Straight Outta Lynwood Full Album Reviews

Post by **Grom** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:21 am

CD and DVD disc images: 9/10 (how many of you can say THAT?! HUH?!)

White & Nerdy - Holy hell, this was worth the wait. I never thought Al could rap so fast...Such an accurate parody of the original. One of his best parodies. 10/10

Pancreas - Never in the world will you hear "metabolising carbohydrates" used in song. A great, happy fun song. 8/10

Canadian Idiot - What country with a French population will he sing about next?! Kidding...it's a funny song, and I have never heard the original so I can't judge that respect. 9/10

I'll Sue Ya - Absolutely rocks. Great satire, the best animated video, probably the best original on the album. 10/10

Polkarama! - Finally, I know most of the songs in the polka! I loved the intro. Great to see a return to the sound-effects, too. Coldplay have never sounded so beautiful. 9/10

Virus Alert - Somewhat forgetable, but still a great sound and send-up of those annoying alerts people send you. GIGLI!!! Nice video, but sort of forgetable as well. 6/10

Confessions Part III - Never heard the original, but I kinda got the idea. It's always great when Al pokes fun at the original song (ala Nirvana and Billy Ray). Shirley Temple?! Yay spoken word! A solid parody. 7/10

Weasel Stomping Day - Brilliant. Proof that animal cruelty can be funny if performed well, and man! Al does it right here. Video was funny, and obviously took a bit of work. The song reminds me of a Christmas song or something similar....And also the Stonecutters song from The Simpsons. 9/10

Close But No Cigar - A great original...Is it just me or are Al's originals getting so much better?! Obscure fruits are funny. Nice solid standard rock song. John K's twisted humour fits the song so well in the video. How impressive was the montage/spinning wheel thing in the instrumental bridge?!?! 9.5/10

Do I Creep You Out - Good lyrics, but sounds exactly like the original must - a crappy pop song ballad. Fingers in my mouth...hahahaha. Pretty throw-away apart from that, though. 4.5/10

Trapped In The Drive-Thru - !!! Even though I haven't heard the original, I have no idea what R Kelly was on when he did the original. That said, I thank him for it...This is one of the most hilarious and "every day" songs I have ever heard...Eugene is the work of a genius. 10/10

Don't Download This Song - Good song, not good video. I'm lazy by this point and I've already talked about it before. 4/10 video, 7/10

Al in the Studio - Great to see the guy at work! Aaaw, Nina's head! A really great extra...Thanks, Suzanne!! 10/10

Al's most consistent album yet. Not perfect thanks to DICYO, and DDTS's video. 9.5/10.

EDIT: How could I forget "Black Dog"?!?!?!?! Golly-gee, that was such a great surprise and just...wow! I loved it.

Post by **Mystik Tomato** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 1:32 pm

White & Nerdy - Alright! A solid parody and a darn fine song that I can relate to! 8/10 Segways

Pancreas - All I can say is "bizarre" but in a good way... Damn, I wish I had the instrumental... 8/10 bodily organs

Canadian Idiot - A song that I can relate to. Freakin' awesome! 8/10 mooses (meese?

...OE!!!)

I'll Sue Ya - Well, it's one of the best originals I've ever heard 10/10 lawsuits

Polkarama! - The best polka on all of Al's albums. 10/10 accordions

Virus Alert - I don't care what you say, it sounds like Skyhooks to me. 9/10 forwards[/QUOTE]More like 10 now. Probably my most favourite song ever.

Confessions, Pt 3 - Al's best parody. 'Nuff said. 10/10 sequels[/QUOTE]Feh, I'd give it a 8 now. It's hilarious, but not overly so.

Weasel Stomping Day - What day is this? I wanna know! 10/10 crushed spines[/QUOTE]8/10 now, but I still listen to it

Close But No Cigar - Veeeery funny. 9/10 imperfect girls
Do I Creep You Out - Nope. This is a huuuge disappointment. It isn't that funny, nor is it catchy. I think that this is my song to BtD's Syndicated Inc. 3/10 talent shows

Trapped In The Drive-Thru - I just don't want any liver!

