Uhf Soundtrack Review

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Mystik Tomato
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Post by Mystik Tomato »

Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies - Good, but not great 6/10

Gandhi II - Not that funny 5/10

Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars - Favourite song on the album. I get a 'Mars Attacks!' vibe from it 10/10

Isle Thing - Nice, but the guitar "solo" is irritating for some reason. 7/10

The Hot Rocks Polka - Favourite Polka so far. 9/10

UHF - To me it needs the video for full effect 8/10

Let Me Be Your Hog - 17 seconds of WHAT?!? 8/10

She Drives Like Crazy - I like it but Al sounds like he's in pain. 7/10

Generic Blues - Favourite Original on the ALbum. It relates to me a little bit too much 10/10

Spatula City - I know it's really a TV commercial, but is more suited to Audio 8/10

Fun Zone - WAY MOBY! 9/10

Spam - Favourite song ever! 10.27/10

The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - Seems like it goes longer than Albuquereqe to me. 6/10

Overall = 4 TVs outta 5
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Whatinthe27
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Post by Whatinthe27 »

1 MfN/BHB > what's cool about this Parody is that it's a type of parody that Al hadn't done before, taking the lyrics of one song and showing how it can be sung to a different tune. On the downside, Money for Nothing was one of the biggest songs back in about 85,86? but Al didn't release the parody until '89 when UHF was finally released as a movie. plus the legal title is lame. Still very cool, and great music. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights played on the track himself. 9/10

2 Ghandhi II > very good skit to put on audio. The sound effects in it allow you to visualize what's going on. 7/10

3 AofRHfaPNM > a fun silly song. kind of seemed like filler to me. I guess it's fitting because old 50's b movies is what you would see most likely on UHF stations. But it's not laugh out loud, and the topic had been covered earlier with Slime Creatures from Outerspace. 5/10

4 Isle Thing > a good parody covering a classic TV show. very cool, close sound to the original. 8/10

5 The Hot Rocks Polka > knowing the story behind him chosing to pay tribute to the Roling Sontes makes it even better. Great arrangement. 8/10

6 UHF > The lyrics aren't especially funny, but the music is great. The video makes the song even better. 7/10

7 Let Me Be Your Hog > Short, but great. I wished he had a fuller version for it on the album. 7/10

8 She Drives Like Crazy > a good parody of Fine Young Canibals. Al sings very much like the original artist. (kermit? have you guys heard the original song?) 7/10

9 Generic Blues > genre parody of the blues. one of my favorite originals. Wish i got to see this one live. love the "okay, now make it shut up" line 10/10

10 Spatula City > another clip from the movie that works well in audio format. 7/10

11 Fun Zone > very cool music. I don't like instrumentals normally, but this is short and music is very upbeat and driven. 7/10

12 Spam > excellent parody. And he's singing about Spam. There's just something about Spam that is so trivial that every great comic has to write a joke or song about it. 9/10

13 tBBoTiM > excellent epic ballad. this is the style parody of the album. 10/10

One of the things that made this album good is that three of the parodies on it were of the three most popular songs of the time begging to be parodied. On the downside, there were only 4 parodies altogether, and one of them was of a song from about 3-4 years prior. Plus some of the movie bits were like filler leaving you wanting more.. and after UHF we had to wait an eternity for Off the Deep End.

The reason some would say this album is rare is because of the title UHF Original Movie Sountrack and Other Stuff, record stores didn't know where to put it. They already weren't sure to put Al in the Pop section or the Comedy section, and now they were just putting this album in the Soundtrack section. Because it wasn't in the Comedy section, it didn't sell as well as other Albums and record stores still don't seem to stock it because it wasn't one of Al's best selling albums.
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mrmeadows
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Post by mrmeadows »

MONEY FOR NOTHING/BEVERLY HILLBILLIES: The opening strains of "Bev-er-ly. . .Bev-er-ly Hill-bil-lies. . ." are pure genius, and the BH theme lyrics fit into the original Dire Straits song nicely. Still, why so short? Surely Al could have written one or two more verses for the album cut. 7.5/10

GANDHI II: Not a huge fan of the UHF sound bytes on this album, but then it IS the soundtrack. This spoof was hilarious in the movie, but loses something when audio only. 5/10

ATTACK OF THE RADIOACTIVE HAMSTERS FROM A PLANET NEAR MARS: I don't like it, I don't dislike it. It's there. It's filler. Let's move on. 6/10

ISLE THING: Hey, I like it. Al was due for a "Gilligan's Island" song, and this worked as well as any. More amusing than funny, but not bad. 7/10

HOT ROCKS POLKA: Excellent polka! One of this best, and I like the idea of polka-ing a single band's body of work. I wish he'd do that again! 9/10

UHF: Cool song. Considering it was written for the movie, it works fine as a stand-alone. Great video, too. 7/10

LET ME BY YOUR HOG: I guess. Funny as background in the movie; not sure how much it adds to the album, but it's short enough. 6/10

SHE DRIVES LIKE CRAZY: Obvious parody idea, but why not? Al's vocals crack me up (from the castrato-like verses to the Kermit the Frog chorus) and the lines are funny. 8/10

