"Weird Al" Yankovic: 'Alpocalypse'

'Alpocalype' was a long time coming- there was nearly a five year gap between albums, the longest of Al's career.  In the meantime, though, Al sated his fan's thirst by periodically releasing new songs from the album over iTunes as singles.  As a result, when the new album came out, fans had already heard almost half of the album, which made the first listening experience a bit of a let-down.  Taken as a whole, though, Alpocalypse is one of Al's best works.  For the deluxe edition, Al incljuded a DVD with videos for 10 of th songs; the other two eventually had videos released as well on his concert DVD.  Alpocalypse is my favorite of Al's CD covers, as an ecstatic Al waves from his horse while leading other horsemen of the apocalypse through a cloud of fire.

'Perform This Way,' a parody of Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' almost wasn't even on the album at all, due to what turned out to be a lack of judgment on one of Gaga's assistant's part.  While it's a decent enough parody of Gaga's public persona, picking on Gaga's wardrobe choices seems almost too easy for Al, and there aren't that many laugh-out-loud jokes within the material. And the video creeps me out.

'CNR' is a White Stripes-like ode to a frequent panelist of TV's 'Match Game,' Charles Nelson Reilly through a bunch of Chuck Norris-like jokes.  'Charles Nelson Reilly won the Tour de France with two flat tires and a missing chain.' Al and his band did an even better, acoustic rendition of this song for NPR's 'Tiny Desk Concert' series.

'TMZ,' a parody of Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me,' describes the constant hounding that even minor celebrities face thanks to the ever-present cameras of the gossip giant.   Tom Kenny, a veteran voice actor who worked on the Transformers animated film (where Al's 'Dare To Be Stupid' was used on the soundtrack) plays the part of a TMZ narrator.

'Skipper Dan' is one of my favorite Al originals, and is the upbeat story of a once up-and-coming theater actor who now captains a ship on Disney's Jungle Cruise.  Yes, Jungle Cruise employees tend to love the song.  Failed actors...not so much.

'Polka Face' is unique among Al's polka medleys in that he uses the opening song ('Poker face,' of course') to both open and close the song.  In some ways, Al combined some of the songs to tell a narrative in the middle of the song.  Thanks again to Wikipedia, here are the songs included:

• "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
• "Womanizer" by Britney Spears
• "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha
• "Day 'n' Nite" by Kid Cudi
• "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum
• "Baby" by Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris
• "So What" by Pink
• "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
• "Fireflies" by Owl City
• "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain
• "Replay" by Iyaz
• "Down" by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne
• "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris
• "The Tick Tock Polka" by Frankie Yankovic
• "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha
• "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga

The use of 'The Polka King' Frankie Yankovic was also a nice touch.

'Craiglist' combines the all-purpose internet want-ads with the style of The Doors, as Al perfectly mimic's Jim Morrison's vocal mannerisms.  The keyboard parts are authentic as well, as Al got Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for The Doors) to play on the song. The video is also reminiscent of Morrison's penchant for Native American imagery and desert images that have nothing to do with the song.

'Party in the CIA' is my favorite parody of the album, as he takes Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA' and re-works it to a spy who's very happy doing the dirty work.  The light, playful tone combined with the idea of assassinating South American dictators shows off Al at his twisted best.

'Ringtone' is the only true let-down for me on the album.  While parodying the style of certain Queen songs, there's just not enough humor in an annoying ringtone to last for a whole song.

'Another Tattoo,' a parody of Bruno Mars 'Nothing on You,' is a close second to being my favorite parody.  'At every job interview they're just so impressed/ Cuz I got all my ex-wives on my chest.' describes the attitude of a couple people I've interviewed myself in the past.

'If That Isn't Love' once again features a guest keyboard player, this time in the form of Taylor Hanson, whose upbeat, piano-driven pop style is imitated here, as some poor schlub tries to express the depth of his affection, 'And when we're at parties, I don't talk about your spastic bladder/ And when you're cleaning the guttes on the roof, I'll hold the ladder!'  Oddly enough, my wife isn't as amused as I am about this song, and after I did her the favor of playing over and over and over for her.

'Whatever You Like,' a parody T.I.'s song of the same name, and was the first time Al was able to release a single of his parody while the original was still #1 on the charts.  Rather than going the rapper's route of bestowing mansions and yacht's, Al promises his girlfriend the best one can do on a more limited income.  There's quite a few moments that make me chuckle in the song.

'Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me' is a song in the style of Meatloaf's collaborations with Jim Steinman ('I Would Do Anything for Love,' etc.).  Do you have that friend on Facebook who forwards everything to you- especially stuff everyone else already saw months ago?  Then you get the frustration Al expresses in this song.  you'll probably even recognize a lot of the examples.  I'm always tempted to send a link to this song back whenever someone forwards me emails like this, but I'm not sure my mom would get the joke.

You are required to be here tomorrow.  It will be entertaining.  We will have Mandatory Fun.