Straight Outta Lynwood Full Album Reviews

[Driew_La_27]

Good album.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Good album.

Pithy review.

[Driew_La_27]

Pithy review.

Sorry after reading sooooo many of the song by song reviews I thought I'd save everyone the time.

I've listened to the album about 83 times now and it has not gotten old yet.

I have played the album at school and everyone has said that this is his best work yet, so that's a good sign.

[Miss Janine]

Okay, here's my 27 cents...


White and Nerdy: A little burned out on it, becaude of the millions of times I watched the video, but it's still a solid opening track (and IMO holds up better than YP). 9/10

Pancreas: As a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan, I LOVED this one. Al and Co. really nailed the sound. 10/10

Canadian Idiot: The first song on the CD I hit Repeat on. One of my favorites, and really easy to sing along with once you get the words down. A great driving song, too! 10/10

I'll Sue Ya: A hilarious comment on our sue-happy society! 8/10

Polkarama: The best polka medley YET!! What else can I say? 10/10

Virus Alert: Some of Al's best vocal artistry resides here. Another "Repeater" for me. 10/10

Confessions Part III: The lines about throwing up on the dog and the little thing he did in the sink had me gasping for air. And the way he said "Honey?" at the end just made me melt. For those reasons: 10/10

Weasel Stomping Day: Short and (somewhat) sweet, a true Yankovic family project (but where was Bella?) But, for the squishy violence, which makes this track one I have to skip if someone else is in the car with me: 8/10

Close But No Cigar: Picky, Al, picky! Very strong musically, but makes me think Al's a playa *heehee* (see also CP3) 9/10

Do I Creep You Out: I don't watch AI, so I can't compare this to the original, which is probably a good thing, as Al always improves on it as he rips it apart. I see this as his next into-the-audience song, although I'm not sure why. *shrugs* Another "Repeater" 10/10

Trapped in the Drive-Thru: As a former Hardee's employee who's logged many an hour working the DT, I gotta say: I LOVE THIS ONE! Reading the lyrics, I thought it would have been cool if Suzanne had done the wife's lines. Hey, Al, if it had been me, you would have gotten your onions! 10/10 (duh)

Don't Download This Song: Had to explain this one to my Mom. The choral work is just incredible. I actually had someone ask me if it WAS a benefit song. 9/10

On the Miss Janine scale: 113 out of 120

The Pics

Pardon me while I try to stop drooling. I've never been a fan of gangsta imagery, but it IS Al, so :9~ ! The center spread of Al and TBitB still has me in hysterics! The Band truly went above and beyond the call of duty on that one!

THE EXTRAS

Videos
I've posted on the individual videos in their respective threads. But, there's the absolutely riveting "Making of SOL" that I can't stop watching. This one's a real treat, a look at just how many layers go into putting the individual songs together. And, of course, the Very Special Cameo at the end just sealed it for me. 27,000,000/10

The first thing I thought after my first listen-through of SOL still sums it up: Al, you've outdone yourself this time. Congratulations on what I'm sure will turn out to be your greatest success yet, in a career filled with 'em!

[joelf16]

I know it's off topic but for all you Canadian fans out there if you havent gotten the album yet it's on the Canadian itunes store right now!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shakespeare234]

Here's my short and sweet song by song (& video) review.

FYI - Please don't attack me. It's just one person's opinion.

1. White & Nerdy - One of Al's best parodies. Wonderful video. 10/10

2. Pancreas - Song: Has a great beat and a catchy tune. 9/10 Video: Looks like Al had big influence on it. 8/10

3. Canadian Idiot - He did a good job, but it seems too cliche. 7/10

4. I'll Sue Ya - Song: Decent. However, a skipper. 6/10 Video: Better than the song, not the best on the DVD. 7/10

5. Polkarama! - Enjoyable Polka. Not his best, but one of the best songs on the album. 9/10

6. Virus Alert - Song: Best original on the album. 9/10 Video: Best video on the DVD. 9/10

7. Confessions, Part III - A good parody. On par with Jerry Springer. 8/10

8. Weasel Stomping Day - Song: Very enjoyable. 9/10 Video: visciously cute. 9/10

9. Close But No Cigar - Song: Good song. 7/10 Video: Not really to my liking, animation was good, but characters were jusk okay. 6/10

10. Do I Creep You Out - Good but too short. 8/10

11. Trapped In The Drive Thru - Haven't heard the original, but the song was good. His weakest "epic" song though. 7/10

12. Don't Download This Song - Song: Catchy. Fun. Great potential for a video. 9/10 Video: Horrible. Makes Bob look like Fat. 1/10

Overall, not Al's strongest album. It falls somewhere behind PH and RWS in likeability. The quality is still high, Al is a great artist. It's just a little weak.

[SXYFNDR]

After repeated listenings, I'm still not very impressed with Do I Creep You Out. Lyrics aside, the song itself just sounds like a watered-down version (if that's even possible!) of Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing.

