Listen Mr. General Q. Public, this "Weird Al" guy is NOT going to go away!!! After the sucess of Off Te Deep End, Al takes us to Alapolooza.

The title is not just a parody of "Lalapolooza" but the album itself is a sort of Lalapolooza had it not been done by Al. The amount of direct and style parodies truely make this like a gathering of different artists.

Amounst the style parodies are the distinct sounds of AC/DC, R.E.M., Prince, and Peter Gabriel. There's even a polka-ized cover of Queen's version of Bohemian Rapshody! Al's headlining parodies take us to far away and strange places, Jusrassic Park in the song of the same name and the city of Bedrock in Bedrock Anthem.

Even with all this variety, Alapolooza has a fatal flaw- there is something in the mixes of every song that makes it every song sound identical in certain places. Another fatal flaw is the song She Never Told Me She Was A Mime, which sounds WAY too much like Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White for comfort. However, if you take into consider the lyrics, which are fantastic, the album is not a failure.

Despite the overall mix, this is a good album.

Compleat reviews for individual songs are listed here

[written in July 1999 especially for this site]