Okay, here's my 27 cents' worth: This album, musically, is just outstanding. The replication of the parody-target melodies is dead-on, as always, but the originals' music is excellent. It will stay listenable for a long time. The exception is Wanna B Ur Lovr, but I suspect that one's
supposed to be DJ/scratching/lounge lizard annoying. The cheesiness of the music is deliberate, I think.
COUCH POTATO-- I went & listened to "Lose Yourself" a couple of times beforehand (I decided that I could understand what makes Eminem so magnetic, and I could hear the craftsmanship of his lyrics-- I just can't stand the stuff he fills his mind & heart with and then disgorges onto CD), and Al nailed it. Let me say that I have no problem with Al doing TV songs regularly. TV isn't the
subject, really, it's the window through which he's watching the manifestations of our culture sashay by. Yeah, it's the same window, but every year the view outside changes. And, frankly, the view into the contents of Al's heart and mind that's lurking in his commentary on the boob tube suggests that he's in far better shape than M.
HARDWARE STORE-- This one's an early favorite. Very listenable music, an intricate & fun arrangement. And maybe it's because I'm still all thrilled at having learned how to use a miter box, but I find the subject funny. Sounds like Al's been spending WAY too much time at Home Depot. I know I have.
TRASH DAY-- What I enjoy most about Al's rap parodies is his knack for stringing together series of the same rhyme sound. But I also laughed out loud there on the Sunset Blvd. sidewalk at the roaches wearin' slippers, and then again in the car at "I got a mop and it's got your name on it-- (What?) I'm just kiddin', doggone it!"
PARTY AT THE LEPER COLONY-- I wince every time at the "dip" line, but it's a fun bouncy tune with legs, so to speak. And the "dance all night to a rotten band" always makes me chuckle.
ANGRY WHITE BOY POLKA-- :biggrin: Is it just me, or did a couple of the verses sort of hint at klezmer music? And there was something about the Slim Shady verse that made me think of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey." A fitting comeuppance.
WANNA B UR LOVR-- Al at his most subtle, of course. It's hard to imagine why he was single until he was over forty, with savoir faire and elan like that available to him. Not to mention the innuendos. I know some folks aren't liking it, but you gotta love the fact that this song carries on what I can only refer to as "Weird Al's running nose gag."
And the line about the Yugoslavian hands was really funny-- the sort of pickup line a hopelessly nerdy guy named Yankovic might have used, if the hopelessly nerdy Yankovic were going to try using pickup lines. And so we've been given another chapter in Weird Al's Ongoing Field Guide To Love As It Ain't.
A COMPLICATED SONG-- I actually listened to Avril quite a lot just before PH was released, and I liked it better than I expected to (though I like Sk8er Boi better-- or, as I prefer to think of it, Avril's homage to "That Boy Could Dance). I'm just thankful that Al didn't do more than one verse on bowel trouble. One verse was more than enough for a subject that, IMHO, he already covered adequately in "Traffic Jam." At least he arranged his patchwork of verses in order from weakest to best. Of course, how a fan perceives a given song depends a lot on that fan's life circumstances. "Constipated" might be hilarious if you're twelve. For me, I just find myself hoping that the subject doesn't begin turning up in my birthday-card verses any time soon. :mad:
WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?-- Sometimes I think Al's got a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for mental disorders, and he's steadily working his way through it. The music's not at all similar, but thematically it has a lot in common with "Good Old Days." Tuneful, classy music undergirding the tale of a moral monster. I love it.
ODE TO A SUPERHERO-- This title and "A Complicated Song" make me think that when Al's in a hurry, what suffers are the song
titles. Both of these are pretty underwhelming. But I like the song. I like it that when Al picks a classic song, he has a chance to showcase his singing. And I really enjoy the line about kissing upside down in the rain.
BOB-- It's amazing that he managed to make this singable, make it rhyme and grouped together the palindromes so that they almost seem to make some sense. And it does turn out sounding like Dylan at his most hermetic cryptic-poet moments. But what does it say about that vintage of Dylan that nonsense sounds so much like him? :nervous:
EBAY-- I AM going to wind up with this stuck in my head. But I'm OK with that. Al has redeemed a catchy tune from insipidity. Yeah, it's a list song, but those are funny things he's listing. And it's kind of a culture-window song like "Couch Potato."
GENIUS IN FRANCE-- I don't know Frank Zappa's music at all, so I'm going to miss the various homages unless I buckle down and do some homework, but even without knowing what Al's tipping his poodle hat to, it's really interesting to listen to. I doubt that Al picked the subject as a commentary on current politics-- it's more likely a nod to Zappa's "In France." (I found that one on a Google search, and boy am I glad Al didn't just cover that particular Zappa song. The mothers of oodles of his fans would never have recovered from the shock) And the mention of the Star Trek convention was another snort-aloud-on-Sunset moment for me. :biggrin:
What fun. Now I gotta go find Quicktime 6 so I can access the extra features.