Al has said that this is his best album to date and indeed it is his most audacious, as Al delves into new realms of his creativity and serves it up to the world in the form of his newest album "Running With Scissors."

His latest creation is more mature, with a sense of rebellion to it. When Al was working with CBS on his short-lived series "Thw Weird Al Ahow," it became a cause of great creative constrain, because CBS wanted the show to a be a children's sow and morally based. They placed many limits on Al's creative genius and this Album is the answer to those limits: he breaks the rules previously enforced on him and tests the boundaries of the ones he's given himself with songs lke "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi," "Truck Drivin' Song," and "Jerry Springer."

But if you think Al is going to go all irresponsibly wild and cast off all of his roots on us, you're absolutely WRONG!! Al retains his old formulas of comedy in "The Saga Begins," "My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder," and "Grapefrruit Diet."

And it's not just the music that's changed; Al sports his "new look" in the publicity and album photos. In January of 1998, Al had laser surgery to correct his vision so he no loger needs glasses. You'll also notice that Al is without a mustache- no he didn't use Nair, he just shaved it off.

Whether you're a new fan or a 20-yr veteran, this is the Al-bum to have!

Compleat reviews for individual songs are listed here

[written in July 1999 especially for this site]