Search - Weird Al Yankovic :: The Essential Weird Al Yankovic

More Fun Than the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

Jeff Pearlman | Lakeland, FL USA | 11/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The disappointment in realizing that WAY decided not to include "Ricky", his first Hot 100 hit and a double parody of "Mickey" and "I Love Lucy", is more than offset by the 38 funny tunes that are here. I've played "Your Horoscope For Today" about ten times and laughed out loud every time. I'm also glad to have "White and Nerdy" since I am very old and allergic to (legal or illegal) downloading. Overall the funniest CD since "Britney Spears: The Singles Collection" and you need to buy it, especially at the lovely current Amazon price of (deleted in case it changes someday)."

A parodist looks at 50

Gena Chereck | Nebraska, USA | 02/14/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To begin with, "Weird Al" Yankovic -- who just turned 50 last year -- is someone I always forget how much I've liked until I happen to hear a new song from him. I heard the Michael Jackson parody "Eat It" sometime in the 1980s when I was very young, and I thought it was a hoot; after that, listening to The Dr. Demento Show in the early '90s, I was introduced to songs like "Fat," "Smells Like Nirvana" (my personal fave), the Beach Boys pastiche "Trigger Happy," and "You Don't Love Me Anymore." A few years later, the Coolio parody "Amish Paradise" came along, and in 1999 I caught "The Saga Begins" (the plot of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace set to the tune of "American Pie") and VH1's cheeky Behind The Music special. Then "White & Nerdy" and the hysterical charity-single goof "Don't Download This Song" caught my attention in 2006. All of the aforementioned tracks are included in this 2-disc, 38-track Essential collection -- indeed, it's the Weird Al retrospective I've been waiting for.



Al's first 8 albums (from 1983 to 1993) have been anthologized many times before -- on two volumes of Greatest Hits, the box set Permanent Record, The Food Album, The TV Album -- and now they're revisited on Disc 1 of this set. But this set is the first time his 4 albums from 1996 to 2006 have received the best-of treatment; this period is covered on Disc 2. Given that the tracks on Essential were picked by the man himself -- including a mix of hits, his personal favorites, and fan faves -- I can't really argue with what he apparently feels is his best and most enduring work. Anyway, this was meant as an introduction for beginning fans, and besides, any compilation NOT specifically based on which songs were released as singles and/or how high they charted is bound to come up short for longtime fans. (For the record, from what little I've heard on the radio, I'm already missing "Stop Draggin' My Car Around," "Christmas At Ground Zero," "When I Was Your Age," "Couch Potato," and "Ode To A Superhero.")



Frankly, I'd rather address what actually IS here. Though Weird Al is most widely known for his parodies of Top 40 pop hits ("Like A Surgeon," "eBay") and rock classics ("Yoda," "Jurassic Park"), his original tunes are often equally accomplished -- from twisted love songs like the nasty heartbreak ballad "One More Minute," the power pop-y "Melanie" and the doo-wop ditty "Since You've Been Gone," to the off-the-wall narratives of "The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota" and "Albuquerque," to the remarkable rapid-fire sections of "Your Horoscope For Today" and "Hardware Store." Furthermore, he and his longtime bandmates -- drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, bassist Steve Jay, and guitarist Jim West -- prove themselves incredibly versatile performers, moving deftly from polka (the covers medley "Polkas On 45") to New Wave ("Dare To Be Stupid" and "Dog Eat Dog," dead-on "style parodies" of Devo and the Talking Heads, respectively) to rap and R&B ("It's All About The Pentiums," "Trapped In The Drive-Thru") to symphonic pop (the Brian Wilson homage "Pancreas"). Regardless of whether or not you think Al's lyrical jokes hold up, you really can't deny the sheer craftsmanship that went into the music.



Weird Al's career has lasted a good 30 years (which is as long as I've been *alive*), outlasting the careers of most of the artists he's parodied. Early on, after his accordion-driven self-titled 1983 debut (represented here only by "Another One Rides The Bus," an acoustic single he had actually recorded in 1980), he and his band realized the best jokes are told with a straight face rather than with a giggle; throughout this set's 2-and-a-half+ hours, you can follow the band's musical growth, as well as Al's knack for keeping up with current trends without altering himself in any fundamental sense (i.e. occasional mild vulgarity and gross-out humor aside, his lyrics are intended for a general audience, and have never resorted to outright profanity). Not that Al shows any signs of slowing down, either: He is currently working on a new album -- five of the tracks having already been previewed on last year's digital EP Internet Leaks -- and I am most certainly looking forward to whatever he does next."