Straight Outta Lynwood Full Album Reviews

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paulgj
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Post by paulgj »

I finally managed to find a copy of SOL down here in NZ, so i'll review it.

Front cover: This is interesting. Unlike RWS and PH, there is no actual joke on the cover. I mean PH's cover had me cracking up for days. But SOL's cover looks cool, so it gets points for that. 7/10
Liner notes: Yay! A proper booklet! Great photography and stuff. 10/10

Pre-track: "You're Pitiful" - Pretty funny, however, it hit its high point right at the beginning with the comments on Blunt's false start. Some of the jokes just aren't that funny. Still good. 7/10

1. "White & Nerdy" - This parody, in my opinion isn't *that* good. But it makes a great single, because it hits home with Al's target audience - principally males aged 12-30. And it does have a few pretty funny jokes. 6/10

2. "Pancreas" - It doesn't really contain any jokes. Musically, it's great. But that's not what we're looking at. 5/10

3. "Canadian Idiot" - A clever satire on American views of Canadians. This song doesn't target Canadians - it targets Americans. Gets better on repeat listens. Particularly good for non-Americans. 8/10

4. "I'll Sue Ya" - A good satire of American sue culture. Very funny RATM pastiche. 8/10

5. "Polkarama!" - This is one of the funniest polkas ever. The arrogant and 'sexy' "Candy Shop" set to the jubliant polka music was particularly funny. 7/10

6. "Virus Alert" - Very musically appealling, and this was the first song that made me laugh out loud. Random, impossible effects of a virus make for a very funny song. 8/10

7. "Confessions Part III" - This is a great parody, picking holes in R&B and rap sequels. The short summary of the plot of parts I & II is brilliant. 9/10

8. "Do I Creep You Out" - This is good in its contrary lyrics and melody. The heartfelt melody and stalker lyrics are great. 7/10

9. "Weasel Stomping Day" - Short, sweet and sort-of funny. 5/10

10. "Close But No Cigar" - Catchy. Very funny metaphors and stuff. 8/10.

11. "Trapped In The Drive-Thru" - Brilliant take-off of the overblown drama and ridiculous style and plot of the R. Kelly song. Pure genius. 10/10

12. "Don't Download This Song" - The strongest original on the album, and some of Al's best work. A stunning satire of 'download culture'. 10/10

The videos:

White And Nerdy: One of Al's best videos. Up there with "Fat", "SLN" and "UHF". 10/10

Don't Download This Song: Nice style and overblown consequences to match the song's tone. 9/10

I'll Sue Ya: Cool video. Nice style and hidden jokes. (Like "Arm The Lawyers" on the guitar). Best video on the DVD. 10/10

Weasle Stomping Day: Good animation, pretty funny. 7/10

Virus Alert: Yeah, it's alright... 6/10

Close, But No Cigar: Cool style, but a little vulgar in parts. 7/10

Pancreas: Strange. Compared to JIm Blashfield's other stuff, this is pretty awful. 3/10

Do I Creep You Out?: Cool realistic animation style, good Al-ish video jokes. 9/10


Overall: It's one of my favorite albums. It goes something like this: EW, closely followed by OTDE, followed by SOL, closely followed by In 3-D, then BHD.
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Post by cloggedone_weirdalfan »

:D I loved the CD! My favorite one was: Weasel Stomping day or Don't Download This Song, lol the crunching weasel noises.
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Post by Muldernscully »

On another forum several months back I rated each song on a scale of 1 to 5 and the average came out to be a 3.5. It might be a little higher if I rated it again today.
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Post by Elvis »

Today is the one year anniversary of the official release date. I'd like to know what you think one year later! My review (see first post of this topic) actually holds up quite well. The CD doesn't feel old to me at all and I still enjoy listening to it very much. A few comments added where opinions changed significantly enough to mention something.
Elvis @ Sep 9 2006, 12:52 AM wrote: Obviously I can't review the whole CD with extras yet, but I'll go back and edit my post on September 26, or follow up this post.  Needless to say, this post and topic is FULL of spoilers, so if you haven't seen or listened to the CD yet, don't read it.

