I'll make no bones about it, I'm a Weird Al fan. I think he's an underrated genius. It takes talent to take another person's song and turn it into something entirely yours. He's so much more than a parody artist. This
album sees Yankovic in pretty fine form.
The parodies are very
solid this time around. "Word Crimes" is one of the best he's every
done, taking Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and turning it into a rant
about grammar. The original sounds almost flat compared to the extra
energy Al brings to the song. And maybe more importantly, it's a wagging finger at Robin Thicke's mindless misogyny in the original track, adding something intelligent while remaining dancy and fun."Tacky" is a great send up of Pharrell's
"Happy" and his take on Iggy Azalea's "Fancy", relabeled "Handy", is
classic Al. The two remaining parodies are a bit off the mark though,
"Foil" (Lorde's "Royals") takes a wonderful dark turn in the second half
of the song, but falls a bit short. His parody of "Radioactive"
("Inactive") is a bit cliched.
For original material, "First
World Problems" is the standout here, a great piss take/homage on the
sound of The Pixies. "Lame Claim to Fame" is an homage to Southern
Culture on the Skids, an awesome band that more people should check out.
The Crosby, Stills and Nash homage "Mission Statement" does it's job,
replacing the 60s style folk lyrics with 90s style business
gobbledygook, but doesn't hold up to repeated listenings. "My Own Eyes"
is a spot on Foo Fighters homage, but interesting. His 9-minute homage
to Cat Stevens, "Jackson Park Express" turns into randomness quickly.
Overall, this is a great album, but a bit behind is best work, like on Running with Scissors or Alpocalypse. It's worth listening to just for the parodies, which are some of the best he's done yet.
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