POODLE HAT REVIEWS!!!

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mrmeadows
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POODLE HAT REVIEWS!!!

Post by mrmeadows »

I'm creating this topic so whomever is inclined may post their reviews of the new album here. I have heard the album and am ready to post my review, but I'll wait until tomorrow so you can all avoid spoilers.



(quick review: it's great!)



Meadows
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Post by mickens »

Short review:



The best set of originals Al ever wrote. Not just lyrically, since I always like his lyrics, but musically, too. And it's the originals that usually last with me on his albums (with one or two of the parodies from each album), so I can say, despite only having had the album for about an hour, it's the best yet.
OneNote
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Post by OneNote »

Oh my god. This album rocks. Probably the best set of original songs on one album. It's a really strong album. The originals rock. Hardware Store rocks. Bob rocks. This album rocks.

Uh.. uh.. I'll clean up my slobber now.
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Post by OlFuzzy »

Okay, I'll go through this one track by track (Obviously, this is going to be brimming with spoilers, but you bought the album today too, right? Right?!):



"COUCH POTATO" - I probably shouldn't use the language I want to describe what I think of Eminem for denying us a video for this song in a family-friendly forum such as this, so I'll digress... This may be Al's strongest parody yet. The lyrics are very funny and I'm amazed by the sheer number of references he shoots off. When I stated listening to it, I figured we'd get a verse on "American Idol", a verse on "The Osbournes" and continue like that for the rest of the song, but it just starts flying hot and heavy. Getting in references to the pointless "special" Drew Carey episodes, the Manah Manah sketch on The Muppet Show *and* Da Ali G Show? Classic.



"HARDWARE STORE" - Exactly what compelled Al to write a song about waiting for a hardware store to open is beyond me, but it turned out well. That verse (you know which one I'm talking about) is just incredible.



"TRASH DAY" - Funny. I groaned at the chorus, but in a good way.



"PARTY AT THE LEPER COLONY" - Pun-tastic. I hadn't heard this one beforehand, but I loved it. The line about Stu was great.



"ANGRY WHITE BOY POLKA" - The best polka yet. Hands down. I was in *tears* when he got to the System of a Down part. Just fantastic.



"WANNA B UR LOVR" - Very funny, and the sex jokes were a little obvious for Al, weren't they? I'm not complaining, mind you - it just seemed odd.



"A COMPLICATED SONG" - When I saw the first chorus coming, I said "Oh no" out loud. It wouldn't have worked if he tried to do the whole song about that, but switching it up kept it funny.



"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?" - Ben Folds rules. (The bonus mix where he sings is off the charts.) The funniest original on the album - I just love Al's more morbid songs.



"ODE TO A SUPERHERO" - If I wrote this, the whole song would be about that one glorious moment in where Spiderman, Bruce "Ash" Campbell and Randy "Macho Man" Savage appeared on screen at the same time. When the DVD came out, I took a screen capture and it was my wallpaper for about a month and a half. What was I talking about? The song? Probably my favorite of the "old song rewritten about a big summer blockbuster movie" genre Al's been into lately.



"BOB" - Okay, when I heard the spoilers about this one - that every line was going to be a palindrome - I was *SURE* that started as an offhand comment somewhere in one of those "What can we figure out from the track listings" thread and someone was just joking because "Bob" is a palindrome. I couldn't believe anyone could pull it off - Al Yankovic is the most underrated song-writer in music. Period.



"E-BAY" - Funnier than I thought it would be, but I still don't see the need for a Backstreet Boys parody when you could've fleshed one of the tracks from the polka and given us "Fell In Love With A Squirrel". No? Oh well....



"GENIUS IN FRANCE" - Al was channeling Frank's spirit on this one. There's no other explanation. It didn't even sound like a tribute so much as a new Frank Zappa song. Just amazing.



The bonus stuff is all really high-quality - especially that forementioned Al and Ben mix of "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" and Al's home movies.



Highly recommended, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.
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Post by Captain Wacky »

You took the words right out of my mouth and said it all Oldfuzzy.



I am flying high!!!!
uncle_nutsy
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Enhanced CD Review...

Post by uncle_nutsy »

Enhanced CD Review:



I thought his home movie video was extremely funny.



Very well done!
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Virgin Post!

Post by Clever_Username »

I loaded the new album into my cd drive and got a message that I need to install a new version of Quicktime. I clicked the 'Install' button, but predictably, nothing happened.



So, I will assume that everything is working as it should and take this time to write a completely pointless review that no one here will either a) Read or B) Agree with.



Shall we?



First of all, I have been a fan since the very beginning- 1992. Well, actually longer than that, but I have to say the new cover is one of the very best. "Inspired Lunacy" at its finest. A classic.



As for the first sing..er, track, I think we can all agree that Marshall's refusal for a video is just silly. I was never able to take that guy seriously, but this takes the cake. Here's a guy who dresses up as "Robin with an 'E'", yet loses his sense of humour when it steers too close to his cool public persona. First, he snubs Triumph and now this!



The song itself is a really good parody, and impressive in the amount of pop culture it manages to skewer. I did think that using the Flintstones to kick it off was a bit of a retread, though.



Every album, I find that Al's originals seem to overshadow the parodies for me. This, despite the fact that the songs he is covering are my generation's musical contribution to the world. The sad reality is, Al has more musical talent than most of the popular 'artists' he's forced to parody these days.



