Writer on the Alpocalypse

After many years, "Weird Al" Yankovic is back with a brand new album, Alpocalypse. Even though it's been a while, Weird Al has never gone far; he's constantly keeping up with the times and evolving to parody whatever the music of moment is.

Frankly, he's quite a bit more current with music than I am. He performs nearly half a dozen parodies on this album, but I'd only ever heard the original version of one: Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." (Which in his version becomes a comment on Gaga herself, "Perform This Way.") The parodies of Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and two hip hop artists? Well, they're funny songs for sure -- especially "Party in the CIA," which juxtaposes some seriously dark lyrics onto a bubblegum pop melody. But the parody itself was mostly lost on me.

Fortunately, Weird Al albums have never been just collections of parody songs. Half of each of his albums are always original tunes, often done in the style of a famous artist, though not a direct take on any one of their songs. I've often found those the be the highlights of a Weird Al album, and that's definitely the case here.

There's "Craigslist," a wonderfully spot-on embodiment of a song by The Doors. "CNR" is a White Stripes-style song that's basically chock full of Chuck Norris jokes... except that "Chuck Norris" becomes Charles Nelson Reilly.

Two songs on the album land well because they're about the kind of person that everybody knows. "Ringtone" is about a guy with an obnoxious cell phone ringtone. Better still is the closing track on the album, "Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me," a heartfelt plea to someone who sends every random bit of junk e-mail along to every person they know.

But the real gem on the album, in my opinion, is "Skipper Dan." It's a song about a washed-up actor who now drives a boat on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disney. Yes, I'm sure the extra laughs I get from this have a lot to do with my recent experience on the actual ride itself. But I think I'd still find it funny and clever in any case. The fact that it includes actual references to the real ride is just icing on the cake.

I'd rate the album a B+. It's not Weird Al's best, but it's still solid enough to show that even after 30 years, he's as talented, funny, and relevant as he ever was.