Album Reviews

[joseyklein]

Alright, since there is only 13 days til the 13th album is upon us, I am going to be doing a day by day album by album review until the Alpocalypse is upon us!! So since today is day 1, we will be talking about the first album born in 1983.. the same year as me!! In 1983 there was birthed an album that would almost cave-in the face of society as we know it; I say "almost" cause, while it was a very solid effort, this accordion fueled album only left a small bruise.. in the following space below you will read exactly why, in this bruised face of society, was left a positive memorable sign as of whats to come; and for 3 decades!!!!!! So here we go with my review of: "Weird Al" Yankovic



Track 1: Ricky (Parody of "Mickey" by Tony Basil)



This is the lead-off parody and lead single on this momentous first album by our favorite guy AL.
It is a great upbeat song about everyone's favorite show about a dysfunctional family to watch while bored "I Love Lucy" This was the perfect way to kick off the first album, and spawned his first airplay on MTV creating the exposure that every new artists needs.

Track 2: Gotta Boogie



This disco driven booger theme song is an anthem for immature america as we see it today. Its a very simple subject and a solid original song worthy of the second slot in this very nostalgic-era ALbum!!

Track 3: I Love Rocky Road (Parody of "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)



This Is the follow up single to ricky, and it also happens to be the first Al song I ever heard back when I was only 9 years old, producing a hardcore lifelong fan!! This song is one of the best on the album and amongst my all time favorites!!

Track 4: Buckingham Blues



Although this is supposed to be the blues, this is a very upbeat happy bluesy send up about Chuck and Diane the inhabiters of the Buckingam Palace. This almost parody almost original song is very catchy and one of the all time great original songs in the infinite catalog of the legendary AL, thus making it a solid addition to the Weird Al Universe.

Track 5: Happy Birthday



This is a very fast and furious original that is not only catchy, but hard rockin as well!! This song is a prelude to the imminent World War 3 when the world, much like this song, is in pure chaos!! (This song would also be a perfect addition to the Alpocalypse Tour....Al..) This song will go down in history as one of the all time best originals in the now legendary catalog of AL.

Track 6: Stop Draggin My Car Around (Parody of "Stop Draggin My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks



This parody is a very good look at what happens when you don't pay your bills ontime, and a spot on parody of a classic song, if you haven't heard the original.. listen to it, the parody is much better!

Track 7: My Bologna (Parody of "My Sharona" by The Knack)



This is Al's debut Parody that kicked off his career as a superhero and solidified his status as a comedy ICON!!!!!!!

Track 8: The Check's In The Mail



This original song is basically about a con artist trying to avoid getting caught by avoiding phone calls while still trying to act professional. Although not the funniest track on the album, it is a solid effort that shows off Al's musical talent and is stuck in my head often. Great entry into the first album.

Track 9: Another One Rides The Bus (Parody of "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen)



This parody was not only responsible for Al's first TV appearance, but it is also the only one that wasn't recorded in the studio with the rest of the songs, but was recorded live on the Dr. Demento show. This would have been really cool to hear with a full band behind it!

Track 10: I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead



This original song is an anthem for rebellious teenagers everywhere that feel that they can do whatever they want and know everything already so we don't need to say anything!! I been there before, have you?

Track 11: Such A Groovy Guy



This is the first in a long line of Twisted Love Songs to come, and its about a person that thinks he is so cool he is telling a woman about all the twisted and goofy things he wants to do to her... a very solid entry into the love song hall of fame!

Track 12: Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung



The final conclusion to the album and the first in a long series of epic production induced last songs that always live on in the hearts of us all, usually the more edgy song on the album and usually end up being the best on the album!!

Well, this has been fun talking at you guys, and remember... tomorrow I'm taking you all back in time to 1984 IN 3-D!!!!!!

[oddaustin]

I was hoping for a little more criticism here, you seem to just praise everything. Al himself admits this one isn't perfect. Also, you're really just describing each song. That's not really reviewing it (unless you meant 'recap'). That requires a more in depth retrospection. Perhaps in the next few album reviews, examine the records a little further. Give more than just two sentences of description, followed by "This song is great!". I think this is a cool idea to have a countdown review, I just wish there was more thought put into it. So, please, for your ol' pal Austin, go into detail and give a paragraph or so of thoughts on the musical reproduction, songwriting, etc...

