Video Rankings

[Way_Moby]

Well, the video could've cut between someone reading the titular 'crap,' and Al performing in a darkened room with a million candles.

[anthontherun]

You could show Al at his computer deleting forwards, make a few gag conspiracy theories, do something quirky with the dead girl who may or may not kill the reader, etc. Admittedly it isn't the richest song for visual humor but you could do a lot more with it than some stylistic text.

It's perfectly fine for what it is but even though he wasn't really involved with it, Al is probably the greatest video artist of all time. I expect more than just text and a few quick visuals with nary a joke in sight. The only remotely amusing bit was the "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP" at the end and even that got old quickly.

I`m a defender of what I like.

And you like everything.

[Iamabrawler]

Yeah, maybe.
Didn`t anyone notice, among the in-text jokes in the video for SFTCTM, that the garbage actually goes into a recycle bin?

[Mr_Belvedere]

Al did a great interview where he breaks down the Alpocalypse videos, and his reasoning behind choosing each director and style:

http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/06/i ... -yankovic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's easy to forget that a record company would rarely ever fund a whole gaggle of videos for any album; the lead single is the one that gets all the gravy. My guess is the videos made specifically for this release were weighed heavily against both time and money constraints, and that Al made his choices accordingly. As his fans, we're entitled to disagree, but personally, I can't dismiss the fact that the man made the decisions himself and in the end, he's the one it all reflects upon. I doubt he takes it lightly.

In defense of the quantity of animated vs. live videos: I love to see Al in a live action video, too, but live action can be hideously expensive and very time consuming depending how ambitious the video is - Plus, Al himself (and perhaps the band) has to be there for the shoot, and the guy is constantly either on the road performing, in the studio, enduring the endless publicity machine, or with his family, I suppose, putting lotion on his painful accordion calluses. It ain't easy. Animated pieces can be made without his hands-on involvement, leaving him free to 'do his thing' as a musician and spend his time entertaining the stuffing out of people. I respect that.

[anthontherun]

I understand why go with the animated videos and I suppose they're better than nothing but I think it's worth switching things up. Talk to film schools and/or find up-and-coming talent to interpret the songs on a budget. Live-action doesn't necessarily mean Al has to be involved, and the fresher and rawer the director, the cooler the end project.

I'm not trying to be greedy, because the videos on SOL were clearly a result of the complete lack of videos (save for "Bob") on the previous album so I appreciate that we have at least low-budget videos for nearly every single song on these last two albums. But I think/hope Al would agree that they're pretty inconsistent and it might be time to change that strategy.

Anyway, that interview indicates that Al was looking for that style for the SFTCTM so I guess I can't fault the animator. Or Al, really, but it's not my cup of tea.

[HappyGilmore]

I don't hate the animated videos. They're fine and better than nothing. Granted, Al knows what he wants for his videos and such.

But I don't particularly care for "Kinetic Typography" videos, and while that animator may be really good for that genre, it's vastly uninteresting to WATCH words, regardless. Could've just NOT had a video for that.

[Killingsworth]

Could've just NOT had a video for that.

Yeah, I appreciate Al wanting to give his fans videos for EVERY song on the album but not every song needs one. Songs like WYL and If That Isn't Love really needed visual enhancement, but TMZ and SFTCTM were just fine on their own merits and their really the only songs I can think of that didn't necessarily need videos to accompany them.

[Wizzerkat]

Any of the songs are just fine on their own merits. However, I would be fine with less animated videos. I would prefer a few really good efforts.

[anthontherun]

TMZ and SFTCTM were just fine on their own merits and their really the only songs I can think of that didn't necessarily need videos to accompany them.

In fairness, I think "TMZ" had the potential to be one of the best videos had the creator bothered to listen to more than one line of the song.

[Whatinthe27]

Wow. Just curious, and this isn't just aimed at the last guy to mention him, but if you guys saw Bill Plimpton, would you beat him to death, or just tar and feather him?