“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC – “Alpocalypse” LP

This album almost got put off due to hassles with a certain star’s management until a You Tube fueled uprising got things right.  The latest from Al and his band continues their long time satirizing of current pop culture with tongues in cheek and hooks that take on everything from dance pop to garage rock to a big bombastic ballad in their midst.  Whether paying tribute to game show icon Charles Nelson Reilly to mocking horrible ringtones or forwarded e-mail spam, “Weird Al” takes the tracks from the Internet Leaks EP a couple of years back and expands on them, at one point creating a cutting satire that he’s touched at in the past but hasn’t fully reached since his first album almost 30 years ago (let’s say it makes a certain former Disney pop princess’ hit listenable).  Readers know I’m biased here but “Weird Al” Yankovic’s latest album (and first to come out on vinyl in nearly two decades) is a funny, sometimes darker than expected, but always tongue and cheek effort that will appeal to longtime fans.  (BOONE)

(Volcano/Sony Music)