At last , the long awaiting career-span collection for the parody king of the current generation was finally released. Thinking about it, it is quite amusing that it took over 3 years since his last album to release such compilation.
This double-CD album with 38 tracks, selected by Yankovic himself, is a very good summary of this parody king's long discography - from his debut in 1980's Dr. Demento Show "Another One Ride the Bus" to his latest big hit "White & Nerdy" in 2006. Most of his well-known works are already here in chronicle order, including "Eat It", "Fat", "Yoda", "Like a Surgeon", "Dare to Be Stupid", "Lasagna", "Smells Like Nirvana", "Jurassic Park", "The Sega Begins", "Amish Paradise", "Gump", and "ebay". Practically, there is at least one song from each of Yankovic's albums.
However, this album still has some flaws. Many fans would argue that several favourites are missing such as "Ricky", "Living With a Hernia", "My Bologna", "Headline News", "Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", and "The Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)". The simple reason is that there are too many great songs in Yankovic's catalogue to be fit in mere 2 CDs. But the most obvious flaw is that Yankovic put too many tracks from his 2006 album 'Straight Outta Lynwood'. There are 6 tracks from that single album alone, instead of spare some space for other noteworthy tracks. (Just kick out "I'll Sue Ya" and "Pancreas")
Nevertheless, this album is a really good, compact, overall perspective of the parody king. A good summary for fans and excellent introduction for curious listeners. The only album they, probably, ever need - but not definitive. |