was using American Pie as his flagship for the new album I was getting ready to dust off the old megaphone. Well, it can’t be said that I’m not willing to reluctantly mutter under my breath that I was wrong. A timeless song just feels right for a Star Wars themed parody. Kind of like Yoda, it's not laugh-out-loud funny but more of a reaffirmation of nerd culture, and it gives Al an excuse to drag out his encore performance in concert; and if you're lucky enough to catch a showing that involves the 501st Legion on the stage then you'll never be satisfied with another rock concert shy of Blue Man Group.
My Baby’s in Love with Eddie Vedder: This song always gives me a chuckle. I have no idea why Al paired this subject material with zydeco but the dichotomy is a perfect anti-match. Does anyone know if local bands in New Orleans ever cover this song when audiences have had it with Mambo No. 5?
Pretty Fly for a Rabbi: Here we have a bizarre situation. The original song by The Offspring was actually funnier than Al’s parody of it. Not to say that the parody is bad, just sort of a puzzlement. In sixteen years I have yet to grow tired of Pretty Fly (For a White Guy), so I don't think Al could really have dropped the ball on this one. This song is just a bit of an odd man out, like the 1996 Doctor Who film.
The Weird Al Show Theme: Unlike some of Al's other short songs I'll give this one full marks for crossing the one minute line and for having more lyrics than R.E.M.'s The One I Love and a better plot than The Dark Knight Rises.
Jerry Springer: Yeah, I know. Al's covered the daytime talk show genre already, but man this is a thing of beauty! I think this song was where I began to realize just how much Al was challenging himself as a writer. If you're an Al fan you've probably had ideas for parodies and maybe even been under the misguided delusion that Al would welcome hearing them, but have you ever tried to follow through on writing one from beginning to end? If so, then you know the teeth grinding frustration of not being able to make that one joke fit the syllables, and rhyme, and sound like the line from the original. Now imagine doing that with a Barenaked Ladies song. Uh-huh? You still want to send Al your little Katy Perry idea for I Kicked a Goal? Didn't think so.
Germs: The word on the street is: Trent Reznor is another one of those artists who has refused Al parody permission, and get out of the street you moron. Well, what can you do? This apparently. This is one of those songs that didn't connect with me at first, but then one day it just hit me how spot on Al's recreation of Nine Inch Nails's style really is. There are some really talented comedians who don't get enough credit for their versatility, and rectifying that is something I believe our nation should really put at the top of its to-do list.
Polka Power!: You knew I wasn't going to make it to the end of the album without having some kind of negative criticism. My ONE complaint about this album is that the polka is a little weak. Usually Al's polkas will start in decent territory and end with a bang like Hooked on Polkas or come through the gate swinging and never let up like Polka Party!. This one is more akin to Polka Your Eyes Out in that it starts lukewarm and never leaves it, although ending on Closing Time (while making sense on paper) even brings lukewarm down to tepid levels. Eh, whatever.
Your Horoscope for Today: This is funny. This is really funny. Fortunately I was not reading the lyrics the first time I listened to it, so Sagittarius's horoscope caught me completely off guard and I did not stop laughing for about ten minutes. In the end, I've decided that I think this was a funnier song than One More Minute, which was something I'd spent fifteen years not believing in. Oh yeah, this song is also a Midnight Star as well as having the 'wordy bridge' trope that I introduced in my review of I'm So Sick of You last album. Boy, a lot's happening on this track.
It’s All About the Pentiums: When Mandatory Fun hits the shelves on July 15, it's my goal to have a review of it here on my blog the same day. Of course that puts the album at a disadvantage for any songs (such as this one) that take time to grow on me. When I first listened to this track I'd never heard the Puff Daddy, still haven't, and I just thought "Okay, it's another rap. Nothing special". But after a few months of processing the concept I fell in love with it. I can't think of any other song that has so effectively captured the notion of the 'nerd bully'. Back in the 80s being a nerd meant you spent much of your life pleading for sanctuary. Now that the world has become so digital, we're discovering that a percentage of nerds are as much brutes as the fiends who used to beat them up. It's an uncomfortably gratifying development.
Truck Driving Song: I seem to be yammering a lot about this album so let me try to brevity it up from here on out. Transvestitism is a weird song topic, even for Al, and based on where this song is located Al presumably considers this his weakest original. While it's not my favorite, it hardly seems to be a weak link on a nearly flawless album.
