Customer Reviews

In 3-D

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

So... In 3-D. A very good Al-bum with six really good songs, three mediocre/bad ones and two pretty good ones.

1. Eat It - 5/5. Classic. Nuff said
2. Midnight Star - 5/5. Hilarious song about a tabliod newpaper. Contains the immortal line: "They're keeping Hitler's brain alive inside a jar". Good tune, also.
3. Brady Bunch - 4/5. I can relate to this one.
4. Buy Me A Condo - 2/5. Ok, at best
5. I Lost On Jeopardy - 5/5. Another great one. Music video is very funny.
6. Polkas On 45 - 5/5. One of his best polkas. Al creates polka versions of classic rock songs.
7. Mr. Popeil - 1/5. Every Al-bum has one of these.
8. King Of Suede - 4/5. Funny Police parody.
9. That Boy Could Dance - 3/5. Okay.
10. Theme From Rocky VIII (Rye Or The Kaiser) - 5/5. Great parody of the Rocky films, and another great food song.
11. Nature Trail To Hell - 5/5. Hilarious satire on those stupid teen slasher films. A great epic (six minutes in length) with cool music and a hilarious backwards line: "Satan eats Cheez Wiz". People who find this offensive and potty-mouthed, should either get a life, or watch a Quentin Taratino film, whatever comes first.

So, this is worth buying for: "Eat It", "Midnight Star", "I Lost On Jeopardy", "Polkas On 45" "Theme From Rocky VIII (Rye Or The Kaiser)", and "Nature Trail To Hell".

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.

This was "Weird Al's" breakthrough album. This was the first album to feature Al's touring band of guitarist Jim West, bassist Steve Jay and drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz. The album opens with Al's biggest hit, "Eat It". There are four other great parodies of then recent hits, including the chart singles "King of Suede" and "I Lost on Jeopardy". Al also wrote five funny original songs on this album. "Midnight Star" is a hilarious song about tabloid newspapers. "Buy Me a Condo" is a reggae song about a Jamaican trying to assimilate in America. "Mr. Popeil" is a funny song about the creator of Veg-a-matic and many other "as seen on TV" products (Popeil's daughter actually sings background vocals on this song). "That Boy Could Dance" is about a dorky guy who was a good dancer, and it's probably my least favorite song on the album (but still pretty good). "Nature Trail To Hell" is a great song that is a parody of horror movie trailers. The album also features Al's first polka style medley of rock songs, "Polkas on 45". He continued to do a polka medley on virtually all his albums. This is a great album that Al's fans will love.

"Now how much would you pay?"

While this is Al's second album, it's the one that launched his career, thanks to that notorious hit "Eat It". Fortunately, this is no one hit wonder. The Police get 'sent to the cleaners' as it were with "King of Suede", and in a bizarre twist of musical fate, we find out that you can actually sing the theme from "The Brady Bunch" to the tune of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance".

Most of the public seems to be unaware that Al doesn't just do parodies. Five tracks are completely original, emphasis on original. After all, who else could write "Buy Me A Condo", a reggae celebration of suburbia? Who else would pen "Midnight Star", a salute to those wacky tabloid headlines? And of course, my personal favorite from this album, "That Boy Could Dance". Sort of a Weird Al version of the Ugly Duckling. But one that definitely makes you want to get up and join that boy. In dancing I mean. Now, they're not all fabulous. "Mr. Popeil" (extolling the virtues of Ronco products; if you don't know the name, you're lucky) is kind of bland and "Nature Trail to Hell" just doesn't seem to know when to end.

And finally, it should be noted that In 3-D begins Al's tradition of polkas with "Polkas On 45". For those of you unfamilliar with the Yankovic oeuvre, "the polkas" refer to the medley of pop songs set to accordion a la Hooked on Classics.

True, the lyrics are silly, but Al has a great band backing him up and the music is sure to get you moving. Now get moving and check it out.

Just wanted to let you guys in on a little secret I discovered:

Way back when this album came out (and I was 13), there was a lot of talk in the media about bands using "backwards masking" - the technique of putting backwards messages into music - to send secret subversive messages to their listeners. The Religious Right/Southern Baptists made a HUGE deal out of this (of course), claiming that metal bands were putting backwards-masked Satanic messages on their albums to recruit fair, young Christians down the dark path! There wasn't a shred of truth to the claims (isn't lying a "sin" or something . . ?), and in the end all the Jesus-Freaks' bellowing accomlished was to make Ozzy Osbourne a household name and a VERY rich man - idiots!

