In 3-D

Weird Al Yankovic

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 12, 1991)
• Original Release Date: 1984
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Volcano
• ASIN: B00000HZYC
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,675 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Demented Retromaniac's Dream, February 3, 2000

By	stephanie (somewhere, tx) - See all my reviews

Yes, I'm demented, yes, I'm stuck in the '80s, and yes, I've listened to this album about 3,546,034,002 times, and I think it's one of his best. "Nature Trail to Hell" is ingenius musically. Yes, it's twisted and morbid and has a lot of screaming, but it has the most bizarre instrumentation. I've never heard anything like it before. "The Brady Bunch," a parody of "The Safety Dance" (and '80s classic), is a very unlikely combination, but that's what makes it work. Personally, I think it should've been a single. I can relate to "Midnight Star" because I was a cashier, and when I wasn't checking out customers, I was laughing at the tabloids, which is what "Midnight Star" is mocking. My other favorite is "Polkas on 45" which includes Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (I doubt I spelled that right) and a Devo song who's name I'm not sure of. Call me uncommercial, but I could do without "Eat It," but I'm sure Al would disagree with me. If it weren't for that single, we couldn't call him the "Eat It" guy. Overall, this is a great album, and I think the title, though dated (who wear 3-D glasses anymore?) is great.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch this... I mean listen to this... In 3D!, November 13, 2003

By	Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Weird Al's second album shows him in great form. The food songs, songs on TV, and song send-ups, social commentary, silly lip music, and silly noises, are all there, but there is also featured a Weird Al standard present in nearly every album. I'll get to that later.

"Eat It" is the first Michael Jackson song to be sent up--"Fat" would be done on the Even Worse album. Here though, the booming synths and guitars are replicated by Al's group of musicians instead of the accordion: "Eat it/eat it/get yourself an egg and beat it/have some more chicken have some more pie/it doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried." There's a great approximation to Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo here.

Bright 80's keyboards start "Midnight Star," about the nonsense found in supermarket tabloids, such as one's pets being extraterrestrial and most important, the story of the man born without a head, that the Incredible Frog Boy is on the loose again. I myself wonder what makes people want to read this rubbish in the first place. They can't have much circulation, but if they do, small wonder the average IQ of this country is in double digits.

Al's observations on TV shows and the stunning variety of programmes is a constant theme in his music. "The Brady Bunch," which is a send-up of Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" mentions Mr. Rogers, Three's Company, Barney Miller, MTV, the Addams Family and sundry others before later singing the theme song to the Brady Bunch in the later verse. His comment: "You can watch TV till your eyes fall out of your head" and "television is taking its toll" is a well-known observation on how much TV Americans watch.

"Buy Me A Condo" is Al's poke at reggae, about a Jamaican guy who decides to give up island living, go to New York, cut off his dreads, wallet full of credit cards, get the T-shirt with the alligator on, and basically conform to what Randolph Bourne referred to as the tasteless grey sludge, i.e. the melting pot.

"I Lost On Jeopardy" is another TV song, but this time from the point of view of a game show contestant. Why bother humiliating oneself? As the spoken voiceover says, "You lost and let me tell you what you didn't win: a 20-volume set of the Encyclopedia International, a case of turtle wax, and a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat, but that's not all. You also made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people and you bought shame and disgrace on your family for generations to come. ....You're a complete loser!"

"Polkas on 45" is the first Weird Al polka medley, with accordion, silly noises, taken from key verses from well-known songs and strung together. Here's what he does: Devo's "Are We Not Men: We Are Devo", Deep Purple's "Smoke On the Water", Berlin's "Sex, I'm A...", Beatles, "Hey Jude", The Doors' "L.A. Woman", Iron Butterfly's "In A Gadda-Da-Vida", Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe", Talking Heads' "Burning Down The House", Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", The Police's "Every Breath You Take", The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash", The Who's "My Generation."

"Mr. Popeil" is another TV song, about those commercials introducing those brand new time-saving gadgets, like Vegematics. "Please no CODs, don't miss out on these deals."

"King Of Suede" sends up The Police's "King Of Pain" with a clothing sale motif. Instead of "That's my soul up there" refrain, we get "Is my size up there?"

"That Boy Could Dance" has a great rhythm and some funny lyrics. "Theme From Rocky XIII" is a parody of Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" and with three Rocky movies done by 1984, is a look at a future Rocky Balboa, who "sold his gloves, threw his eggs down the drain", and runs the neighborhood deli. "But you just can't go wrong with the rye... or the Kaiser" goes a sample refrain.

"Nature Trail From Hell" is a song built around a movie trailer for cheesy teen horror films. Al evolves from his debut with silly and funny results. Next up, my personal favourite Weird Al CD, Dare To Be Stupid.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Weird Al" steps up by going after Michael Jackson & Rocky, July 3, 2003

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

"Weird Al" Yankovic's 1984 album "In 3-D" shows a lot of improvement over his debut album from the previous year. Instead of basically featuring Yankovic on accordion backed by whoever was handy (e.g., Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz and Rick Derringer), "Weird Al" actually has his own band this time around. Consequently, his wicked sense of parody remains intact but there is now a music proficiency that makes the songs even better for the simple reason that it is even funnier when the songs "sound" pretty much the same except for the funny lyrics sung by the guy with the weird voice (this is the same attention to detail that Yankovic employs successfully in his best music videos). The effectiveness of this is proven with the very first track, which proved less is more by taking Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and removing one letter to make it "Eat It". In retrospect, "Weird Al" gets added props for being the first one to seriously make fun of Michael Jackson (today everybody does it, but seldom as well). When you listen to the song pay attention to Rick Derringer's guitar solo; when you watch the music video notice that the key dancers/gang leaders are the same dudes from the original. "Weird Al" Yankovic is into making fun of songs, but he takes his craft very seriously.

"In 3-D" also provides the first example of what would become a staple on all future "Weird Al" albums, the polka medley. "Polkas on 45" goes for classic tracks and while it lacks the polish of later efforts the raw intensity of recognizable songs (e.g., "Hey Jude") down at a frenzied pace is either great (my view) or a complete abomination (my wife's view). The best efforts on this album are better than what we had the first time around. To "Eat It" add "The Brady Bunch," which manages to actually work the lyrics from the sitcom's theme song into the melody of Men Without Hat's "Safety Dance," and "I Lost on Jeopardy," while a obviously tack to take with the original, is wickedly funny. The original material here is no better than it was on Yankovic's first album and one advantage of having it on CD is that you are not so much aware that the first side of the album is a lot better than the second side. However, towards the end you do get to "Theme From Rocky XIII" (a.k.a. "The Rye or the Kaiser"), which reaffirms Yankovic's strength in attacking purveyors of pomposity such as Sylvester Stallone. "In 3-D" is a step better than the debut album but not quite worth the extra star.