Front cover:  Easily the best cover since OTDE.  I think I actually like it better than OTDE.  The only minor issue is that the really cool grafitti is covered by Al's really big name.  But had I not seen the grafitti, I wouldn't  care.  10/10
liner notes: I like most of the pictures and the lyrics are complete.  I especially like the fact that the list of performers is broken down by song.  I hope that's a trend that continues.  Just the picture of the band in drag is really scary.  :blink:  9/10
back cover: Cool picture of Al, but he looks a little creepy.  7/10

Pre-track:  "Youre  Pitiful" - I like this song and think it would have made a totally great first single.  10/10

I'm glad this wasn't the first single. I like the song, but it got old after multiple listens. It's a lot funnier with the in concert visual. Makes a good concert song, I'm not sure how it would have held up on its own, though it probably would have had a video to help it out. 8/10

1.  "White & Nerdy" - Everything I expected this song to be and more.  I wasn't familiar with Chamillionaire, but I sought out the original song so I wouldn't be scratching my head when I heard Al's parody, and turns out I really like it.  Not bad for a white and nerdy guy, huh?  My favorite line is the one about editing Wikipedia.  :lol:  I can't wait to see the video.  Assuming this parody was the one to replace "You're Pitiful" -- thank you Atlantic Records!!  10/10

2.  "Pancreas" - I hear a lot of Beach Boys in this song, though I am told it is a style parody of Brian Wilson -- one in the same to me.  I always love songs that are educational and funny.  I think TMBG have a few, and I've seen it done on "Animaniacs", and Hard 'n Phirm do this too.  Al's originals are usually the weakest tracks on the album for me and take a while to grow on me, so I'm pleased I like this one right off the bat.  9/10

3.  "Canadian Idiot" - I think it really helps to know a little bit aboot Canada and Canadian culture. I'm hardly an expert on Canada, but I understood a lot of the references. (Thank you Arrogant Worms!). I can easily see Canadians LOVING this song. I enjoyed it too.  10/10

Would give it an 8/10 now.

4.  "I'll Sue Ya" - Okay, my guess would be this is a Rage Against The Machine or Kid Rock style parody.  I'm not even very familiar with either of with them, so  I could be wrong, but that's what it reminded me of.  A nice social commentary on our frivoulous lawsuit happy country.  About the Jersey line, :stern:.  Only Jerseyites are allowed to poke fun at our state.  The Ben Affleck line made me laugh out loud however.  8/10

Would give it an 10/10 now.

5.  "Polkarama!" - Best. Polka. Intro. Ever.  I loved the chicken dance intro.  :lol:  Once again, I wasn't familiar with most of the songs.  I had a plan to listen to all the original songs before hearing the polka, but sometimes plans don't go as you wanted.  The songs I did know were well done, so I can only guess the others are as well.  I think this will grow on me.  On second listen I'm already enjoying it more.  7/10 (6/10 without the intro).

I was right, it grew on me. I think the ending is a little weak and the ending song is too long. It feels like there should be another song in there somewhere. Probably would give it an 8/10 now.

6.  "Virus Alert" - A style parody of something for sure, but I have no idea what.  There's a joke e-email that I get forwarded to me every couple of months that uses this same joke, however I think Al executed it better. 

Probably would give it an 7/10 now.

7.  "Confessions Part III" - I was so worried this would be another "Trash Day" (skip song), but I've Very pleased that it's not!  Very clever, and I laughed at most of the confessions.  The ending was very funny too.  I won't be skipping this one.  8/10

8.  "Do I Creep You Out" - The weakest of all the parodies.  Not a skip song, and a pretty accurate parody, but not terribly funny.  The pit stains thing was creepy though, so I'll give it that.  6/10

Gets the much improved award! Would give it an 10/10 now.

9.  "Weasel Stomping Day" - Immediately reminded me of The New Main Street Singers from "A Mighty Wind", so this may be a style parody of folk music in general.  The lyrics were very disturbing though.  I see the juxtaposition he was going for here, but sorry, there's nothing funny about animal cruelty. :stern:  music: 9/10  lyrics 2/10

10.  "Close But No Cigar" - Pleasantly surprised that I like this one.  8/10

Probably would give it an 9/10 now.

11.  "Trapped In The Drive-Thru" - Okay, I was laughing so hard at times I was crying at times.  I think Al sucessfully made this one funnier than the original, which I thought would be impossible  to do.  And the radio solo was brilliant!  :lol:  10/10

12.  "Don't Download This Song" - The best original on the CD.  A style parody of group charity songs.  The Lars Ulrich and Tommy Chong lines are classic.  I'm looking forward to raising my lighter and singing along to this one at the concerts.  10/10

bonus material:
Menus - Very cool.  I like the gunshots and street lights going out.  10/10

1. "Don't Download This Song" video - Had seen this before, and although it got a bad rap with the fans. I felt that was unfair.  I really like it, and any video with dancing sharks is okay with me.  8/10

2. "I'll Sue Ya" video - Wow, really cool!  Great job by the animator.  The only complaint is that the drummer and guitar player don't look anything like Bermuda and Jim.  Would a little research on what they look like have hurt?  :rolleyes:  I assume it's the animators, and I guess that's there call, but it's lame and bothers me enough only to give an otherwise perfect video a 9/10.

