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 More Fun Than the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota Nov 20, 2009
The disappointment in realizing that WAY decided not to include "Ricky", his first Hot 100 hit and a double parody of "Mickey" and "I Love Lucy", is more than offset by the 38 funny tunes that are here. I've played "Your Horoscope For Today" about ten times and laughed out loud every time. I'm also glad to have "White and Nerdy" since I am very old and allergic to (legal or illegal) downloading. Overall the funniest CD since "Britney Spears: The Singles Collection" and you need to buy it, especially at the lovely current Amazon price of (deleted in case it changes someday).
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Definitely not comprehensive Nov 12, 2009
I agree with Brad Beahm - "The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic" is missing too many key songs to be truly comprehensive. Beside the tracks Brad already pointed out, how can you have a compilation without the hysterical "Christmas At Ground Zero"? (And where's "Ricky" and "King of Suede"???)
Neophytes should be directed to acquire ALL of Al's albums, unless they really, truly, only want ONE of his albums. All others proceed with caution.
Great overview of a great career Nov 09, 2009
Before buying this CD, I was familiar with most of Weird Al's hits, but there were many songs on this collection that I had never heard. Every track here is funny as hell. It's amazing that he has managed to stay on top of his game for so many years. His most recent material ranks right up there with his great 80's material. "Trapped in the Drive Thru" and "Ebay" are as good as anything he's ever done.
Since pretty much all of his hits have been song parodies, I wasn't aware of how many great originals he had done. Some, such as "One More Minute", don't really sound like anybody else, but there are several original songs here that sound exactly like a certain artist, but they're not parodies of a particular song. For example:
"Dare To Be Stupid" sounds exactly like Devo.
"Trigger Happy" and "Pancreas" sound exactly like the Beach Boys.
"Dog Eat Dog" sounds exactly like Talking Heads.
"Bob" sounds exactly like mid-Sixties Dylan, with the added bonus that every line is a palindrome!
And his great song parodies are pure genius. I especially love "Bedrock Anthem", "The Saga Begins", "Ebay", "Trapped in the Drive Thru", "Amish Paradise", "Smells Like Nirvana", "I Lost on Jeopardy", and my all-time favorite Weird Al song, "Like A Surgeon."
This is a great collection. There's nobody else like Weird Al. Some artists have succeeded with the occasional funny song. Bloodhound Gang has had a few great songs, but they're not in the same league. Nobody else in my lifetime has had such a long, brilliant career doing comedy songs. As the liner notes quite seriously state, Weird Al Yankovic absolutely belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
An Amazing Collection Nov 06, 2009
I wish i could say I was an old school weird Al fan, but I'm nowhere near old enough. I can say that I was a fan before the huge White and Nerdy wave swept over my school. There is a great selection of songs on here. Of course it covers all the major singles like Eat it,Like a Surgeon,Amish Paradise,White and Nerdy,and the very old, Another One Rides the Bus. This song, going by his behind the music, was originally recorded in a bathroom in his college.
I saw another reviewer bring up the exclusion of Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies. This does suck because otherwise you'd have to get it on the UHF album. This album had very few highlights and is only really good if you a big fan of the UHF movie. Which you should be because that movie was awesome and would have been a big hit if Indy Jones hadn't also come out. But that's just my opinion. This is a great album for new fans of Mr. Yankovic, especially at a price of 14 bucks for 38 songs.
Musical icon Oct 31, 2009
I like to think of myself as an "original" Weird Al fan. I was in middle school when his first albums were released and I've kept up with him since. I also think he is one of the most under-appreciated artists of the last thirty years. Not only are his lyrics clever and funny, but he (and his band) do spot-on covers of the tune and style of the artists being parodied. That he can transition from Tony Basil to Nirvana to Coolio to Michael Jackson to Don McLean to James Brown to Queen (and so on) seemingly without missing a mark is astounding.
The fact that he has outlasted many of the acts whom he has parodied is a testament to his genius. Is this the "perfect" collection? Probably not. However, I do believe it more than lives up to the name "essential". Just as an X-Men movie is going to leave out someone's favourite superhero, a two-disc set culled out of 12 studio albums is going to omit some fans' faves. For me, these include "Jerry Springer", "Midnight Star", "Trigger Happy" and a handful of others.
Although I imagine most hardcore Weird Al fans will have no use for this set to expand their collections, it is a good start point for casual fans or for someone who may not know who Weird Al is.
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