Polka Party [Import]

1. Living WIth A Hernia -- PARODY of James Brown's comeback hit from the Rocky IV soundtrack. Uptempo funk rock with dead-on impressions of the Godfather of Soul which became a big hit. Describes everything you wanted to know about what it's like to have a hernia. So funny, it almost makes you want to have one yourself (hey, I did say "almost").

2. Dog Eat Dog -- Original new wave song in the Talking Heads style, about corporate/office life. Though it's not a parody, in one line, Al borrows from their "Once in A Lifetime" song with "You may tell yourself: This is not my beautiful stapler."

3. Addicted to Spuds -- PARODY of the late Robert Palmer's (RIP) one huge classic rock hit. Al tells of someone he knows who is addicted to anything to do with potatoes, then he does too. Though it was a hit, I don't think there was a video for it.

4. One of Those Days -- A classic original that is reason enough to get this. Rocker about one certain day where everything goes wrong, from losing a sock in the drier, getting tied up and covered with ants, and having nothing but tater tots for dinner again.

5. Polka Party -- The typical polka medley, with songs from 1985 or so, including Papa Don't Preach, Method of Modern Love and Sussudio.

6. Here's Johnny -- PARODY of Debarge's "Who's Johnny," which stays true to the dance/pop of the original. It's about being obsessed with Ed McMahon, the guy who used to announce Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show.

7. Don't Wear Those Shoes -- Good but not great keyboard rock based original. Al says his girl can do anything annoying at all, including "Run your vaccum during my favorite show" or "Lick the middle out of my Oreos," except for wearing a certain pair of shoes. I wonder what was wrong with them.

8. Toothless People -- Pop/rock PARODY of Mick Jagger's "Ruthless People," which will probably make you not want to lose any teeth. "Only can eat things like pudding and apple sauce," goes one of the lines.

9. Good Enough for Now -- One of the few, if any country songs Al ever has done. Mid tempo tune about meeting a girl who is "Almost everything I ever wanted. Not really, but you're good enough for now." It's probably a take-off on country love/breakup songs, and a good one too! Foreshadows "I Was Only Kidding," another original that would come out a few years later.

10. Christmas at Ground Zero -- A hit original which talks about nuclear war on the holiday season. Not one of his best, but good. I hear that several radio stations at the time banned this song due to 'lyrical content.' Although I can see how that would make sense, especially now, people have gotta realize what this song really is...A JOKE!

I do agree, this isn't as strong as it could've been. I think he should've kept maybe 6 of the 10 songs, and waited another several months or so to release it with a couple stronger songs. Maybe he could've saved some of the originals (which wouldn't age, like a parody of a certain song would).

Also, just like DARE TO BE STUPID, there are only 4 parodies here, instead of the usual 5. There were so many good songs at the time he could've parodied too. However, I don't agree it was a bad AL-bum by any means.

"Living With A Hernia", "Living In America", get it? The instrumentation duplication is so perfect, it's as if James Browns' vocals were removed and Al dubbed in--his mimicry of the Godfather of Soul is simply dead-on.

"Dog Eat Dog" is a critique of the soulless and meaningless trappings of the individualistic yuppie corporate mentality is a good idea, but the lyrics and music could've been better. The 80's did produce the corporate worker who thought "I'm not really sure what I do here, and that's fine with me."

How's this, a food song and send-up rolled up in one? "Addicted To Spuds" doesn't replicate the guitar from "Addicted TO Love", but the fuzz guitar's good, as are some puns. "I can't deny/they've got appeal" Appeal, a peel, oooh! The funny part is comparing lyrics: "your belly aches, your teeth grind, some tater tots, will blow your mind, and you don't mind"

Many people have had one of those days, when they just should've stayed in bed, and that's what this song is called, "One Of Those Days" set in a country-rock tone. Leave it to Weird Al to make wacky a familiar situation: "The Nazis tied me up and covered me with ants/and I just spilled toxic waste on my brand new pants/just one of those days."

The title song is...yes, one of those polka medleys and silly noises included, and here's what songs get the Weird Al treatment. Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer", Phil Collins' "Sussudio", Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time", Lionel Richie's "Say You Say Me", Aretha Franklin's "Freeway Of Love", INXS's "What You Need", Rolling Stones' "Harlem Shuffle", Bananarama's "Venus", Janet Jackson's "Nasty", Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus", Tears For Fears' "Shout", and Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach."

"Here's Johnny" is a send-up of El DeBarge's theme song from Short Circuit, "Who's Johnny" and is a song about Ed McMahon, who on the Tonight Show announces the title. Some of McMahon's trademark guffaws are included toward the end of the song. Again, the synths are nearly done to a tee compared to the original.

The up-tempo "Don't Wear These Shoes" is not a send-up of Elton John's "Who Wears These Shoes" despite the title similar. This song has Al saying his girl can do anything, just don't... you know. Anything can include, "lick the middles out of my Oreos, and start laughing when you're drinking milk so it comes out your nose"

"Toothless People" sends up Mick Jagger's "Ruthless People" and this song may not sit well with today's PC times.

"Good Enough For Now" is a twangy country song complete with fiddle and steel guitar. It starts out nice, "I couldn't live a single day without you" he then says "actually on second thought, well I suppose I could." What a left-handed compliment! "You're sort of everything I ever wanted" and other such lines describe the girl he's living with. Adjectives such "almost what I;ve been looking for", "pretty close to", "I'm relatively lucky", "fairly strong" is a contrast to the firm affirmations of love in country songs.

"Christmas At Ground Zero" is the funniest Christmas song I heard until I heard the material from Christmas In The Air. It still gets laughs out of me from the beginning sleigh bells, chimes, the tick-tock, whine of bombs and the atomic bomb explosion.

"It's Christmas at Ground Zero/there's panic in the crowd/we can dodge debris while we trim the tree/underneath the mushroom cloud." Cue air-raid sirens. However, it is a reminder that this was written during the Cold War. Other funny lines: "duck and cover with my yuletide lover under the mistletoe" and "what a crazy fluke, we're gonna nuked. on this jolly holiday." Another candidate song to be played during a nuclear attack, along with Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again."

Rick Derringer produced Polka Party. Although the send-ups are good, 1985 and 1986 produced some bigger hits than the songs Al did, so his selections are kind of questionable. I mean, why not "Manic Monday" or "How Will I Know" instead of the low-charting "Ruthless People"? Still songs like "Living With A Hernia" and "Christmas At Ground Zero" save this kind of, sort of relatively funny collection, which I give 4.5, rounded to 5.