I think this is a great list and worthy of general discussion outside of a tangent inside the Games & Polls section of the forum (:tumbleweed:)Bruce the Duck wrote:Here's how I would rank the album closers from best to worst. To me, the last song on an Al album can't just be a good song. It should stand out above the others on the album in some way. So with that in mind, here's how I'd rank them.
1. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - The original epic, and still the best. Al doesn't do enough of the storytelling in his songs.
2. Good Old Days - Of all the subtle humor songs he's done, this is easily my favorite. And I can't get enough of the beautiful tune.
3. You Don't Love Me Anymore - Still Al's best and most beautiful love song, IMO. Nothing else needs to be said about how great this is.
4. The Night Santa Went Crazy - Al managed to take a mediocre Soul Asylum tune and turn it into one of the greatest, and most deranged Christmas songs ever. Pure brilliance.
5. Christmas at Ground Zero - A masterful style parody of Christmas rock songs like Jingle Bell Rock. If it wasn't about nuclear devastation, I could easily see this on any Christmas music collection.
6. Don't Download This Song - Al expertly captured the feeling of "We Are the World" and "Hands Across America". I only wish he would have reached out to other artists and got some collaboration on this one. I have no doubt he could have gotten some big names to sing a line on the song if he had tried.
7. Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me - As epic and beautiful as "Don't Download". I can really relate to this because I know someone who constantly forwards crap to me.
8. Nature Trail to Hell - His first real big closing song. Absolutely beautiful medley. I wish there were more to the lyrics in this one though, but it's still a wonderful song. I love the fake out ending.
9. Bohemian Polka - The first time he ended an album with a polka, it didn't work out too well. But with the epic scale of "Bohemian Rhapsody," it worked beautifully.
10. Albuquerque - The song is great and riddled with great jokes. But it's gotten a bit old. I don't skip very many songs, but this is one that I often do just because it's so long and I'm not always in the mood to listen to it. Same goes for "Trapped in the Drive Thru" and "Genius in France."
11. Genius in France - I loved this the first time I heard it, and got a kick out of it for a while after the initial listen. But after a while, it just didn't hold up. The novelty of the Zappa sound and the repetitive nature of the jokes just got old really fast.
12. Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung - For the debut album, it was a great closer. Just doesn't hold up to the others.
13. Hooked on Polkas - It's fine as far as polka medleys go, but there's nothing special enough about it to be the closer. This spot should have been "One More Minute." Or even better - "Yoda".
I would arrange this list similarly but would have to disagree on a few.
1. The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - This one is pretty close to unbeatable in my opinion. Easily one of my top five favorite Weird Al songs.
2. You Don't Love Me Anymore - The best love song and one of the top few originals overall.
3. Albuquerque - Bruce is right that it doesn't really hold up and you sometimes have to skip it, but as Al said in the recent AV Club interview, the song was originally meant to annoy listeners for how long it was and he never expected it to gain its own cult following among the fans. I was 13 when Running With Scissors came out so maybe I have an affinity for that album, but I still think Albuquerque judged on its own is a really funny song and was a blast to see live a few years ago.
4. The Night Santa Went Crazy - Anything that destroys the spirit of Christmas as thoroughly as this is fine by me.
5. Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me - This one may still have the week-old sheen to it, but I really love this song. It's a good style parody, an overall funny concept, has many laugh out loud parts, and stays musically interesting throughout.
6. Christmas At Ground Zero - The video really sells this one for me, especially the clip of Reagan. I wish he'd sampled that into the actual song.
7. Nature Trail To Hell - I don't know if I've ever heard a song that this sounds like, but it's a great original. Very funny and predates the movie "Bushwhacked" by nearly ten years. Bonus points for the line "in 3D."
8. Good Old Days - I was pleasantly surprised to see this song make a sudden comeback after 20 years of obscurity. The performance with The Roots is one of my all time favorite collabojams in music history, and I've seen several Grammy telecasts!
9. Genius In France - I didn't get into Zappa until after I first heard this song and the more I've heard the more I appreciate what Al has done here. I really enjoy listening to this one. Al's lyrics plus Zappa's music: it's classically demented. You can tell this style parody was personal for him.
10. Bohemian Polka - Doing one epic song as its own polka is the sort of thing Al should only do once, and this is obviously the right target. On another album, this might have been fit for the usual track 5 slot, but given the other songs on Alapalooza it clearly belonged at the end.
11. Don't Download This Song - Again, a lot of funny, topical jokes that satirized many sides of the issue. It's not ranked higher only because the style is not particularly enjoyable to listen to, and the video wasn't that compelling.
12. Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung - A cute little ditty but... well, Al has gotten a lot better over the years.
13. Hooked On Polkas - What was this doing as the last track? Big mistake, it's not even one of the better polkas. I agree with Bruce, the last song should have been Yoda.