Grape Fruit Diet: This is a great song, even if the bulk of it is leftover lines from Fat. The original is a wonderful source for Al and I'm so glad he didn't let this one slip by. The scat section in particular elevates the parody to an artistic level. Grape Fruit Diet is Al's best 'final' parody since Theme From Rocky XIII.
Albuquerque: I literally have nothing to add to this song so I'm just going to let it speak for itself.
Conclusion:
I'm giving the polka a 2.5. Everything else on this incredible album get a 3. 35.5 out of 36 for a score of 99. An A+.
Poodle Hat
As usual I bought this album the day of, and to date I still don't understand the title. Some comment about the fashion industry I assume.
As of this posting I've never actually met Al. I've sent him a few fan letters and a wedding invitation (no, I wasn't expecting a response). I've been to six of his concerts and I'm delighted to say he was inches away from me during a performance of One More Minute when he reached across me with a fork. I certainly believe I've become close with many people in my life because of our mutual love of his work. But I've never really met him. And the more I think about it, the less important I think that is.
The reason being, I feel like I already know everything there is to know about "Weird Al" Yankovic in the sense of being Alfred Matthew Yankovic's public face. It's not to say that his spotlight persona is a character like Stephen Colbert, but it is a filtered side of his personality; the face he shows at work if you will. I know if I ever had the chance to shake his hand and introduce myself I would invariably be meeting Al at work. I would love the opportunity to meet the 'after work' side of Al but I know that's not going to happen. Like anyone strong enough to deal with the insanity of the entertainment industry, Al has the wisdom to keep his professional and personal life separate.
Poodle Hat however came out at a time when that separation was not always possible, both for reasons of joy and sadness. With no fanfare, Al married Suzanne Krajewski in 2001 and their daughter Nina was born in 2003. I first heard about any of this on the Ask Al page when someone asked him who all the people on the cover of the album were, and Al mentioned his pregnant wife. And my knee-jerk reaction was "When the hell did any of that happen?" I mean, the Behind the Music special had just declared Al as 'still alone'. I'll never believe reality television again.
I saw Al in concert twice during the Poodle Hat tour, before and after the loss of his parents to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. If you want to talk about a professional 'work face', if you would never have known from that second concert anything had changed. I'm still in awe of him for continuing to perform during this period.
I ordinarily have a lack of empathy for the good and bad things that happen to people around me. People live, people die, everyone carries a picture of their niece that I don't want to see, nobody likes other people's politicians, or Michael Bay but they'll still pay to see his movies; I get it, I just don't care, I still have work and a student loan to pay. But the death of Al's parents really affected me. If you ever watch Weird Al in Concert from the previous tour, you'll see how wild the crowd goes when Al's parents take the stage. I think most of us felt like we knew them somehow.
I'm just very grateful that Al has a wife (who seems incredibly devoted) and daughter (who is simply adorable). He deserves a family, and knowing that he's a dad now warms my heart. I can't say I ever took much comfort in the awareness of Albuquerque, but knowing this video exists really does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJVqELzmjyQ
Couch Potato: This flagship song accurately sets the mood for the overall flavor of the album. It's another television show list (done that) but Eminem was the big thing at the time, so the Lose Yourself parody was almost a prerequisite. While the idea may have been recycled, Al makes up for it with his fully developed skill as a writer. And like I say, most of this album has the feel of Al using what he has to work with as best as he can, to hit and miss effect, but you can tell was still on a massively creative wave following Running with Scissors.
Hardware Store: This isn't a song. This is a stunt. The 'wordy bridge' trope begun with I'm So Sick of You and expanded on in Your Horoscope for Today comes to its ultimate realization here (at least I hope, my ego can't take an even harder tongue twister). Depending on how the new album comes together, one would almost make the case that this is Weird Al at his apex. To quote Frank Sinatra, "You'll never see the likes of this again." Aim for the stars kids.
Trash Day: Here's another one of those songs that initially left me feeling humdrum but grew on me after the twentieth time. Mostly it has to do with the original. The songs that are parodied on this album aren't bad songs, they're just kind of...the Hanna-Barbera cartoons of music; you give them attention because they happen to be on at the moment. Al honestly makes something out of nothing with the material, so you have to give him credit.
