The world is a better place thanks to his 40-plus-year run! Although Weird is a hybrid of several previous singles Al released intertwined with newer material (for 1983), it remains a great album. The five parodies present have held up like their originals which is better than many others he would do from then on. Well, the parodies remain good. The original artists…sadly, a good number only get brought up on Where Are They Now? shows if VH-1 still makes original programming. The seven compositions Al made remain awesome and timeless.
My high school friend Jon first brought it to my attention in 1986 when he scored it on tape along with Al’s other two albums. How we played all three to death and sang the lyrics aloud. It helped make life in North Dakota survivable as the boredom was overwhelming. I later bought it on vinyl when I returned to “civilization” and would play a song from it once in a while when I was a DJ at WMUR.
It’s also the only non-soundtrack album he did without his infamous medleys of popular hits, a tradition he instituted on In 3-D.
If you’ve never listened to Al from start to finish. I highly recommend trying. It won’t take long. Due to the limitations of vinyl and the nature of humorous music, you’ll be done in 30 minutes tops. It’s just amusing and fascinating to hear Weird Al when he was getting started. You can hear his potential while the material has a rawer sound courtesy of Rock producer and guitarist Rick Derringer.