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Running With Scissors
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Volcano, 1999
REVIEW BY: Benjamin Ray
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/09/2005
On one hand, I don't think anybody took "Weird Al" Yankovicseriously after 1997. On the other hand, since it's Weird Al, thatreally doesn't matter.
Most people of my generation were first exposed to Al when"Amish Paradise" came out, and many of liked the irreverent lyricsset to songs we knew and liked. So when Running With Scissors came out, we eagerly picked it up andhoped for the best.
The problem is, Al and his band perfectly recreate the originalsongs and lavish production on the originals, meaning the popculture references in the songs and the songs themselves arealready outdated. It's good to hear parodies of Nine Inch Nails,Don McLean (sounds like a burger), Barenaked Ladies, and TLC, butthose bands were popular in the early 90's (except McLean), andthis came out in 1999.
Any Weird Al album divides into originals and covers. Here, theoriginals far outweigh the covers, with "Germs," "My Baby's in Lovewith Eddie Vedder" and "Albuquerque" nicely fitting into theYankovic canon. The latter song is a 12-minute jumble that's onlyfor fans of Frank Zappa or art-rock, but if you have the patienceand like this sort of humor, it's hilarious.
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