Straight Outta Lynwood

They see me strollin'…they laughin'
And rollin' their eyes 'cause I'm so white & nerdy.

Weird Al, the parody-and-satiric-mastermind responsible for "Eat It," "Smells like Nirvana," and "Amish Paradise," released a new full-featured album, Straight Outta Lynwood, this past Tuesday. The DualDisc album is filled with 12 new songs, a full half of them parodies of popular tunes from artists ranging from the rock of Green Day to the R&B of Usher.

Fans will be happy to hear that Weird Al's trademark and best-in-the-business parodies are just as good as ever. From "Canadian Idiot," to "White and Nerdy," (a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin") all of the parodies on the album are excellent in quality and genuinely fun music. The songs are mind-bogglingly detailed; many rhyme not only line-to-line within the song, but line-to-line with the original, and many even last for the same duration.

Weird Al's originals on this album are solid filler material between the parodies. I laughed out loud more than once drawing concerned glances from my suitemates. Weird Al here manages to satirize many of the more frivolous aspects of popular culture, while simultaneously imitating and parodying many other bands and genres ranging from "Styx" to holiday songs to grunge rock.

Though the technical quality is excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the songs, I found myself a little disappointed the end of the album. Compared with the sheer freshness and genius of Running With Scissors, this album seemed a little duller. Perhaps it was the abundance of rap and R&B (my two least favorite genres) or the melodies that seemed a tad rehashed. If you like rap or R&B, I imagine you will get more out of this album than I did.

Flip the album over, and you're treated to 5.1 DVD-audio mixes of all the songs on the CD side of the disc. If you're used to stereo, listening in 5.1 is a completely different experience — one that adds another level to the depth of the music.

Also included on the DVD are animations for each of Weird Al's unique songs. These are not good. Four out of six of them sucked so much that they almost ruined some of the songs for me. If I were you, I would look at them more as easter eggs than anything legitimate. I recommend skipping them and just using the DVD side for the sweet 5.1 mix.

I find that as time goes on Weird Al's overall sound becomes more intricate and mature while his songs go from brilliant to OK. Nevertheless, I have found myself laughing, guffawing, and genuinely enjoying each new release. Straight Outta Lynwood is no exception; it is a solid album and a great addition to any collection. I also recommend buying this one in the real world (it's a steal at $12.99 from Wal-Mart), as the iTunes version does not include the 5.1 mix.