10/10 chapters

Don't Download This Song - Very good in catching the 'buy this album to help people while we walk away with half the profits' vibe 9/10 B-grade celebrities

You're Pitiful - Very cool, but SOL wouldn't be as good without it. 9/10 snowy cliffs

Post by **Karmus** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:24 pm

How surprising you give it so many good rates. I REALLY dislike most of the songs on this album! They are to choirish and poppy. Poodle Hat was much better. White & Nerdy is the only song with a mainstream potential, Polkarama is a bit thin but afterall an okay polka, Canadian Idiot isn't anything really outstanding and for the rest I have no significant comments.
I'm truly sorry for possibly offending some fans in here, but in my opinion Al has lost his sense of good music and has become too superficial on this album. I can't recall any song that was special while listening to it. "A Complicated Song", "Hardware Store"(!!), "Ode To A Superman"(!) and "Ebay" were my favorites of the last album. "White & Nerdy" will be the only one on the new album I will be adding to my MP3-player playlist.

"You're Pitiful", the unreleased track was even more worth releasing compared to many of the others. I once loved Al but I think this will be the only time I will listen to the album. No wonder I stopepd listening to him actively 1½ years ago.

Post by **Jigawatt** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:12 pm

I decided to give the album a few days to fester in my brain before pumping out my review...

1. "White & Nerdy" - This is truly one of my favorite Al parodies ever. It's right up there with the classic lead parodies. It's too hard to give it a definitive ranking (maybe its too new, although its more likely that it's just too hard to decide) but I love this song, I love love love the video, and as much as I loved You're Pitiful, I have to reiterate what others have said... thank you, Atlantic Records... but you still suck.

10/10

2. "Pancreas" - I now know more about the pancreas than I ever wanted to know, and pancreata will never be the same for me again.

I love the music on this... makes pancreatic juices sound so romantic.

8/10

3. "Canadian Idiot" - My one requirement for this song was that Al say "aboot" in it somewhere. I got all giddy when I heard the setup for the rhyme and it delivered.

8/10

4. "I'll Sue Ya" - One of my favorite originals on the album! They nailed Rage Against the Machine's style brilliantly, and it's just really well written... and has been discussed already, I look forward to seeing this live here in NJ to see how the Jersey reference is handed.

9/10

5. "Polkarama!" - I really liked this polka... the Chicken Dance intro was awesome, and some of the bands I was hoping he'd hit somehow on this album (The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse) were all included here. I think it needed to end with a song other than Gold Digger, but that's just me, and it certainly doesn't kill the song for me at all. 7.5/10

6. "Virus Alert" - Another great original on this album! I'm completely unfamiliar with the band Sparks, but I loved the style of this song so I'll be sure to check them out to hear the inspiration for this one. Not to mention that I love all the crazy stuff this virus will do... I'm sure glad neither of my grandmothers have a computer... 8.5/10

7. "Confessions Part III" - This is the parody I was most concerned with before hearing it, but I think it surprised me as it did a few other people here. Any song with a reference to peeing in the sink and herpes is OK in my book. 8/10

8. "Do I Creep You Out" - The rating for this song has benifitted greatly from my waiting a few days to write out this review. When I first heard it, I was like, OK, that was alright. But a funny thing happened when I listened to the album a few more times... every time I heard DICYO I liked it a little more, to the point where I like it a lot more than when I initially listened to it. I think it actually gained two points on the original rating I would have tagged it with. 8/10

9. "Weasel Stomping Day" - I'm also a big Stephen Lynch fan, so it would be extremely hypocritical of me to cry foul about the harshness of the lyrics.

I like it a lot... it's not a particularly deep song, but the music is great, and the joke is effective when juxtaposed with it. music: 8/10

10. "Close But No Cigar" - I love the music on this one as well... the jokes aren't exactly rapid-fire but they work well And it has a Mama Cass choking reference.

7.5/10

11. "Trapped In The Drive-Thru" - I missed a few lines the first time listening to this because I was laughing so hard at other lines.

