Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is Weird Al's 14th (no joke!) studio album, and allegedly his last traditional release. It's also one of the most consistent albums he's ever put out, with no real clunkers (No Larrys, Mimes, or Phony Calls.) You can listen to the entire CD on repeat and never reach for the skip button. Can't say that about many modern releases in any genre. Track by track, there's a lot of good stuff here. Handy - (Parody of Iggy Azalea's "Fancy") - As usual, Al captures the cadence and feel of the original quite nicely, and the lyrics are clever, if not laugh-out-loud funny. Weird decision not to parody the original song's most memorable motif (the "I-G-G-Y" bit), but the "glue-dat" and "screw-dat" moments made me smile. (6/10) Lame Claim to Fame - (Style parody of SCOTS) - This one gave me my first real chuckles on the album. It's a very clever pop-culture-filled recitation of genuinely lame ways to have a brush with celebrity. Nice production values too. (7/10) Foil - (Parody of Lorde's "Royals") - This one is really short, but in a good way. Comedy shouldn't overstay its welcome, and there's no way of making the breakdown portion of the original song be "funny" anyway. The twist halfway through the piece from food to conspiracy theories is rather inspired, and I think I'll have "Aluminum Foy-illl (Foy-illlll!)" in my head for days. Possibly every time I use foil in the future. (8/10) Sports Song - (Style parody of campus fight songs) - If it wasn't for a line in the middle in which the singer admits that the home team isn't that great either, this one would probably get a lot of play at high school and college stadiums. And, maybe it still will! It's kind of awesome. It's not the sort of song you'll want to be in the mood to listen to very often, but to pump you up before some college football, it's great. (8/10) Word Crimes - (Parody of "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke) - Leave it to Weird Al to offer a nearly g-rated parody of the most famous r-rated video of all time. But it works. One complaint about Al is that he doesn't often parody his subjects themselves (with notable exceptions such as Smells Like Nirvana) but rather just writes new, unrelated lyrics to their existing melodies. Sometimes, this can feel lazy (isn't parody supposed to, you know, parody something?) In this case, though, it works beautifully, because all the possible content parodies about the controversial song have already been made, so there's no feeling of missed opportunity. This direction feels fresh. Importantly, Al's version just as catchy as the original, with all the little details and asides you'd expect, and the video will almost certainly be posted on countless Facebook pages for years every time someone makes a grammatical error. (9/10) My Own Eyes - (Style parody of the Foo Fighters) - Whether you love this song might depend a bit on whether you like the specific 90s alternative wall-of-sound style he's using. I do, so I do. As is often the case of Al songs, the lyrics are essentially just a funny bulleted list of unexpected things the singer would prefer to "un-see". But the hook is SO. CATCHY. that I can never listen to it just once. We're talking Frank's 2000" TV-levels of replayability. Favorite song on the album. (10/10) NOW That's What I Call Polka - (Polka medley) - I must admit, I love it when I actually know and can sing along to all the songs in Al's medleys, and this one didn't disappoint. The transitions were excellent (especially into Gangnam Style) and I laughed out loud at "This is Super Awesome!" I missed some of the pacing variety found in some of his other medleys, but that's a minor quibble. (9/10) Mission Statement - (Style parody of Crosby, Stills & Nash) - This track is kind of remarkable. There's nothing funny about any individual phrase, not really, but as a collective whole, it works quite well. The harmony constructions are pitch-perfect (literally and in the parody sense) and it's simply a beautiful song to listen to. No one listens to a Weird Al tune because of the timbre of his voice, and yet this one might find its way into genre playlists of mine that are comedy-free. Nice work here. (8/10) Inactive - (Parody of Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive") - This is a solid parody, good for a Wall-E-esque chuckle, and as is the case of everything else on the album, the production values are flawless. One thing is suffers from is the fact that the song itself is pretty slow-moving, which is always harder for comedy. The lyrics are fine, but the funniest part of the song is the concept, so once you get the concept, there's nothing really more to laugh at. (6/10) First World Problems - (Style parody of Pixies) - Another very funny song. I remember the first time I listened to the album all the way through, I was impressed at the strength of all the originals, even the ones like this one near the end of the album, which traditionally tend to be weaker (not counting the always-strong finale). The lyrics are particularly clever on this one, and it might make you feel a little guilty, in a good way. (7/10) Tacky - (Parody of Pharrel's "Happy") - This is really, really cute and catchy. It might be being released just a tad late to be relevant (now that we've all heard the song a million times), but the clever cameo-studded video certainly should help its staying power. (The video, by the way, is a parody of the 24hoursofhappy project, and is actually quite brilliant.) Well done. (8/10) Jackson Park Express - (Style parody of Cat Stevens) - Only Al could get away with lines such as "I like your boobs" and "I want you inside me" and still have an album suitable for families. If you like the Cat Stevens folky storytelling style, you will almost certainly like this. It's a surprisingly sweet, even wistful song, that takes its time to tell its tale and yet somehow always seems shorter than its nine-minute running time would imply. If this is truly Al's last traditional studio album, it's a fine way to go out. (9/10) And there you have it! A consistent, high-quality, catchy mix of well-produced music that will make you chuckle and smile throughout. Al's humor doesn't try and compete with the explosive-laughter-inducing shock value of, say, The Lonely Island, but it's not stale, either. Weird Al doesn't have to reinvent himself every few years - the music industry already does that, so he can always be relevant just by always adapting his sound to fit modern times. In the age of Youtube, where everyone and their brother can release parodies of popular music within days instead of months, Weird Al will never again have the lock on the parody market he enjoyed in the 80s and 90s. But no one can touch him in the talent of his band, the high production values, and the attention to detail and nuance he brings to his versions. I hope he's doing this for twenty more years.