Tracks
People who bought this release also bought
This was something of a seminal album in Al's career. He was coming off of Off The Deep End, which featured the Nirvana parody "Smells Like Nirvana", and was a big success. Buy once again, the musical scene was changing. Grunge was on its way out, rap and R&B were on their was in. Al has always been a reflection of the pop culture scene, so when there is a shift, he needs to shift along with it to stay relevant. So if there was a question of whether or not an accordion player from Lynwood could adapt to the current scene, this album was a definitive yes.
The biggest song from this album is Al's parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", entitled "Amish Paradise". There's a wonderful juxtaposition of two entirely opposite cultures, there's the appearance of Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson in the music video, there's a polka singer from Lynwood, California, dressed like an Amish man and singing like a rapper. But the song will love in infamy to Al fans because of the 'battle' between Al and Coolio. Evey time Al does a parody of a song, he asks permission from the artist, or their record company. This isn't a requirement, but it's a gesture on Al's part; Prince has famously turned him down time and again, and Al has never put a Prince parody on his albums. In this case, Al had his record company ask Coolio for permission, and Al was told he said yes. However, in an interview after this album was released, Coolio said that he did not give Al permission, and basically made a thinly veiled threat on Al. This sort of lingered for a while, until one day at a convention, Coolio came up to Al out of nowhere and shook his hand, thus apparently ending the 'feud'. Dramatics aside, it's one of Al's best parodies.
Also on this album is "Gump", a parody of "Lump" by The Presidents of the United States. Al took the song and plugged in the movie Forrest Bump; The Presidents liked it so much, they started combining the two in their live shows, singing "run, run, now Forrest, run" at the bridge, and ending it with "and that's all I have to say about that". It's kind of the ultimate compliment when a band likes your version of their song better than their own.
Around this time, "Waterfalls" by TLC was constantly on the radio. Al chimed in with his version, "Phony Calls", which features a cameo by Bart Simpson, who makes a prank call to Moe's Tavern in the song. Also included is "Syndicated, Inc",a parody of "Misery" by Soul Asylum. These are solid parodies, but nowhere near as good as the two lead songs, which charted at number fifty three and one hundred and two, respectively.
The fifth and final parody for the album (Al generally includes five parodies on every album) is Cavity Search a dental-themed spoof of U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me". Not being a fan of dentists, this isn't my cup of tea, but is nonetheless a quality parody.
Al always includes a polka medley, mashing together song of the day together in polka style, and they have all been pretty great. This one had the "Alternative Polka", featuring the post-grunge alt rock hits of the time, including "Loser" by Beck and "Basket Case" by Green Day.
Also here are seven originals, the best of which is "The Night Santa Went Crazy", a heartwarming Christmas song about Santa snapping and killing everyone in sight. A great companion to his earlier "Christmas at Ground Zero".
Though many of the originals here aren't among his best, there are two all-time parodies, an excellent pools medley plus "Santa" make this a must have. Great for hardcore fans or newcomers.
The biggest song from this album is Al's parody of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise", entitled "Amish Paradise". There's a wonderful juxtaposition of two entirely opposite cultures, there's the appearance of Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson in the music video, there's a polka singer from Lynwood, California, dressed like an Amish man and singing like a rapper. But the song will love in infamy to Al fans because of the 'battle' between Al and Coolio. Evey time Al does a parody of a song, he asks permission from the artist, or their record company. This isn't a requirement, but it's a gesture on Al's part; Prince has famously turned him down time and again, and Al has never put a Prince parody on his albums. In this case, Al had his record company ask Coolio for permission, and Al was told he said yes. However, in an interview after this album was released, Coolio said that he did not give Al permission, and basically made a thinly veiled threat on Al. This sort of lingered for a while, until one day at a convention, Coolio came up to Al out of nowhere and shook his hand, thus apparently ending the 'feud'. Dramatics aside, it's one of Al's best parodies.
Also on this album is "Gump", a parody of "Lump" by The Presidents of the United States. Al took the song and plugged in the movie Forrest Bump; The Presidents liked it so much, they started combining the two in their live shows, singing "run, run, now Forrest, run" at the bridge, and ending it with "and that's all I have to say about that". It's kind of the ultimate compliment when a band likes your version of their song better than their own.
Around this time, "Waterfalls" by TLC was constantly on the radio. Al chimed in with his version, "Phony Calls", which features a cameo by Bart Simpson, who makes a prank call to Moe's Tavern in the song. Also included is "Syndicated, Inc",a parody of "Misery" by Soul Asylum. These are solid parodies, but nowhere near as good as the two lead songs, which charted at number fifty three and one hundred and two, respectively.
The fifth and final parody for the album (Al generally includes five parodies on every album) is Cavity Search a dental-themed spoof of U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me". Not being a fan of dentists, this isn't my cup of tea, but is nonetheless a quality parody.
Al always includes a polka medley, mashing together song of the day together in polka style, and they have all been pretty great. This one had the "Alternative Polka", featuring the post-grunge alt rock hits of the time, including "Loser" by Beck and "Basket Case" by Green Day.
Also here are seven originals, the best of which is "The Night Santa Went Crazy", a heartwarming Christmas song about Santa snapping and killing everyone in sight. A great companion to his earlier "Christmas at Ground Zero".
Though many of the originals here aren't among his best, there are two all-time parodies, an excellent pools medley plus "Santa" make this a must have. Great for hardcore fans or newcomers.