Or whatever, it's your topic.

[giantlobsterrobot]

Something else to definitely consider is whether it's going to be reviewing for the time period when it came out (and as far as comedy records from 1983 go, this is probably the best one!) or how it still holds up by today's standards. Buckingham Blues, for example, has really no place other than "yeah... princes and princesses just have to make babies. That's so true." and maybe a little retrospect...
The stand-outs for me on this album and the ones that I feel STILL hold true 28 years later to every intent of comedy are I Love Rocky Road, Happy Birthday, Mr. Frump, and Another One Rides the Bus. Ricky would be included if I Love Lucy was a bit more popular. I don't see episodes on much these days in my area. I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead has some out-dated slang, but I love the song. It still has some awesome music behind it though and a great message. My Bologna is a cool song and all... a song about bologna isn't a bad thing, but it's not all that humorous. When parodies weren't so mainstream, I'm sure it stood out as that song that changed the words of that other song.
Though it's not the funniest Al album, some of its songs still do stand up to modern novelties.
By necessity, the accordion played a larger role, and he should put some more emphasis on what a great instrument that really is into future works.

[HappyGilmore]

I quite like this album. I don't know why really, but it still holds a spot in my heart.

[oddaustin]

Oh, I agree. I don't love the parodies as much as the originals (but for me, that's usually the case), but this is a killer record. Happy Birthday and I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead are among the best songs Al has ever written, in my opinion.

Also, I kind of adore the clumsy lo-fi-ness of it all. Though I'm quite glad he got better over time.

[HappyGilmore]

The originals are really good on it, and they get the most play whenever I listen to it.

[sethmartin]

I agree with reviewing the album a little more. A few things I would point out on this record would definitely be...

Al's singing voice- It is a world of difference when comparing the way Al sings on this album to the way he sings today. You can tell that Al was definitely going for more of the "I'm a guy doing funny songs" instead of the "I'm a guy doing songs...which just happen to be funny". What I mean by that is, Al was new to the game and still trying to figure things out and probably felt the need to stress each verse and try to be as funny as possible all the time instead of just letting the lyrics do it for him. Some of the tracks benefit from this as in Mr. Frump and The Check's in the Mail but other tracks suffer such as Happy Birthday. Al's voice has definitely improved over the years.

Accordion- Another thing to note is the fact that this album contains the most accordion on any Al studio album to date. There is no polka on this yet 4 of the tracks are driven almost entirely by accordion. On top of that, Accordion is heavy on almost every song on the album. Definitely trying to A: Capitalize on the fact Al plays accordion, and B: Used to fill in gaps because most songs on this album were recorded quickly with little time to bring in other musicians and lay down multiple guitar, keyboard tracks.

All in all I think you can certainly tell that this album was heavily pushed by the record label as just slap it together and maybe make a couple bucks. Capitalizing on the success of Al on the Tom Snyder show, they put little money and little time into this album as well as little faith in Al and I think it shows. Its certainly not a terrible album but if you follow my thoughts of "Every Weird Al album is better than the last one" I guess you know where I stand. If I was introducing someone to Al for the first time, I wouldn't start with this. There are some gems on this but I think it suffers from the fact that most of the songs were "slapped together" as filler so the record label could put out an album as albums sold more than singles back then. You can tell that the lyrical writing is there on the songs but its hard to listen to SOL and then listen to this. I'm always left thinking, "I wish Al could have done more with this". On "In 3D", you can definitely tell that Al had more creative control, more money and more support from the label as well as more time to put it together.

[NMRodo]

Um, you didn't really criticize anything except "The Check's in the Mail"...

[weirdojace]

Al's voice isn't very good on this album. He even goes flat on I Love Rocky Road. ("I'll be moving on") But he was still learning.

He's a phenomenal singer today.

[oddaustin]

Yeah, always wondered, was he just a terrible vocalist back then and got singing lessons, or was he trying to sound bad? Cause the difference is almost immeasurable.