Mandatory Fun

I've been a die hard all fan since "running with scissors" which was a cracking album. I think mandatory fun is another great comedy album. Its unfortunate that this appears to be the last full albums worth that all will be distributing (based on various interviews that suggest he will only be realeasing singles and ep's from now on). This may mean more timely releases but I will miss these feature length releases.I must confess having avoided radio and TV for a while, I'm not so familiar with the parodies but the homages are great fun. The only criticisms I can offer is that some of the album does feel a little formulaic and reminiscent of jokes from "poodle hat" and "straight out of Lynwood". Equally the album art and title bear no relevance to any of the tracks. Having said that I'm yet to find an album concept by Al that ever has. Criticism aside that tracks are witty and very well produced, tighter and more densely packed than I have seen Al do before. I look forward to see what the future holds for this great musician.

Weird Al gives us another dose of polka-inspired, accordion-fuelled parodies of some of the biggest hits of the past couple of years, along with a few self-penned takes on certain artists and styles of music. The lyrical content is as high-brow as fans have come to expect(so, accessible is what I'm getting at), and the whole thing is underpinned by the accustomed musicianship and production values.So, like a certain brand of woodstain, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Or it would do if it was in a tin. And it's understood that anything with "Weird Al" Yankovic on will be... well Weird Al.If you're a fan, I doubt you've read this far, and have already ordered. If not, why not give it a whirl? What, you have to choose between buying the album and getting your normal brand champagne, or spending slightly less on an excellent cava? #firstworldproblems

Yet another brilliant parody album and some rather cleverly written original material and even though Mr Yankovic's very funny and at times thought provoking Mandatory Fun he has great vocal range and i just love the musical arrangements on this album. And for all you Polka fans out there you will not be left disappointed ! Excellent production as always, he's music repertoire puts many of his compadres in the shade!

Liked that some of the tracks I did not know are also now starting to grow on me

This guy is the best every album will and has made me laugh for years since 1983 and if you want some real songs and changed into comedy gold buy this and all albums x

Poking fun at popular hits is a skill that Weird Al has never been beaten at. Here, as always, he gets his aim right in the bullseye parodying Lorde, Pharrell Williams, Imagine Dragons and others. Along with these, he has original numbers which are often just as good in their own right, and those borrow the styles of others, too. "My Own Eyes" is in the style of the Foo Fighters, but with ludicrously bizarre lines about odd things he's seen. "Lame Claim To Fame" is another highlight, joking about tenuous links to celebrities. The only one that misses the mark for me is "Mission Statement", where the lampooning of management-speak wears thin after just a couple of verses. It's a shame, because musically it apes Crosby, Stills & Nash to perfection.Another one that stands on its own is "Now That's What I Call Polka" - a hilariously silly medley of songs which often manage to be better than the originals. You'll never hear Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" in the same way again.

Already had the digital version but bought this to get signed when I had the opportunity to meet him earlier this year, another great album from the king of parody.

Hilarious and clever! Even though i do my utmost to avoid the sort of "music" that he is good-naturedly parodying (he's a much more tolerant person than me), this is really funny stuff.

funny, can't wait for next weird al album

Great CD!!

Came well packaged. Works well.

