Weird Al Yankovic - Poodle Hat
 by Dan Grote

Weird Al Yankovic - Poodle Hat
Label: WAY Moby/Volcano Records
Rating: 
 

Tracks: Couch Potato Hardware Store Trash Day Party At The Leper Colony Angry White Boy Polka Wanna B Ur Lovr A Complicated Song Why Does This Always Happen To Me - (featuring Ben Folds) Ode To A Superhero Bob E-Bay Genius In France - (featuring Dweezil Zappa)

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It’s kind of funny to think that, in a couple of years, Weird Al Yankovic will technically qualify for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s even funnier that Al would technically deserve it, having consistently put out fresh material for the past twenty-some-odd years, with the bulk of his oeuvre going at least gold.

That being said, Weird Al’s tenth album, Poodle Hat, continues the legacy of the parody master’s almost AC/DC-like refusal to evolve. And how can you evolve when each of your albums is patterned around the same six-parody, six-original format? Then again, he’s still funny, so screw evolution.

Weird Al’s last album was four years ago, 1999’s Running with Scissors. Since then, America has experienced the teen pop explosion, the rise and fall of nu metal, and that curious little neo-garage hypefest which seems to have blown over for the time being (with the exception of the White Stripes). Poodle Hat, however, treats the past four years like Lou Pearlman never happened, with the exception of the Backstreet Boys parody “eBay.” Al’s targets this time around include Eminem (“Couch Potato,” for which the white rapper forbid Al to make a video), Nelly (“Trash Day,” easily the album’s funniest song) and Avril Lavigne (“A Complicated Song”). Al also parodies Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” in an ode to Spider-Man.

Then of course, there is the requisite track 5 polka medley. “The Angry White Boy Polka” melds thirteen songs from the nu metal and neo-garage eras, spanning from Kid Rock’s “Bawitdaba” all the way up through the Vines’ “Get Free,” with an odd absence of Linkin Park that could have taken the place of Rage against the Machine’s “Renegades of Funk.”

As for the original tracks, they remain hit and miss. “Hardware Store” and “Party at the Leper Colony” don’t elicit any belly laughs; however, “Wanna Be UR Lover” ends up being funnier than half the parodies; a series of non-sequitur smooth pick up lines patterned around beats meant to emulate Beck’s Midnite Vultures material. Hear Al entice the ladies with lines like “Girl you smell like Fritos, that’s why I’m giving you this hungry stare” and the sing-along mantra “Girl you must be Jamaican, ‘cuz you Jamaican me crazy.”

The album ends with “Genius in France,” Al’s second foray into the ten-minutes-plus jam session. “Genius” is a series of tempo and style changes perhaps meant to show off Al’s long-time backing band’s skill. Their ambition is laudable, but the song itself is not quite as entertaining as last album’s “Albuquerque.” Also, if the album does have an instrumental high point, it’s Ben Folds’ guest piano solo on “Why Does This Always Happen to Me?”

VERDICT: Fans of Weird Al will not be disappointed by Poodle Hat. But then again, it’s not like Weird Al can really change his formula too much to attract new fans or disappoint old ones. It’s either funny to you or it’s not. That’s pretty much all you can say.