3.  "Weasel Stomping Day" video - I dislike the video even more than I dislike the song.  Probably won't actively watch this one again.  1/10

Al showed me, huh? He plays it at every concert and forces me to watch it. :lol: I usually find something else to do during the video clip. It gets huge cheers and laughs though so I understand a lot of people feel entertained by it, so who am I to judge?

4. "Close But No Cigar" video.  I owe John K. a big apology.  I was really worried from the screen grabs he had posted on his blog, and thought the video was gonna suck.  Boy am I relieved to be very wrong.  The best video on the DVD.  10/10.

5. "Pancreas" video - :blink: I hope Al didn't pay a lot for this video.  Looks like something you might find on YouTube.  In fact, I've seen much better stuff on YouTube.  0/10.  That's right, zero.

Which is exactly how many times I've watched the video since that comment. :lol:

6. "Virus Alert" - Cool video.  And he actually got Jim, Steve, and Bermuda correct, though what's up with the keyboard player?  Lots of cool jokes to look for and I love the reference to "Spatula City."  You can tell a real fan made this one.  8/10

Surround sound, insrtrumentals, and other remixes - Don't really see myself listening to these.  Nice to have, but not necessary.  I wouldn't miss them if they weren't there.  The karaoke feature is really neat, but again, I wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there.  3/10

Overall:  9/10.  Again, I'm really thrilled that I liked the originals as much as I do on first listen.  They usually are the weakest part of the CD and take a while to grow on me.  All the parodies were really good, and the polka was decent.  It will grow on me too.  It always does.  After the newness wears off, I think this CD has potential to beat out OTDE as my favorite CD. I'm so happy.  Huzzah!!  ^_^ 

Dave

I think it's safe to say it did go on to beat out OTDE as my favorite album. The CD pretty much lives in my car, and I find myself reaching for it all the time. I've listened to it so many times that DICYO has a scratch on it. So good job Al! Congratulations on making an album that held up very well, if not improved, over the first year. :clap:

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Post by gtrmu »

For me, it's a tie between this and Bad Hair Day as my favorite Al album. I still love it, and it always feels like I'm listening to it for the first time.
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Post by Cinnamon »

Elvis Posted on Sep 26 2007, 04:54 AM
 
3.  "Weasel Stomping Day" video - I dislike the video even more than I dislike the song.  Probably won't actively watch this one again.  1/10


Al showed me, huh? He plays it at every concert and forces me to watch it. :lol:


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Post by Grom »

gtrmu @ Sep 26 2007, 03:16 PM wrote: For me, it's a tie between this and Bad Hair Day as my favorite Al album. I still love it, and it always feels like I'm listening to it for the first time.
Same feelings here too.
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Post by JDTurnbull272 »

So I think it is time to post my updated review of this album as well!!! (original reviews are in quotes)

1. White and Nerdy - I truly love this song. I have to say, I am completely amazed by Al's ability to squeeze so many lyrics into such a short duration of time...I can't wait to hear this live. But I do have to say, this song took me the longest time of any Weird Al song EVER to learn the lyrics...wow. 10/10
So now that I've seen the video for it, seen it performed live, and memorized it word for word, it still gets 10/10.

2. Pancreas - .........omg.....This song is skyrocketing on my list of Weird Al original favorites up to number one. It is only growing on me as I hear it. And when I played it on my surround sound system, I loved it even more. I think this is going to be by far one of the best songs I've ever heard by Al. 10/10
This is still by far probably one of my most favorite Weird Al originals that I have ever heard. 10/10.

3. Canadian Idiot - I really liked it because for the past couple of years, my friends have teased me about having a "canadian" accent (which is ACTUALLY mostly just my Michigan accent with some acquired Canadian pronunciations) and I got a lot of the jokes in this...it was good, but not my favorite, and in fact, I've found myself skipping it to get to my other favorites. 7/10
Ok, this song has definitely grown on me a bit, but not much. I might perform it for talent show this year, but I'm still not sure yet...8/10

4. I'll Sue Ya - The first time I heard this, I couldn't even hear most of the lyrics because I couldn't stop laughing at the lyrics I had actually heard...I love the style. I didn't really like the instrumental part too much at first because I really thought it sounded like a garage band kind of recording, but it grew on me a lot. 8/10
Ok, now that I've heard the song a billion times and seen the video, it has grown on me even more. I'd give it a 9/10 now.

