Customer Reviews

Even Worse

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On his first four albums "Weird Al" Yankovic fell into something of a rut. Perhaps it was the demands of putting out one album a year for four straight years, but when the best song on a "Weird Al" album is the polka medley, that is not a good sign. So after skipping a year Yankovic made his first "comeback" in 1988 with "Even Worse." There were those who thought it was dangerous for "Weird Al" to go back to another parody of Michael Jackson again after the success of "Eat It," but funny is funny and that is the bottom line in the musical satire business. With "Even Worse" Yankovic adds the movie cover parody to his repertoire, proving that if a curly haired guy wearing classes and a thin mustache dresses up with the King of Pop it is going to get a laugh. Of course, "Even Worse" plays well off of "Bad" as a title as well and this is one of those albums where a lot of sales can be traced to the successful music video.

"Even Worse" was the best "Weird Al" album to date. After his self-title debut album Yankovic put together his own band and while the accordion still announced its presence with authority (e.g., "Lasagna"), a key element in his musical satires was that the music sounded as good as the original; only the words had been changed, to humorous effect. With this fifth album the key lesson "Weird Al" learned was that he did not have to look at the current Billboard charts for this targets. The inspiration for "I Think I'm a Clone Now" might come from contemporary scientific speculation, but the song goes back to Tommy James & the Shondells (with a retro fit from Tiffany) and is a clear example of where Yankovic's effort is better than the original. Yankovic is a master of irony, shown by combining the music of the Beastie Boys with that subtle dance of teenage sexuality "Twister." Yes, the title of "This Song is Just Six Words Long" is proven untrue by the time you get to the end of that first line, but lampooning George Harrison's final hit is just another piece of evidence that there are no sacred cows in the "Weird Al" universe.

The other important change that we find in the songs on "Even Worse" is that for the first time there are a couple of pretty good original songs by Yankovic. "Good Old Days" is dead on in the style of James Taylor while "Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White" is as funny as the parodies. The only thing that stops "Even Worse" from grading out at a straight 5 is that it is missing a polka medley, but even at 4.5 it is clearly the best "Weird Al" album to date and I have to round up to distinguish it from his earlier efforts.

I remember playing some Weird Al for my friends at college. We had just finished listening to one tape (yes, cassette) and they were surprised how much they liked it and wanted to hear more. "Well," I said, "I only brought one other with me, and it's Even Worse". When they realized I was referring to the title, everyone bust out laughing. Funny how juxtaposition can be hilarious.

Of course, that's what makes great parodies, such as turning the latin sounds of "La Bamba" into the Italian "Lasagna". Or even better, "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", whose repetitive lyrics about how hard it is to actually write a song joyfully deflates its inspiration "(Got My Heart) Set on You".

The original songs are fun as well. A song about a "Velvet Elvis" is odd enough, but to set it to music remniscent of The Police? And I know I'm probably in the minority, but "You Make Me" is so offbeat I have to love it ("When I'm with you I don't know whether I should study neurosurgery or go and see the Care Bears movie"). My only complaint is that there's no polka medley!

If you're not too sure about this whole "Al thing", give this album a listening, it doesn't have any major hits, but it'll give you a good feel for the man. If you're an Al fan, you've already got this one. Right?

I would have to say Al's best album is his first, self-titled one (although despite all its bashing "Polka Party" must be high simply because it includes "Living With a Hernia," easily his greatest achievement), but this is not bad at all. I have yet to hear a Weird Al album that rates lower than five stars, and this album, despite having a couple low points, would be top rated if all it had on it was "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long." Here's a breakdown of the songs:

Fat--What can be said? This is not as good as "Eat It," but has the distinction of being the only song that can claim to be the "second by the same artist that Al has covered." To date, he has yet to send up anyone other than Michael Jackson on more than one song. Rather surprising, considering the plethora of parodiable songs over the years.

Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White--This is way to long, and could be lost without significant loss to the album as a whole. Typical surrealism for an Al original.

(This Song's Just) Six Words Long--Absolutely died laughing the first time I heard this. It is a dead-on slap in the face of the Quiet Beatle, and the lyrics are not much more inane than the original they cover...in fact, they sound like the thoughts that must have been running through the writer's head when he penned it.

You Make Me--This gets even weirder than the second song, and sets the stage for all the originals on the album with its insane lyrics and hyperactive pace.

I Think I'm A Clone Now--I've never heard the original this satirizes but what would be the point? Like "Like a Surgeon," there is no way the original could be as good (I've often found this to be the case with Al).

Lasagna--Parody of "Labamba," which was stupid in and of itself, but it's good to hear the accordian again.

Melanie--This song could have been so much better, with an average of one funny line in an entire four-line section and a very drawn-out ending. For my money, the best Weird Al song about unrequited/lost love is "You Don't Love Me Anymore," which piles on the insanity and also keeps a straight face with much better results than this one. Look upon this as practice.

Alimony--Hands down one of his best parodies, a perfect slap at whiny divorced women who take their exes to the cleaners in such a way. Okay, not always the case, but its still a funny song; lighten up, will ya?

Velvet Elvis--I could have sworn this was a Police rip-off, but now I see it's just "in their style." Anyway, it isn't very good, and when I burned this CD for myself I left it (and the next song) off.

Twister--I told you, I left it off.

The Good Old Days--People should know by now that Al's sense of humor is very sick when he lets it be. Bashing a nice guy's head in is typical, and while it is not his best "sick" song ("Christmas at Ground Zero" has to take that prize) it is still quite funny. Face it, folks, death and physical pain are really funny in the proper context (Mel Brooks once said "Tragedy is when I cut my finger; comedy is when YOU walk into an open sewer and die"), and Al has the ability to capture that. Sometimes even physical pain on one's self can be hilarious, believe me, but better when it's someone else. In any case, a dose of sick humor to close out an album is good for the soul.

