Re: My song-specific review of Poodle Hat

Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 15:55:34 -0400
Newsgroups: alt.music.weird-al
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Poodle Hat review, Rich Green...his 1st review (I think)
This is really a hit or miss review... There are some really great
opinions on the album, ,but at the same time some things Rich said are
just nonsense. The flow from review to review is nice and I guess he
reviewed them the best he could but I guess I should comment on each
comment individually:
Richard E Green wrote:
> Poodle Hat, "Weird Al" Yankovic...his 11th album (I think, I lost count).
>
> This is a really hit or miss album. There are some GREAT songs on this
> album, but at the same time there are some songs that are almost
> intolerable, while there's some in them grey area between them. The flow
> from song to song is really nice, and I think they picked out the track
> order as best as was possible, and other than that I guess I should
> comment on each song individually:
>
> 01. Couch Potato - I heard this song a week before the rest of the
> album, so it can't help but stand out from the rest of the album. In
> itself, it is probably going to be hailed as the best of the 5 parodies
> on this album, although after a couple of listens, it really loses its
> freshness. My biggest gripe with this song is that it seems like I Can't
> Watch This part two (and I Can't Watch This was just a reality series
> based on the fictional Cable TV), and I wish Al could have chosen a more
> original topic for his lead track. And I don't care what anyone says,
> his voice doesn't sound like Eminem at all. 6/12
His voice kind of sounds like Eminem's... The "yo" is pretty good... But
you should've also compared this song to Syndicated Incorporated, Jerry
Springer, Talk Soup. But I don't think will be hailed as the best
parody! A lot of people don't seem to like it that much... 8/12
> 02. Hardware Store - Now THIS is more like it!!! This track has a great
> mixture of humor, originality, lyrics that go on and on (I can't imagine
> them pulling this off in concert), plus unlike every other song on this
> album, it has a completely original style to it. Plus there's a 27
> reference! I've listened to this one track more than the other tracks
> combined and it's still one of my favourites ever, and definately the
> best on this album. 12/12
Eh, I guess it's completely original... The chorus sounds even better
than the one for Horoscope, but the song has no melody. It's just
singing really fast... Almost like rap. So this would make three rapish
songs right in a row. I don't think it's that funny except the line
about the automatic circumsizer. 6/12
> 03. Trash Day - Argh, what were they thinking? I guess they wanted to
> make a TRASHY song, because this is it. I'll give Al credit for doing a
> good play on the original lyrics, but these new ones aren't enjoyable at
> all, plus this is a horrible song in the first place, so it leaves
> nothing desirable in either lyric or music. A definate skip-over track.
> 1/12
Aww, come on. Al did a great job on this. His singing was great! It's
kinda funny too... I wipe my feet before I got outside made me laugh. 1/12
> 04. Party At the Leper Colony - like Couch Potato, I heard this song
> separate from the rest of the album, so it has been standing up on its
> own. I didn't really like the song when I first heard it live about 9
> months ago, and the album version is about exactly the same as the live
> version. It isn't HORRIBLE, but it isn't that funny either. And I'm not
> so big on the doowop jazz style either. 4/12
I agree. This song just had no production to it. It's so plain. And the
bum-bum-bum... bum-bum beat is a rip off of I Want Candy. But the lyrics
ARE funny! The lyrics are great! It's original too! 3/12
> 05. Angry White Boy Polka - Boy Al, do you really think that your fans
> aren't smart enough to figure out the running theme in this song that
> you couldn't come up with a catchier name? Actually, this was the track
> I was most anxiously waiting for, and turned out to be the biggest let
> down for me on the album. It sounds like they just got lazy, as there
> weren't ANY new polka elements within this song (unless you count that
> falsetto belching between Roach and System which I could have done
> without anyway), instead there were elements borrowed from most of the
> previous polkas the band has done. I admit, I cracked up the first time
> I heard the polka version of Chop Suey and Bawithdaba, but other than
> that, it felt like total rehash. At least it worked really well for Hate
> To Say I Told You So and Fell In Love With A Girl, but the rest of the
> tracks just give me a feeling of deja vu. 3/12
I completely agree. 12/12
> 06. Wanna Be Ur Luvr - okay, the first time I listened to this, I missed
> half the lyrics because I couldn't stop laughing. After a second listen,
> I think I picked most of it up. This Prince style parody was
> hilarious....the FIRST time, but now that I've heard all the lame pickup
> lines, there isn't much left to enjoy. I'm probably gonna be skipping