5. Polkarama! - This is definitely the best polka Al has ever done. I knew every single song in this Polka (which is a first ever) and it is really growing on me...I skip it most of the time, but that is only because I'd rather learn the songs I don't know yet and save this one for later. 9/10
My favorite polka used to be Polka Power! but after seeing Al perform this live....this is my favorite polka EVER! 10/10

6. Virus Alert - WOW! I LOVE this song! The intro is so neat sounding and that is probably what hooked me. There is something about the vocals that is somewhat interesting and unique that I don't hear often...Al changes octaves really quickly in this song and it sounds really neat. I love the bridge. 10/10
I can hardly believe this...I don't listen to this song as much anymore. I still love it, but I think it isn't as catchy as it orignally was. 8/10

7. Confessions Part III - This is probably one of the funniest parodies I've ever heard! I LOVE it. Al has awesome vocals in this song and the lyrics are insane. Oh, fyi (lol), this song sounds AWESOME in your car if you have a good sound system. I laugh at almost every lyric in this song... 10/10
Still - 10/10

8. Weasel Stomping Day - I can't believe it...hahahahaha. The first listen was somewhat awkward and I stopped right before the and turned it off...but then while I was driving with my friends and showing the album to them, I kept it going, and when we got to that part, we laughed SO HARD! It is really hard for me to say this because I am really against animal cruelty, but this is an amazing and hilarious song. I TRULY cannot wait for the music video. 10/10
GAAAAAH! This song got SO old SOOOO quickly!!! I skip it almost EVERY TIME!!! X_x 5/10

9. Close But No Cigar - Huh? I thought this song was about a cat who likes girls but they don't like him or something??? I like the song a lot and it is growing on me, but I think because I didn't hear what I was expecting, I was kind of disappointed. It is still uberly awesome and it is going to go up on my list over time. 7/10
I sure was right! It has gone up on my list by a LOT! I usually replay this song at least three times before moving on...hehehe. 10/10

10. Do I Creep You Out - I'm actually not too familiar with the orignal, so this is probably my least favorite parody on the album, but the lyrics are pretty good. Al is really good at vocal diversity and imitating other people. It'll grow on me, I'm sure. 7/10
Eh, I don't like it any more than I did, and I don't dislike it any more either. 7/10

11. Trapped In The Drive Thru - I've only heard parts 1 and 2 of Trapped In The Closet, but I am SO glad I heard them first because it made this song SO MUCH more funnier...if you haven't heard them before you hear this, I HIGHLY suggest you listen to them first. It wil enrich this song a lot. I skip it sometimes, but mostly because it is really long and it requires time to sit down and really listen to it. But it is definitely as good as any 10 minute original would have been...so great! 10/10
Ack! I like the song and the video...but it is just WAAAY to darn long for me! I skip it EVERY single time!!! 6/10

12. Don't Download This Song - I LOVED this song when I first heard it...I still like it a lot, but omg, I overplayed this song WAY too many times so now I rarely even listen to it. It is still great, but for now, I need to stay away from it before I start disliking it. 8/10
I still feel the same about this song. 8/10


OVERALL ALBUM REVIEW:
So in the end, I have bought this album 13 times. I have gotten copies for almost everyone...haha. The day it came out, I bought 7 copies. And since then, I've bought even more. Ain't that just great?!? So, I give this album (out of Bias) 9/10 possible points. This IS still my favorite Weird Al album YET! Even Poodle Hat didn't do that for me....This one did! :yay:
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Post by WAYFan »

I LOVED This Album. I don't have time to post a review now, but I'll get to one sometime today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOL!!!!!
Janet! Dr. Scott! Janet! Brad! Rocky! (BULLWINKLE!)

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Post by Keir »

I never did a full review, but here is how I originally ranked the songs, in order from favorite to least favorite:
Keir @ Nov 27 2006 @ 10:13 PM wrote: 1. White & Nerdy
2. Trapped in the Drive-Thru
3. Don't Download This Song
4. Virus Alert
5. Canadian Idiot
6. Do I Creep You Out
7. Pancreas
8. I'll Sue Ya
9. Polkarama!
10. Confessions Part III
11. Close But No Cigar
12. Weasel Stomping Day

And here's how I'd rank them now:
1. Virus Alert
2. White & Nerdy
3. Do I Creep You Out
4. Trapped in the Drive-Thru
5. Don't Download This Song
6. I'll Sue Ya
7. Confessions Part III
8. Polkarama!
9. Canadian Idiot
10. Close But No Cigar
11. Pancreas
12. Weasel Stomping Day

Almost every time I get a new Al album, the lead parody is my favorite song at first, but over time is replaced by an original. SOL is no exception, as Virus Alert has replaced W&N for the lead spot. I originally ranked Canadian Idiot fairly high, probably since it was the only parody of a song I knew, but it has since moved down a bit. Pancreas has moved way down, and is actually one of my skip songs now. TitDT moved down a couple slots, simply because it's so long. CBNC and Polkarama have both really grown on me. That they only moved one slot up is not really indicative of how much more I like them now. Overall, my opinion of the album is still strong and though I don't listen to it all the time anymore, when I do I still find it as fresh and enjoyable as I did nearly a year ago.
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