This is Weird Al's 14th (no joke!) studio album, and allegedly his last traditional release. It's also one of the most consistent albums he's ever put out, with no real clunkers (No Larrys, Mimes, or Phony Calls.) You can listen to the entire CD on repeat and never reach for the skip button. Can't say that about many modern releases in any genre. Track by track, there's a lot of good stuff here.Handy - (Parody of Iggy Azalea's "Fancy") - As usual, Al captures the cadence and feel of the original quite nicely, and the lyrics are clever, if not laugh-out-loud funny. Weird decision not to parody the original song's most memorable motif (the "I-G-G-Y" bit), but the "glue-dat" and "screw-dat" moments made me smile. (6/10)Lame Claim to Fame - (Style parody of SCOTS) - This one gave me my first real chuckles on the album. It's a very clever pop-culture-filled recitation of genuinely lame ways to have a brush with celebrity. Nice production values too. (7/10)Foil - (Parody of Lorde's "Royals") - This one is really short, but in a good way. Comedy shouldn't overstay its welcome, and there's no way of making the breakdown portion of the original song be "funny" anyway. The twist halfway through the piece from food to conspiracy theories is rather inspired, and I think I'll have "Aluminum Foy-illl (Foy-illlll!)" in my head for days. Possibly every time I use foil in the future. (8/10)Sports Song - (Style parody of campus fight songs) - If it wasn't for a line in the middle in which the singer admits that the home team isn't that great either, this one would probably get a lot of play at high school and college stadiums. And, maybe it still will! It's kind of awesome. It's not the sort of song you'll want to be in the mood to listen to very often, but to pump you up before some college football, it's great. (8/10)Word Crimes - (Parody of "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke) - Leave it to Weird Al to offer a nearly g-rated parody of the most famous r-rated video of all time. But it works. One complaint about Al is that he doesn't often parody his subjects themselves (with notable exceptions such as Smells Like Nirvana) but rather just writes new, unrelated lyrics to their existing melodies. Sometimes, this can feel lazy (isn't parody supposed to, you know, parody something?) In this case, though, it works beautifully, because all the possible content parodies about the controversial song have already been made, so there's no feeling of missed opportunity. This direction feels fresh. Importantly, Al's version just as catchy as the original, with all the little details and asides you'd expect, and the video will almost certainly be posted on countless Facebook pages for years every time someone makes a grammatical error. (9/10)My Own Eyes - (Style parody of the Foo Fighters) - Whether you love this song might depend a bit on whether you like the specific 90s alternative wall-of-sound style he's using. I do, so I do. As is often the case of Al songs, the lyrics are essentially just a funny bulleted list of unexpected things the singer would prefer to "un-see". But the hook is SO. CATCHY. that I can never listen to it just once. We're talking Frank's 2000" TV-levels of replayability. Favorite song on the album. (10/10)NOW That's What I Call Polka - (Polka medley) - I must admit, I love it when I actually know and can sing along to all the songs in Al's medleys, and this one didn't disappoint. The transitions were excellent (especially into Gangnam Style) and I laughed out loud at "This is Super Awesome!" I missed some of the pacing variety found in some of his other medleys, but that's a minor quibble. (9/10)Mission Statement - (Style parody of Crosby, Stills & Nash) - This track is kind of remarkable. There's nothing funny about any individual phrase, not really, but as a collective whole, it works quite well. The harmony constructions are pitch-perfect (literally and in the parody sense) and it's simply a beautiful song to listen to. No one listens to a Weird Al tune because of the timbre of his voice, and yet this one might find its way into genre playlists of mine that are comedy-free. Nice work here. (8/10)Inactive - (Parody of Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive") - This is a solid parody, good for a Wall-E-esque chuckle, and as is the case of everything else on the album, the production values are flawless. One thing is suffers from is the fact that the song itself is pretty slow-moving, which is always harder for comedy. The lyrics are fine, but the funniest part of the song is the concept, so once you get the concept, there's nothing really more to laugh at. (6/10)First World Problems - (Style parody of Pixies) - Another very funny song. I remember the first time I listened to the album all the way through, I was impressed at the strength of all the originals, even the ones like this one near the end of the album, which traditionally tend to be weaker (not counting the always-strong finale). The lyrics are particularly clever on this one, and it might make you feel a little guilty, in a good way. (7/10)Tacky - (Parody of Pharrel's "Happy") - This is really, really cute and catchy. It might be being released just a tad late to be relevant (now that we've all heard the song a million times), but the clever cameo-studded video certainly should help its staying power. (The video, by the way, is a parody of the 24hoursofhappy project, and is actually quite brilliant.) Well done. (8/10)Jackson Park Express - (Style parody of Cat Stevens) - Only Al could get away with lines such as "I like your boobs" and "I want you inside me" and still have an album suitable for families. If you like the Cat Stevens folky storytelling style, you will almost certainly like this. It's a surprisingly sweet, even wistful song, that takes its time to tell its tale and yet somehow always seems shorter than its nine-minute running time would imply. If this is truly Al's last traditional studio album, it's a fine way to go out. (9/10)And there you have it! A consistent, high-quality, catchy mix of well-produced music that will make you chuckle and smile throughout. Al's humor doesn't try and compete with the explosive-laughter-inducing shock value of, say, The Lonely Island, but it's not stale, either. Weird Al doesn't have to reinvent himself every few years - the music industry already does that, so he can always be relevant just by always adapting his sound to fit modern times. In the age of Youtube, where everyone and their brother can release parodies of popular music within days instead of months, Weird Al will never again have the lock on the parody market he enjoyed in the 80s and 90s. But no one can touch him in the talent of his band, the high production values, and the attention to detail and nuance he brings to his versions. I hope he's doing this for twenty more years.

……歳のせいか元曲をほとんど聞くこともなくなり、パロディを聞いてから「元曲ってどんなんだったっけ」→youtube見ながら爆笑、ということ多し。Sports song, mission statement等、皮肉の利いたオリジナル曲もやたらと出来がよくて困ります。うちの会社も無理やりmission statement作ったけど、どこもそんなもんだよね。先生の20歳も年下ながら嗜好と思考がどんどん硬直化していく自分を見ると、まあ「時代を理解して皮肉くらいは言えるようにしないとね」という先生の偉大さがわかります。個人的には何回聞いても楽しい名盤です。