> this track a lot for now on. 2/12
Eh, I pretty much agree except the lyrics didn't really make me laugh 10/12
> 07. A Complicated Song - Back when the album was announced and everyone
> was speculating on songs that would be parodied, I immediately thought
> Avril Lavigne. It's already been established that Al threw three ideas
> together to create one song, and it's a really good thing he did because
> none of these songs would have held interest over three verses. The
> first verse is absolutely horrible.....Al's always been above bathroom
> humour before this...but the next two verses really make up for it. I
> admit it, I'm a huge Avril junkie, so hearing a great rendition of the
> song helps my opinion of it as well. 8/12
This song made me laugh the most. This is my favorite parody. Yeah, the
first verse reminded me of Free Delivery, but I think it's pretty stupid
to skip the first verse of a song every time you listen to it. 5/12
> 08. Why Does This Happen To Me - Ooh, a Ben Folds style parody, with Ben
> himself on piano! There's been a lot of rehashing old ideas on this
> album, and this would be the Good Old Days part 2. It's really funny
> overall, although the knifing verse was written pretty poorly. The real
> highlight is the Ben Folds "bah bah bah bah's" 9/12
Yeah, it is like Good Old Days in that there's only three funny parts in
the song. It's just three verses of serious lyrics until a funny violent
part at the end. But it's very funny. Yeah, the knife verse did sound
kinda bad... "my knife got stuck"... stuck what? stuck in his head? 11/12
> 09. Ode To A Superhero - this song is TRYING to be The Saga Begins, but
> it just isn't. As a summary of a movie, it succeeds.....the only thing
> is, who cares about Spiderman anymore? That was the big movie about 9
> MONTHS ago (and it wasn't even that great in the first place)! I've had
> a gripe about Al doing a song that has already been parodied (and
> better, in my opinion) when Luke Ski did Keanu Man last year....although
> I REALLY REALLY love the accordion on this song. 5/12
Yeah, why does Al have to do a movie song on every single album. But I
don't see what's so great about the accordion... Plus Al should've done
something during those instrumental parts. He always cuts out as much of
the instrumental parts as possible, or at least changes them to
something silly, but he did neither this time... 4/12
> 10. Bob - okay, I admit it, the first time I heard this Bob Dylan style
> parody, I didn't even realize that the entire lyrics (as well as the
> title) were all palindromes....with Bob Dylan, most of his songs are
> nonsense anyway. I really really like this song. It's really catchy, fun
> to sing along to, and Al's got Dylan's voice perfect. 10/12
You complain that Al ripped of Luke Ski in the last song but don't
mention TMBG's I Palindrome I in this song? And if you search for
palindromes in any search engine, you can find websites with lists of
all these palindromes. I bet that's what Al did so not much work went
into the lyrics. Anyone could've made this song... 2/12
> 11. Ebay - Okay, I hate to admit it, but I like this song. I could have
> guessed back in 2000 that the Backstreet Boys would be on the next
> album, but by 2002 I thought they were too "over with" for Al to still
> want to do them, but Al was really clever with putting this song
> together, and he didn't even go with the making-fun-of-boy-bands angle
> that we were all expecting. Not A++, but still positive feedback. 7/12
Yeah this song is kinda like the Phony Calls and The White Stuff type of
song... A parody of a really crappy annoying song with cheesy lyrics. 5/12
> 12. Genius in France - a Frank Zappa tribute...about time!!! I guess
> this would be the Alburquerque part 2, but it's just as fun and zany,
> and gets the Zappa style totally tight. The meaning of the song
> is.....not that interesting, but then again, neither were any of Frank's
> songs. It's a long one, but never gets repetative or boring. There are
> so many great segments, that I can't pick a favourite....okay, I guess
> I'm gonna go with the "little more to the left boys" part. Plus more
> accordion!!! 11/12
Ummm Frank Zappa songs does write interesting songs... Anyway, yeah,
this song rocks! This was the most impressive weird al song I've ever
heard. He got Frank Zappa down PERFECTLY! The weird time signature
changes, the crazy vibraphone and guitar playing, the deep voice
harmonies, the deep whispering... Man, this song was great! 9/12
> Yeah, this album is pretty good if you don't mind sitting by the cd
> player to skip over a couple of songs (and the fast forward button for
> Complicated). It REALLY REALLY relies on most of the originals to hold
> it strong. None of the parodies are really THAT memorable compared to
> the originals...this may be the album that proves to the general
> population that Al can write his own songs just as well as he can
> parody. Am I going to run out and buy it first thing on Tuesday like
> everyone else who got a free preview of it claims they will do?
> No.......I'll wait 'til next Thursday.
>
> --
> -Richard E Green
> #161
>