For this reason, I couldn't really get into Trash Day, but Ebay is so clever I'm afraid I may actually get caught humming a Backstreet Boys' song. I also have to admit, I thought the obvious lyrical twist that begins A Complicated Song was a little beneath Al, especially when the other verses are so inspired.



Hardware Store and Angry White Boy Polka are vintage Al, as is Why Does This Always Happen To Me? The latter was the first track that really got me as I drove home from the record store. As soon as you get the joke, you can't help but smile.



Ode to A Superhero definitely feels a tad late, but I think releasing it during the Spiderman hype would've just made it seem like a cheap attempt to duplicate The Saga Begins. To this day, I can't hear American Pie without singing about Qui-Gon Jinn in my head. I thought Saga was one of Al's best ever (not to mention, it explained the movie to me), so Ode had a lot to live up to for me to like it. Some clever lyrics won me over, however.



Bob and Genius in France not only nail their respective tributes, but are absolute genius in their own right. The second half of the album is easily the strongest, in my opinion. Even though none of the parodies immediately jumped out and brainwashed me like The Saga Begins, the originals are definitely stronger than the rest of Running With Scissors.



My final verdict is that everyone should own a Poodle Hat, at least once in their lives. Now if Quicktime would just hurry up and Install itself, I could don mine again.



Copyright 2003

You were not charged for this opinion. Please do not repeat it as your own.
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Teh Dingo
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Post by Teh Dingo »

I just wrote a review of "Poodle Hat", but it ended up being a tad too long :D , so I'll just sum it up:





I loved it!!!
You have quickly thought up such matchless phrase?
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Post by weirdojace »

My review. YAY!





COUCH POTATO - Okay, it was very good at first. I loved it, when MSN put the clip...er, I mean, WHOLE SONG on their site for download. I listened to it over and over, and then it got old. Eh...



HARDWARE STORE - Amazing. "That verse" will be very hard to memorize, but I CAN DO IT!



TRASH DAY - I was looking forward to this song, but it wasn't as good as I expected. It's just okay.



PARTY AT THE LEPER COLONY - This song didn't sound right to me. I had been listening to a concert bootleg all this time, which wasn't all "studio-ed". Plus, Al's voice was deeper on the album version than the concert. I'll get used to it eventually, though. A good song.



ANGRY WHITE BOY POLKA - I love his wacky sound effect swear word censoring. Genius. One of the best polkas, and his longest polka to date!



WANNA B UR LOVR - I hate it.



A COMPLICATED SONG - This made up for Wanna B Ur Lovr. It's great. Al is a genius.



WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME? - I love the violent songs. This one is violently funny. The last verse is the best.



ODE TO A SUPERHERO - One of his best movie songs. I LOVE this track.



BOB - Very cool palindrome song. I know where he got all these palindromes: palindromelist.com. That site has every palindrome that's in that song.



EBAY - Didn't expect it to be good, but it's great. One of the best on the album I think. Even though the Backstreet Boys aren't good, and I Want it That Way was 4 years old, Al made the song listen-to-able.



GENIUS IN FRANCE - I'm concerned that people will think Al is attacking France because of the war thing, when all he's doing is referring to Frank Zappa. Other than that, great song. Oh, this song contains the unintentional album cover/song reference.





And I love that home movies stuff. Hehe, "Thank you for buying my album, instead of downloading it like some HOOLIGAN!!!" That was great.
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my review

Post by Jebediah »

First of all, let me say that this album is absolutely fantastic. Now, on to the songs.



Couch Potato - I restrained myself from listening to any of this song or reading the lyrics before the album came out, and I'm glad I did. A really awesome song with the record for most TV references.



Hardware Store - The lyrics aren't laugh-out-loud funny, but I still LOVE this song.



Trash Day - The concept is very clever, but I think the lyrics run out of steam somewhere. Still, I like this song a lot.



Party at the Leper Colony - Haven't heard the concert version, but I really like the studio version. Bad puns have never been so good!



Angry White Boy Polka - The funniest part, of course, is hearing the polka version of "Chop Suey." The rest of this polka is also good. But I've never really liked the polkas as much as the songs when Al himself writes the lyrics. I usually only recognize 3 or 4 of the songs in a polka, and then it's still only mildly funny to hear them remixed at a polka beat. Furthermore, I can never remember which songs go with which polka name, except for obvious ones like "Bohemian Polka" and "Hot Rocks Polka."



Wanna B Ur Lovr - A very funny song, and a long-overdue style parody of Prince. Yeah, Al, way to stick it to him!



A Complicated Song - This is probably my least favorite song on the album, and yet, I still like it. But Al himself admitted he couldn't make up his mind on where to take this parody, so he kinda mashed three ideas together. The result is pretty good, but not as good as one that had a common theme. Not that any one of these ideas would've worked for a whole song, but he could've thought a little harder.



Why Does This Always Happen to Me? - Brilliant. I was fearing another "One of Those Days" kinda songs, but this one has a clever twist. And I love Ben Folds.



Ode to a Superhero - Another brilliant song.



Bob - I'm amazed that Al was able to make this song rhyme so well, but he does. And he also does a great Dylan impression.



eBay - A very funny song.



Genius in France - While I love this song, I think I don't love it as much as some other people, because I've never heard any Frank Zappa. Maybe I should.



Home movies - I laughed. Hard.



Bonus mixes - Instrumentals were kinda lame, but the other two were cool.
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