I'm not sure where to post this, but this seems like the right thread, and since I've been following it for weeks, I'll post it here. First off, I am buying the album on Tuesday (My collection needs to be complete!!), even though I have downloaded it Sat night/Sunday morning and listened to it. My opinions? At first, I had 4 years of waiting and expectations being overbearing on each song, but I sat down, and followed along with the lyrics posted here and listened to every song, and I have to say I really enjoyed the album. It seems a lot more mellow in some respects, but then again there's a few songs that are kinda fast too. It's *almost* like he's adopted a different style to singing, but I do like the album, and I suspect it will grow on me with even more listens. He NAILED every parody, which is awesome, and the polka is just as cool as ever. I guess the only songs that seemed out of place for me were "Bob" and "Genius In France" because Bob is the palendrome(sp?) song that sounds a lot like Bob Dylan, and doesn't necessarily make sense (neither did Bob Dylan
), so it's a little hard to follow so far after a couple listens. But, it's amazing to look at the lyrics and see how every line is mirrored. That's just talent! And as for "Genius In France", I've never paid attention to Frank Zappa or his music, so I might be missing out on some of the background humour, but the song in itself is not bad. In fact I like how it's packed with lyrics to fill the 9 minutes, and not just a lot of guitar or drum solos.
I guess what I mean by the album is more mellow is... well, it has a more subdued feel in a way, I can't seem to explain myself. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it just feels a lot different than RWS. But maybe that's a good thing, because it has been 4 years! But for the most part he seems just as happy and weird as usual, and I've only had 3 listens thru so I will reserve a rating, but right now I would give it an 7.5-8!! I think it's a great album, and like I said , the parodies are top notch, and my favorite original is "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?". I haven't quite latched onto "Party At The Leper Colony" yet, because I thought it was going to be rather gory like "The Night Santa Went Crazy", and the song is bizarilly (sp?) countryesque/elvis/old style rock and roll, and I was hoping for tradition Al voice when he's not doing parodies. BUT, this is entirely my opinion and hey, Weird Al is my favourite singer/band ever, and like I said, I love this album, I'm just trying to be objective. Anyways, I've taken up enough of your time all, but thanks for reading, and I'll be in line with you all when I get my Poodle Hat.