Anyway, Al makes fun of the Religious Right's album-burning dementia by inserting his own "Satanic" backwards message in "Nature Trail to Hell"!

Listen to "Nature . . ." again - hear that low, mumbled voice after the guitar solo? If you play it backwards (which I did by spinning the album backwards on dad's turntable - remember those?) that mumbling turns into Al's voice as he manacingly declares, "SATAN EATS CHEEZ WHIZ! " Hysterical!

To all the fanatics and whiners who have a problem with this:

PLEASE TRY TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF HUMOR! IF YOU THINK YOUR KIDS WOULD BE WARPED BY "NATURE TRAIL TO HELL" (forwards or backwards) THEN YOU HAVE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A KID - CALM DOWN! JEEZ!

"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.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic,commonly known as "Weird Al",had a contract to fulfill so less than a year after the release of his self-titled debut,he put out IN 3-D. The title is mentioned on the track NATURE TRAIL TO HELL,a Yankovic original. Here are more parodies and spoofs which include Yankovic paying homage to his idol Michael Jackson with EAT IT,another food song with lyrics by Yankovic and the music from Jackson's self-penned smash BEAT IT. MIDNIGHT STAR is about a fictitious tabloid very much like the real NATIONAL ENQUIRER and GLOBE. THE BRADY BUNCH is one I always loved. The parody of Men Without Hats' THE SAFETY DANCE tells about the ABC 1969-74 hit sitcom THE BRADY BUNCH and conflict over television("there's only one set so whatever you watch,well you know I gotta watch it too."). Other Yankovic originals include BUY ME A CONDO,MR. POPEIL and THAT BOY COULD DANCE. Another television parody is I LOST ON JEOPARDY,with music from the Greg Kihn Band's (OUR LOVE'S IN)JEOPARDY. We see in the video,Al as a contestant on the real game show,still hosted by Alex Trebek. Al is physically evicted from the studio. The track features a vocal appearance by Don Pardo,the overall announcer for NBC's Saturday Night Live. However,Yankovic does polka-style covers of non-satirical hit songs so POLKAS ON 45 features a medley of songs like hits from Devo,The Who and others. KING OF SUEDE is in no way associated with food or television,but is associated with jackets and suits. The parody features music from Sting's KING OF PAIN. What about THEME FROM ROCKY XIII? In reality,there were only five. The parody of Survivor's hit song EYE OF THE TIGER,featured in the 1982 Sylvester Stallone film ROCKY III,tells about a guy who owns and operates a bakery-deli. This track could also be entitled "The Rye or the Kaiser",in sync to EOTT. This album was released on Rock and Roll Records,a subsidiary of both Scotti Brothers(Survivor's label) and CBS.

I remember quite clearly the first time I heard this song. I was out on my early morning walk with "In 3-D" in my walkman. The whole album was really great and then it came to the last song...okay, all you Moms out there, it is loud and it is morbid, but, it is funny as all get out. I did not find it "profane" as another reviewer said, just funny. I don't have a problem with the kids listening to the song, but you will have to make your own judgement, right? As with "Midnight Star," "Jerry Springer," "Talk Soup," and so many other songs from all his albums, he is simply poking (gentle) fun at things which are stupid, immoral, or "crude, rude, and vile," but popular. There are always lots of movies around like "Nature Trail to Hell" and they always seem to be aimed at kids and teens. If Weird Al wants to laugh at them, and get us laughing too, then I think that's a good thing. Just my two cents.

Definitely among the top 5 "Weird Al"-bums. Classic Al from the 80's and some great genre parodies!

With this album, Al moves beyond the poorly produced novelty songs of his debut and shows his true colors as the king of parodies and original wackiness. What really shines through is Al's energy and enthusiasm.

The highlights are:

-"Midnight Star": An original song that contains hilarious headlines from tabloid newspapers set to a piano-pop melody.
-"Buy Me A Condo": Which is a hilarious retrospective of suburban status symbols from the 80's, as a rasta-man becomes "white bread".
-"Mr. Popeil": A bouncy B-52's style song where Al whines out tag lines from infomercials, with great backing vocals by Ron Popeil's daughter.
-"That Boy Could Dance": A catchy saxophone-laced story about a nerd whose only talent is that he can dance.
-"Theme from Rocky VIII": It's amazing how Al actually managed to predict how the series would end up in "Rocky V" and "Rocky Balboa", which kind of takes the humor out of the song listening to it now.
-"Nature Trail To Hell": This is where Al's talents as a songwriter and composer really shine through, funny and complex.

Buy this album, it will keep you tapping your toes while you laugh along.