GENERIC BLUES: I wasn't sure what to make of this song the first time I heard it, but today it's one of my all-time favorites. Still manages to make me laugh out loud. It pretty much renders all other blues song irrelevant. (Okay, not really.) Still, 10/10

SPATULA CITY: Plays better on the album than "Gandhi II", but I still could have done without it. 5.5/10

FUN ZONE: Priceless at concerts, but I have to be in the mood to listen to it otherwise. 6.5/10

SPAM: Favorite parody on the album. I was a R.E.M. fan before I heard Al's version, so I was delighted when I heard the opening strains of "Stand" when first listening to the album. (Funny, but when I saw a song called "Spam" on the tracklist, it didn't even occur to me it would be a "Stand" parody. I'm stupid.) 9/10

THE BIGGEST BALL OF TWINE IN MINNESOTA: Instant classic. Truly a tour-de-force by Al, and almost as hilarious as the entire "National Lampoon's Vacation" film series! My mom isn't a big Al fan, but even she laughed at this one. . .practically during every verse! If I were on a deserted island and could only have one Al original with me, this one might be it. 10/10

OVERALL: I really like this album. It's uneven, but it's trying to be soundtrack, too. For the most part, it's one of my favorites to listen to. It features decent parodies, a kick-butt polka, and a couple of Al's greatest Originals. Gotta give it up for this one. 9/10

Meadows
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L285
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Post by L285 »

Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies* - Not the most original thing in the world, but good nonetheless - 7/10
Gandhi II - I don't why this is included on this album - 0/10
Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars - Best title ever. Good song but the vocals could be better - 7/10
Isle Thing - Never seen Gilligan's Island, but that doesn't make it any worse - 8/10
Hot Rocks Polka - Good concept but it would've been better with a different act - 7/10
UHF - Good but not perfect - 8/10
Let Me Be your Hog - I don't know why this was included either - 0/10
She Drives Like Crazy - A good concept but the lyrics intelligible so points off for that - 6/10
Generic Blues - An improvement on Buckingham Blues - 7/10
Spatula City - See Gandhi II - 0/10
Fun Zone - A fantastic song, but the lack of lyrics but it down significantly - 6/10
Spam - Best song on the album (Al + REM = WOO) - 10/10
The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota - Epic - 9/10

Overall - Really didn't need Gandhi II, Let Me Be Your Hog or Spatula City. I know it's the soundtrack but still. Would've got a better mark if it only had 10 songs - 6.8/10
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Insomnia
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by Insomnia »

I'm not counting the "skits" cause they are not songs, don't know why I'm including Let me be your hog either.

Beverly Hillbillies: 7/10
Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars: 9/10
Isle Thing: 4/10 Terrible song
Hot Rocks Polka: 7.5/10
UHF: 8/10
Let Me Be your Hog: 6/10
She Drives Like Crazy: 7/10
Generic Blues: 9/10
Fun Zone: 7/10
Spam: 8/10
The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota: 9/10

This is such an underrated album.
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HappyGilmore
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by HappyGilmore »

A few gems on here.

For what it is, I totally love MFN/BH. But that's more for a running joke from school than anything.

But this has Spam and Let Me Be Your Hog, two of my top Al songs. :whoot:
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by Yankomaniac »

Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies: 10/10 -Favorite parody of all, rocks big time all around. Crushes the original lyrically and with the exception of the main riff, musically too. Will be upset if it leaves the medley this year.

Ghandi II : 8/10 - I couldn't make a funnier preview.

Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars: 10/10 - Genius song all around. The bass lines are prime and so are the solos, I'd like to know if it was Jim or Rick who came up with the majority of this albums chops. I'm hoping Jim but I know Rick did some guitar stuff for the album too. An all around classic original.

Isle Thing: 5/10 - Funny but one of my least favorite parodies. Having said that I gave it a 5 because its very well done. I'd never rate any Al song lower than a 5, they are my favorite band.

Hot Rocks Polka: 10/10 - Amazing polka. All amazing Rolling Stones songs, and you gotta love the Stones! Accordion is amazing on this one too.

UHF: 10/10 - Oh my god, this song rocks so hard it should be on classic rock stations everyday. The solo is one of the best they ever recorded, holy crap its better than gold, what a blazing and perfected piece of work. Lyrically it could not be better and I'm dying to see it done live one day.

Let Me Be Your Hog: 10/10 - A total heavy metal piece of work that Jim told me he was quite proud of. I don't care if its only 17 seconds, that adds more humor to it. One of like four tunes actually from the film. Love it.

She Drives Like Crazy: 9/10 - Laugh every time, even though it is corny. Fine Young Cannibals are corny so there ya go and I maybe should have given it a 10/10 cause the lyrics are genius.

Generic Blues: 10/10 - My favorite blues song ever! The guitar tone Jim has on it is flawless, as are the lyrics which appeal to most of us. Could listen to this anytime, anywhere, twenty seven times in a row or more.

Spatula City: 10/10 - This is hilarious, still makes me laugh after hearing it thousands of times.