This song is just pure brilliance. Just in terms of how well it pokes fun at the structure of the original song, this is defintely one of Al's most well-done parodies ever. 10/10

12. "Don't Download This Song" - Loved it when I downloaded it (don't tell the RIAA on me), still love it on the album. 10/10

So basically, there's no skip song for me here... easily one of my favorite ALbums. It would have been great to have You're Pitiful on here (which would probably be a 9/10 on this scale) but if the tradeoff is having WaN, then I can live with that. Having both would have been great though!

Adrian

GrayJ · Post by **GrayJ** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:56 am

My Video Reviews (after watching each of them about a million times...well, at least most of them). From best to worst:

White & Nerdy - BEST. VIDEO. EVER. 'Nuff said. 10 million/10

Virus Alert - This video is great! It's actually better if you look at the details. Love the Office Space reference. My favorite video on the DVD side.

10/10

I'll Sue Ya - Wow, this video is ever better than the song! And the song's pretty great. It looks like Lee put full effort into this video, and it had a cool animation style too it. My second favorite video. 10/10

Close But No Cigar - A little too weird for me, but then again, it's the creators of Ren & Stimpy. I like it. Great animation too. 9.5/10

Weasel Stomping Day - I love this video, and I love Robot Chicken. It makes the song better with the added weasel sounds. It might seem a little weird for most people, if they haven't seen Robot Chicken. 9/10

Don't Download This Song - Meh. Not that exciting, and the video didn't match the lyrics at too many places. A tad boring. 6/10

Pancreas - If you've seen the video, you already know what I'm going to say.

Moose · Post by **Moose** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:57 am

1. White and Nerdy - 5/5. Instant classic.

2. Pancreas - 5/5. Catchy as all get out.

3. Canadian Idiot - 3/5. Sort of predictable, and also too short.

4. I'll Sue Ya - 4/5. Awesome style parody.

5. Polkarama! - 5/5. Highlights are definitely "Candy Shop" and "Drop It Like It's Hot."

6. Virus Alert - 4/5. Funny, good song, yeah, you know.

7. Confessions Part III - 4/5. Yes.

8. Weasel Stomping Day - 4/5. Weasel stomping sound effects are amazing.

9. Close But No Cigar - 5/5. Best original I think. Also has the best animated video. (By John K., no less!)

10. Do I Creep You Out - 4/5. Too short, and sort of been there, done that material for Al, but I enjoy those songs that start out nice and quickly become stalker anthems. Plus with lines like "Every time I shake your hand now, I wanna stick your fingers in my mouth," how could you not love it?

11. Trapped In The Drive-Thru - 5/5. Takes the mundane and makes it hilarious. And also incredibly mundane.

12. Don't Download This Song - 5/5. Great sing-alongy album closer, perfect message and execution.

Overall: Running With Scissors I think is still my favorite ALbum, (It's hard to beat Albuquerque) but this definitely ranks right under it, and then above Poodle Hat and Bad Hair Day. Can't wait to hear these in concert. Keep up the Almazing Altastic MusicAl TALent, Steve. I mean Al.

Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:50 am

Moose @ Sep 30 2006, 03:57 AM wrote: Keep up the Almazing Altastic MusicAl TALent, Steve. I mean Al.

Well, why not both of them? And those other guys too.

Nolan · Post by **Nolan** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:55 pm

Well, the album reached Europe, so here I go...........

Nice to see the different opinions.
My overall would be 10 out of 10.
First of all you get a lot of worth for your money, including dvd, 5.1, making of and videos that's just SUPERB.

The album itself is one of it's best.
I love all songs with special mentioning of Pancreas, Virus Alert and Weasel Stomping Day.

I don't have this often, but this album is an Instant Classic

Thanks Al

Coen
The Netherlands

Post by **Grom** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:20 pm

Oops, double post...how embarassing.

Post by **Grom** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:24 pm

Mystik Tomato @ Sep 29 2006, 09:32 PM wrote: Virus Alert - I don't care what you say, it sounds like Skyhooks to me.

So it does!!! Thanks for that! I had no idea why it sounded familiar (because I hadn't heard the "official" band it's a style parody of), but you solved it for me!

Nolan, did you order the album from America or was it in a music store in The Netherlands?