Review of Weird Al Yankovic’s, Mandatory Fun

It’s been over 3 years and the return of the Prince of Parody has returned. Mandatory Fun is exactly what it says it is. Although this maybe the last conventional album Weird Al releases due to the conclusion of his record contract, he will continue in the digital media spectrum. So with this being the final conventional album release I think he again captures the magic he’s had throughout his 32 year run.

I have been a fan of Weird Al Yankovic since I was about 8 years old, being 28 now I enjoy and am constantly amazed by what this band can do. My first albums of his were Greatest Hits, The Food Album and the TV Album…all on cassette tapes. Now Al having released Mandatory Fun only days ago, I have discovered a new gem in the treasure chest that is his work.

The tracks in this album include:

01 “Handy”
02 “Lame Claim To Fame”
03 “Foil”
04 “Sports Song”
05 “Word Crimes”
06 “My Own Eyes”
07 “NOW That’s What I Call Polka!”
08 “Mission Statement”
09 “Inactive”
10 “First World Problems”
11 “Tacky”
12 “Jackson Park Express”

Some of my personal favorites so far are, “Handy”, “Tacky”, “Foil”, and “Word Crimes”. Each album of his I’ve enjoyed for different reasons and disliked particular songs for various reasons. Having heard many of these song’s original version play on the local radio station more times than I care to count, I disliked them. However Al has this unique ability to make me just love his versions of these songs. If I had to choose a favorite on this album it would have to be “Word Crimes”. My reasoning for this is that I am constantly proof reading other people’s works, spelling and grammatical errors. Am I perfect? Not by any means. But this song resonates with me for those reasons, in addition to the tune that goes with it.

On the day of this albums release, Al launched a campaign to play ONE music video per day for eight days in a row. It started with “Tacky”, which features guest stars ranging from, Jack Black, Kristen Schaal, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, and Aisha Tyler—plus Al. The fact Al has A list people showing up in this is awesome. Be sure to stay tuned over the next six days to see the rest of the music videos.

All in all I think this is a great send off for the traditional disc releases for Al and opens up the future to more Mandatory Fun.