Fun Zone: 10/10 - Best instrumental ever. Wish they would always open with this and actually play it. Bass lines are exquisite, keyboard and guitar are catchy as hell. Could go on forever about how great this instrumental is...wait a minute. It isn't an instrumental. They go "HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY" near the end.

Spam: 10/10 - Great parody, R.E.M was probably like wow, they're better.

Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota: 10/10 - An adventurous, storytelling piece of art. Funny, happy, musically amazing Al classic. Amazing way to close my favorite ALbum. My mom and brother saw them do this on the Bad Hair Tour without me, now neither of them even listen to Al.

There ya go, that's my review and rating. This is the most rock and roll album in the catologue and definitely my favorite. Plus it goes with UHF, that hilarious cult classic we all love so much. Thanks for reading and now you know why I call this my favorite. 10/10 playas!!
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Waffle King
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by Waffle King »

1.Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies. Excellent song.It's one of Al's best TV Theme adaptions.
2 Generic Blues. Some of Al's funniest lyrics bar none. "My daddy was a waitress..."
3.Hot Rocks Polka. A great target for a solo artist polka! Would that Al could attempt it again...
4.Spam.Probably the only R.E.M song I like (whoa,put down that knife!) and Al improved on it immensely!
5.Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars. I know it's 50's B-movie ground already tread by Al,but I think I even prefer it to SCFOS. I laugh every time at "They're using telephone poles to pick their teeth..."
6.Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota. Another Al epic that doesn't disappoint! Love the Gordon Lightfoot vibe.
7.UHF. I like the subtle "State of Shock" style parody.
8.She Drives Like Crazy. I'm afraid I bought this album late in my Al-fandom,so I tend to associate this song with the Kermit the Frog parody that was done several years ago.It may have robbed this one a bit of the prestige that it might have had,had I not heard that version first.
9.Let Me Be Your Hog. Al's most poignant and heartfelt lyrics ever.
10. Isle Thing. Perhaps fate has blessed me in that I never really heard the original song,but what the music lacks,Al makes up for in some amusing lyrics.
I don't suppose it makes a difference what order the rest of the album is in,but being a completest,I'll add them.
11. Fun Zone
12.Spatula City
13.Ghandi II
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by weirdalrocks »

1. Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies - I love this song. It's not particularly funny, but I still like how he's singing the theme song to Beverly Hillbillies to Dire Straits and it's executed much better than it was in The Brady Bunch. 9/10

2. Gandhi II - It's funny, but it doesn't really translate very well in audio form and it worked better in the actual movie. 7/10

3. Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters From a Planet Near Mars - A decent little song. It's nothing spectacular, but it's entertaining enough. 7/10

4. Isle Thing - A nice tribute to Gilligan's Island and a pretty good parody. One thing I noticed though is that Weird Al really seems to like Gilligan's Island as he's referenced it in quite a few of his songs. 8/10

5. The Hot Rocks Polka - This right here is probably my favorite polka of his. I think it was a smart move for him to do a polka with only Rolling Stones songs as even though the last album had no polka, this niche works so much better for this album instead of one with just currently popular songs at the time. Weird Al does every song on this polka justice and it has the most repeated listen value out of all the polkas he's done. 10/10

6. UHF - The perfect title song to the movie. It has a great chorus, a really cool guitar riff and some funny lyrics. Maybe it's not one of his best songs of all time, but it's one of the best songs of the album. 10/10

7. Let Me Be Your Hog - It's a very short song, but so what? It's still awesome. 10/10

8. She Drives Like Crazy - A pretty funny parody. It's not great, but the lyrics are funny enough and the concept for this song works well enough. It's also very amusing to hear Al sound like Kermit. 8/10

9. Generic Blues - This is my second favorite song on the album. It's a hilarious parody of blues songs in general and it's got so many great lines. 10/10

10. Spatula City - This is definitely the best sketch off the album. While Gandhi II worked best in the movie, this sketch works very well both ways. 10/10

11. Fun Zone - Not very much to say about this one, but it lives up to it's name. 8/10

12. Spam - While I don't mind the original song, this version is many times better. Only Al can make a song about Spam and turn it into a masterpiece. 10/10

13. The Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota - This one is my favorite song off of the album, but you probably already guessed that by now. This is the song that started the whole long, epic song and while this one isn't the best one, it's still one of the best. It's so incredibly cheesy, but that's part of the songs charm and it makes for a really funny song. 10/10

This album is a great soundtrack for UHF, but I'm glad they added the Other Stuff into the title because it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the movie. I feel like this album is overlooked compared to the rest of his albums. It has a lot of great songs and I feel like it captures the spirit of the movie very well. It's not perfect and it has a little bit of filler, but it's excusable for this type of album. It's a near-perfect album and it makes me want to revisit the movie as it's been years since I've actually seen it. 9/10
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Re: Uhf Soundtrack Review

Post by Yankomaniac »

Nice! Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars is musically amazing, besides that I like that review too. Only thing that could have made the album better is if they included "Way Blue" by Stephen Jay on it because it's in the movie a couple times, so it should be on the soundtrack, great tune.
What a racket they're makin', Jack, they keep me up at night playin' their electric guitars!!
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