Weird Al Yankovic has managed the not-inconsiderable feat of becoming a showbiz institution without really trying. The guy's modus operandi has barely changed since he put out his first single in 1979 -- singing silly songs with effective punch lines, either over already-familiar tunes or with gimmicky melodies he wrote himself -- but thanks to solid craft, consistent quality, and a likable personality, he's become the unquestioned king of the novelty song, and a major star whose career has had better legs than many of the ...
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Weird Al Yankovic has managed the not-inconsiderable feat of becoming a showbiz institution without really trying. The guy's modus operandi has barely changed since he put out his first single in 1979 -- singing silly songs with effective punch lines, either over already-familiar tunes or with gimmicky melodies he wrote himself -- but thanks to solid craft, consistent quality, and a likable personality, he's become the unquestioned king of the novelty song, and a major star whose career has had better legs than many of the acts he's parodied. Given all this, it's only fitting that Weird Al has received one of the greatest of all celebrity accolades, the wildly inaccurate biopic, though in this case, Yankovic not only had a hand in creating his own mythic tale, he had the good sense to play it for laughs and made it a lot more entertaining than the truth might have been. (Unless he really did take down Pablo Escobar, in which case, nice work, Al!) Unlike the typical made-for-cable or streaming biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story has been deemed worthy of a soundtrack album, and it sounds like a fairly typical major motion picture OST in the 2020s, mixing pop tunes and interstitial music of various sorts. Weird leads off with re-recorded versions of five of Yankovic's better-known songs (alongside the original recording of "Eat It"), though the new takes are hard to tell from the originals except when they've been changed to suit the needs of the film (like Al's friends spontaneously becoming his backing band midway through "I Love Rocky Road"), along with one new tune, a full-bodied rocker called "Now You Know" that offers a few narrative spoilers if you haven't seen the film. The rest of the album is a mixed bag -- the theme music from Dr. Demento's radio show, some authentic polkas, a dash of Mexican folk music, and plenty of cues from Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson's original score, performed by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Most of Birenberg and Robinson's music plays just enough on the standard tropes of a dramatic film score to work as satire and as straightforward dramatic film music, though they're versatile enough to switch things up for a pool party, an LSD trip, a heavy romantic assignation, or a Doors-like dirge cooked up by Al and his band during a concert gone wrong. The vast majority of Weird Al Yankovic fans are likely to regularly spin the first eight tracks on Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and sample the rest only occasionally, but if you like well-crafted, slightly tongue-in-cheek film music, the rest of the album has its memorable moments, too. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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