It is often said in the music industry that an artists' sophomore album is the most important because it solidifies your status in the industry. Well then, by all means, this album did it- it solidifies Al as a Grammy-award winning (his second) likeable parodyist.

It was mainly the single, Beat It, which propelled Al into an overnight instant celebrity. Reaction to the song and its video was so great that MTV invited Al to do a special- his first Al-TV. Al-TVs are very sought-after trade items and are very popular on MTV.

Al debuts his popular polka medley on this album, his first cover, and his first backwards message in a song. One of the songs on the album, Midnight Star, later lent its name ot a fan-run Al fanzine (created by Carlotta Barnes and Pam Ritchie). Sadly, it ran its last issue in August of 1998, but "inquiring minds will always want to know."

The songs on this album do however seems to have a line of similarity to them when listened straight thru, thus making the overall album mix a bit less varied. Nonetheless, each song can and does stand on its own- and most of them quite well I might add.

This album is not a must-get, so if you only know Al as "the 'Eat It' Guy," you'd be better off buying another Al-bum.

Compleat reviews for individual songs are listed here

[written in July 1999 especially for this site]