Party at the Leper Colony: Well this is sick humor isn't it? Thank God there was no video. While I don't think I should be encouraging this, the song is cute in its twisted way, and the jokes are funny. And it's a melody that doesn't overstay its welcome in my head. It's just that my inner child is curled up on the couch refusing to come to dinner.
The Angry White Boy Polka: (I've been waiting to do this one). By a tiny margin, this beats out The Alternative Polka for my top spot. Whereas The Alternative Polka sounded like a satire on the music of the time, this one actually seems to compliment lyrics with an almost melancholic mood. The theme carries through the whole medley, starting with the self-destructiveness of Last Resort, sliding into an accordion-laden depression with Last Night, coming to terms with its own sadness in Outside and finally finding its inner strength with the hyperactive finale. It's like all of these songs were cosmically meant to fit together in exactly this manner. And I don't think there has ever been more of a war-cry in a polka than "Bawitdaba da bang a dang diggy diggy diggy..."
Wanna B Ur Lovr: In his recent tours this has become the One More Minute replacement, and I'm delighted to say that a few years ago in Knoxville Al came into the audience and serenaded my wife with the line "I wanna be your love torpedo, are you picking up the subtle innuendo here?" I still haven't gotten over that. My hero sang to my wife. *grin* This song truly is hysterical, and it's obviously the Midnight Star of the album.
A Complicated Song: I like the idea of this. Apparently there wasn't a single idea Al could use to carry through the whole parody so he essentially went with three different parodies. The first verse makes the best transition from the original title, but unfortunately it goes into scatological humor. The second verse is the best, but the third goes into such absurd territory that it had to end the song.
Why Does This Always Happen to Me?: Kind of like You Don't Love Me Anymore, this song starts off sounding serious before it hits its punchline. Great joke. It builds into the second verse just fine. Now I'm not going to take off a full point for this, but the third verse has always bothered me. He's already told the same joke twice 'something tragic has befallen somebody else and I can't believe how much it inconveniences me'. The third time feels unnecessary. I think I would have liked it better if he'd reversed the formula where something really good happened to him like a huge job promotion, but then he's whining about having to move all of his STUFF into the bigger office with the window. *sigh* Al never asks me for my input.
Ode to a Superhero: Jurassic Park 2.0. This song is the weak link on the album. It just feels forced shoving a 2002 movie into a 1973 song. Even if Spider-Man was the better movie, it wasn't timeless like Phantom Menace.
Bob: Another thing that I hold against Ode to a Superhero is that it makes the album feel prematurely retro, causing the last two original songs to seem weaker than they are. You also have to get past the video to this song (which was a recycled joke of an homage that Al had already used in the video for UHF and only filmed because of Eminem pulling a Prince move), to appreciate the uniqueness on display. Apparently Al received a little resistance from his record label because they didn't believe his fans would know who Bob Dylan was. Seriously? Everybody knows who Bob Dylan is! He's that guy from that Pawn Stars episode! Good Lord.
eBay: This one disappointed me. It's not a problem with the writing, the concept is funny and Al does a good job with it. It's that the boy band pool was wide open and Al had to choose a slow one, and on top of that put it as the final parody. The overall pace of Poodle Hat has been noticeably slowing down since the polka, and the album really needed a kick of adrenaline before the last sendoff. Ah well.
Genius in France: Al does Frank Zappa. It's a spot on style parody, and just may have a new audience calling for a rutabaga. Like Spike Jones, Frank Zappa was one of those musicians who was very serious about comedic music, and with Al getting inside Zappa's head and unofficially deconstructing Jerry Lewis the result is a work of virtuoso craftsmanship.
Conclusion:
It's strange doing these reviews the way that I am, because I hadn't quite realized how good I think this album really is. Ode to a Superhero gets 2 points, while eBay and Why Does This Always Happen to Me? each get 2.5, because of the reasons I complained about earlier. (You're not just skipping to the scores are you?) The rest of the songs get 3 points each, and I'm awarding 1 point of awesomeness to Hardware Store because it was the spectacular equivalent of Al's sway pole routine on Circus of the Stars. 35 out of 36 points. 97. Another A!
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