Buy this album, but don't get mad if every song after the third one sounds grossly substandard by comparison (he must have put "Fat" first so it wouldn't encounter that fate).

"Weird Al" Yankovic's fifth album was "Even Worse". That's not a description of the album's quality, the title (and album cover) is a parody of Michael Jackson's Bad album. If Michael is "Bad", Al is "Even Worse", get it? This was one of Al's best selling albums, mostly due to the popularity of "Fat", a parody of Michael Jackson's hit "Bad". The album features five song parodies, five original songs and a rap version of the "Twister" commercial jingle (spin the spinner, call the shot, Twister ties you up in a knot). There is no polka medley of recent hit songs, which have been most of Al's albums. Most of the songs are very funny. If you like Al, you'll like this.

I Think I'm A Clone Now. THE BEST Weird Al song ever. This has to be my second-favorite album, after Running With Scissors (until Running With Scissors came out, it was my fav). Also, I recommend Dare To Be Stupid and Off The Deep End, those are Weird Al's other two best albums.

Out of all the "Weird Al" Yankovic albums I have, I listen to "Even Worse" the most. I feel that this album has the best parodies that "Weird Al" Yankovic has ever recorded. "Even Worse" contains parodies of Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Tiffany, Los Lobos and Billy Idol. The album parodies songs from the late 1980's. Buy "Even Worse", and recieve the underrated masterwork of "Weird Al". Want to know what the cover looks like? Well, just picture the cover of Michael Jackson's "Bad". Instead of Michael's face on the album cover, picture "Weird Al" Yankovic's face on the cover. Where it says "MICHAEL JACKSON" on the side, picture it saying "'WEIRD AL' YANKOVIC" on the side of the cover, and picture "Even Worse" in spray paint letters where it would say "Bad" in spray paint letters.

"Weird Al" Yankovic took a studio break after the 1986 release of his fourth album POLKA PARTY!. I would assume that he felt he needed it since he put out one album a year between 1983 and '86. Like his self-titled debut,there is no polka medley on this album. However,once again,Al is paying homage to the King Of Pop Michael Jackson with Al's parody FAT,another food song,set to the music of Jackson's self-penned 1987 megahit BAD. Not only that,Al spoofs Jackson in the front cover photo. The only difference is,Al's jacket has many more buckles then the one Jackson wore in the cover photo of his album BAD. Even the FAT video had a nearly equivalent setting. Al wore concealed, inflated bladders in the video so he looked grossly overweight. Yankovic originals include STUCK IN A CLOSET WITH VANNA WHITE(Al pays homage to Pat Sajak's former letter-turning assistant on the hit game show Wheel Of Fortune),YOU MAKE ME,MELANIE,VELVET ELVIS,the rap-flavored TWISTER and the James Taylor spoof GOOD OLD DAYS. This album features parodies of some oldies-but-goodies,like (THIS SONG'S JUST)SIX WORDS LONG with music from Rudy Clark's GOT MY MIND SET ON YOU(later covered by the late ex-Beatle George Harrison),and I THINK I'M A CLONE NOW with music from I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW,made famous by Tommy James & The Shondells in 1966 and Tiffany Renee Darwich in '87. Another oldie that was parodied is LA BAMBA(made famous by the late Ritchie Valens and later covered by Los Lobos and featured in the 1987 film of the same title). Al turned it into LASAGNA,an ode to pasta lovers("You gotta taste my lasagna,don't you get any on ya,you sloppy peeg(faking an Italian accent)!"). And another oldie parody,this one entitled ALIMONY,set to the music of another TJ&TS hit recording,MONY MONY(later covered by Billy Idol). This album's title treatment was very much equivalent to BAD. I dedicate VE to the memory of the legendary Elvis Aaron Presley(January 8,1935-August 16,1977). After this album,Al took another studio break,this one much longer which gave him enough time to come up with ideas for his 1992 follow-up,OFF THE DEEP END.

This is the first album where Al parodies the actual album cover of another album in his album design ie Bad by Michael Jackson.

Of course the biggest song of all time is located on this album which is of course Fat (parody of Bad). You will not find a funnier song anywhere else throughout history. This Song's Just Six Word Long (parody of I've got my mind set on you) which is actually seven words long but who cares the song is brilliant, Lasagna (parody of La Bamba), Alimony (parody of Money Money) and I think I'm a Clone Now (parody of I think I'm Alone Now) are other great parodies.

Sensational original songs such as Good Old Days (hilarious tale about a guy remembering his childhood) Melanie (a stalker's tale about a girl he likes), You Make Me (about TV's influence) and Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White (she turned the letters on Wheel of Fortune for those of us outside the USA) along with other songs will keep you laughing.

This is a classic you have to buy it

I really enjoyed this 'Weird Al' album with hillarious songs like Fat, This Song's Just Six Words Long, I Think I'm a Clone Now, and Good Old Days. The rest are pretty good too, but I'd have to say that the two I'll probably never listen to twice on here are Lasagna and Velvet Elvis. Lasagna because I never liked the tune to LaBamba in the first place and Velvet Elvis because it's just plain boring. Other than those two, this is a great must have CD!

This CD as its times but it has its downs to!Fat is great and so is This Song is Just Words Long. I Think I'm a clone now, Lasagna, and Good Old Days are really funny! Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White is kinf of funny but this is not Al's greatest cds!