Not really Al's fault, but what can you do?

[anthontherun]

Just watched all the videos...

MAKING OF: Great to watch the development of some of the originals, the DDTS parts were especially fun. It wasn't as funny as I was expecting, but it's worth a second viewing. 7/10

PANCREAS: I'm sorry, but this was a waste of time. Some of the effects were neat, but the concept quickly wore thin and all in all, I think it was the worst of the videos. 1/10

I'LL SUE YA: This one's fantastic! Extremely well-done. Some of the visuals were great, and all in all, it was a great video for a great song. 10/10

VIRUS ALERT: This one was great too. The animator fit in great visuals for each line and it turned out to be excellent. 9/10

WEASEL STOMPING DAY: I enjoy Robot Chicken, it's not a favorite show or anything, but it's fun. This was no exception, nothing special but good fun. 7/10

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Extremely well-done. Instant classic; whereas the design of "I'll Sue Ya" and "Virus Alert" make it so that they're good, but they give off a "fan-created online video" look, CBNC could have easily been released as a real Al video and it would have worked fine. The animation was perfectly in time with the vocals too. 10/10

DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: This was stupid. 90% of it's in black-and-white, it's not funny at all except for the chorus lines at the end, and the style didn't appeal to me at all. 3/10

WHITE AND NERDY: Another instant classic. Great to have another live-action video; this one doesn't disappoint! 10/10

[Whatinthe27]

1) WHITE & NERDY - Great Lead Off Parody. Great Lyrics. Ridin' was a good choice, got plenty of air-play and Pop enough to parody. I Felt let down when i found out it wasn't a full-length parody. I like Bob Rivers, but the thing that always got me is when he cut the song short. I'm guessing Al wanted to produce this song and it's video quickly, and he wanted to make sure it got airplay so he put it into a shorter format.. personally i feel the way it flows so fast, altho the original is about 6 minutes long, it doesn't feel like it.. I wish he did a third verse, so i'm not giving it a full 10 out of protest.. 8.5 / 10

2) PANCREAS - Quirky style parody of Brian Wilson. I like it. Everything You Know is Wrong was obviously a They Might Be Giants Style Parody, but lyrically Pancreas is more like TMBG's style than EYKIW. It's as if TMBG wrote a the lyrics, Brian Wilson wrote the music, and Frank Zappa sung it. 8 / 10

3) CANADIAN IDIOT - Good parody. To me it's like Pretty Fly for a Rabbi, and Taco Grande.. there's just some material that comedians love to cover, and this song gave Al the oppurtunity to write a song full of tongue-in-cheek Canadian jokes.. which is fitting since he has toured there and MuchMusic was kind to him. but i agree what i've read on this forum previously--there's something different musically keeping it from being a dead-on parody.. I also thought with the all the success Green Day had that Al would give us a two for one parody where he covered more than one song within the parody. 7 / 10

4) I'LL SUE YA - Awesome song. I'll riot if this song isn't played live. This is my new favorite original by Al. Funniest lyrics, but this song would be great even if the lyrics were serious. 10/10

5) POLKARAMA! - Like the non-themed polkas recently, the polka seems like it's missing something at first. But after a couple listens, with the sound turned up i like it much more. I just wish he visited the songs a little longer. It seems to be ending just when it got started. I like the Gold Digger part, i think it was the big hit that if it didn't get the parody treatment it deserves to close the polka. It also got the cool finger-snapping break down too tho (like Hot Blooded in Polkas on 45 or Last Nite in Angry White Boy Polka) and that part is usually near the middle.. so it throws me-- I expect it to be the climax of the polka, leading to other songs-- but instead it's the end of the polka and the song's over already? 7 / 10

6) VIRUS ALERT - Cool 80's retro song. Fun lyrics. Not mainstream, but i like this style. It reminds me a lot of Calling All Girls, a video all used to play quite a bit on ALtv. I can see why people compare it reminds them of Styx. 7 / 10

7) CONFESSIONS III - there's rumors of an Usher parody, and i'm 98% sure it's Yeah. I can't even think of others it might be. If you mention other Usher songs i might recall having heard them once or twice.. but i never heard this original, so it's lost on me. It's funny enough to stand on it's own, but it goes in between being outrageous (peeing in the sink, and hockey stick) but goes to the mundane (faking sickness to skip a picnic) Maybe couples can relate to the mundane, but the spoken verse needed more punch. And a couple of questions: returning a shirt for store credit, isn't that something only a girl would do? And why? please tell me why would someone lie about knowing Pauly Shore to get a girl? isn't that something you should hide? (I guess that's what made it funny to Al) 6.5 / 10

WEASEL STOMPING DAY - a perfect style parody of late 60's christmas songs, the kind that accompany stop motion animation, making Robot Chicken a perfect match for it. I actually think the fact that it stands out oddly makes it good transition song for a comedy album just to break up things a bit. To the would-be PETA members in this forum, you don't like this song? well were you when Al was suggesting Aquarians whack-a-mole 17 hours a day?! The game only promotes violence on vermin. I caught my 8yo nephew out in the backyard with a hammer chasing a chipmunk after i took him to chucky cheese for his birthday. No telling what he'll do if he ever heard this song. 8 / 10

9) CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR - You want some Cake?! a great style parody. More cool than funny, but i still like it. Would be my favorite, but I'll Sue Ya is. This song is, well, oh do you really want me to say it?.. 9.9 / 10

10) DO I CREEP YOU OUT - Unfortunately, this parody is about as forgettable as the original. I'm sure there's a lot of Taylor Hicks fans that would even agree, Hicks is good, but Do I Make You Proud wasn't a great song. for those out there, Why do you keep saying this is the replacement parody for YP?! YP was to be the lead off parody, W&N is the replacement for YP. This was a last minute throw in. My guess it Al asked around to see who he could get permission from and this song probably has a story behind it much like Toothless People. I think it's a lousy choice for a parody. it may have hit high on the charts, but only because of American Idol nuts who downloaded it.. This song is right down there with A Moment Like This, but a least that got some airplay. The production value is great, but it's way too short.. and he skipped a verse?! why?! I wonder if it's because of time restraint. There's not enough jokes in it, and needed to evolve a bit. 5 / 10

11) TRAPPED IN THE DRIVE-THRU - while i don't think the original was played enough to be make it a target, the notoriety i admit did. The only reason i know of Closet is because of the parodies already made of it (Jimmy Kimmel, Mad TV, and South Park) from a fan's perspective i think it was a given. How do you follow up an epic style parody of a comedy legend, seeing that it followed an epic style parody of underground artist..> write an epic parody. This song is good musically, and the story is told in a very funny way, mirroring the style of the original and everyday dialogue. Hopefully he follows this song with an epic polka next album. 8 / 10

12) DON'T DOWNLOAD THIS SONG - I like it. I think it lost all of it's punch tho. Al's response to critics on his Myspace Blog is funnier than the song itself. the production value is great, but i only like it. Basically because the style of it isn't something i prefer. 6.5 / 10


Overall, I like the new album a lot, but it's the originals that save it for me. They are much better than the parodies. He obviously put a lot of work into producing them. I expect more out of the parodies tho, especially when i have to wait 3 years for a new album. Like i said, i hate when the parodies are shorter than the originals. And i want to hear parodies of popular overplayed songs. You're Pitiful was a perfect choice. Confessions? No. Yeah, would be a definate Yes. Al did a Rolling Stone article citing "lame" parody choices he passed on. I can't remember them right now, but they were all better than Do I Creep You Out. And this was a last minute throw in? Well I think i would have been more peeved if he released an album with only four parodies on it. He had three years.

Al has a wife and kid now, and he's at a point where he can do what he wants, which is great. I am honestly happy for him... but the backlash is that people expect more and he'll get criticized when he releases a song about a topic that's already been covered several years ago.

- Sam

[drnick954]

White And Nerdy: Al's best rap song yet, great lyrics! 10/10

Pancreas: I've never been a fan of the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson, so this song along with the lyrics doesn't do too much for me. 5/10

Canadian Idiot: Not bad, short and to the point. 8/10

I'll Sue Ya: This is a DEAD ON style parody of RATM and is a great song with clever lyrics nonetheless. 10/10

Polkarama!: Ah yes, finally a polka that I know all the songs beforehand, not to mention a great selection of them. I like the "When the pigs try to get itchoo" part. 10/10

Virus Alert: Kind of a weird song to me, but the chorus is catchy. 7/10

Confessions pt. III: A few of the confessions were funny but other than that, it's not the best parody on the ALbum. 7/10

Weasel Stomping Day: The whole animal cruelty deal doesn't really affect me. I guess it's an ok song, nothing too special. 6/10

Close, But No Cigar: I LOVE the music in this song, especially the only brass and drums part. Lyrics are good too. This is my favorite original on the ALbum 10/10

Do I Creep You Out: Al probably could have done better finding a different song to parody than this, but it's kind of clever. "You're Pitiful" would have worked better for this track, but as we all know, it couldn't happen. 6/10

Trapped In the Drive-Thru: An absolute stroke of genius. I love how Al explains EVERY single minor detail in the story. I love the Zeppelin part too, being a huge fan of them. Anything by Al that is over 8 minutes long is always an excellent song, and this song proves that fact even further. 10/10

Don't Download This Song: I like the music and the lyrics a lot. Great song to close it out. 9/10

Overall- 8.1/10 With five 10/10s and another 9/10 on this Album, this is definitely not a letdown. Most of the videos are great as well, except I don't care for the ones for DDTS and Pancreas. At 46, Al definitely isn't slowing down, and this ALbum is definite proof. SOL probably ranks at number 2 or 3 in favorites among the ALbums for me, it's THAT good. If you don't already have this, I highly recommend you go out and buy it. You won't be sorry.