Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

「Eat It」(「今夜はビート・イット」のパロディ)でおなじみ、アル・ヤンコビックの伝記映画『Weird: The Al Yankovic Story』のオリジナル・サウンドトラック 主演(アル・ヤンコビック役)は、ダニエル・ラドクリフ(ハリー・ポッター)!

日本でも「Eat It」(「今夜はビート・イット」のパロディ・ソング)でおなじみのアル・ヤンコビック。これまでにリリースしたパロディ・ソングのアルバムは合計1200万枚を超えるセールスを誇るなど、本国アメリカではパロディ音楽の第一人者として常にトップを走り続けており、グラミー賞も過去4度受賞している。この秋、彼の激動の半生を描いた伝記映画『Weird: The Al Yankovic Story』が全米で無料配信され、主演のダニエル・ラドクリフ(ハリー・ポッター)の熱演と捧腹絶倒のストーリーにより、大きな話題となった。
今回発売されるオリジナル・サウンドトラック盤には、彼の代表曲である「Eat It」を始め、「Like a Surgeon」(マドンナ「ライク・ア・ヴァージン」のパロディ)、「My Bologna」(ザ・ナック「マイ・シャローナ」のパロディ)他過去のヒット曲の2022年ヴァージョン、オリジナルの新曲 「Now You Know」、Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinsonによるオーケストラのスコア曲等、盛りだくさんの全46曲を収録。

Weird Al Yankovic has managed the not-inconsiderable feat of becoming a showbiz institution without really trying. The guys modus operandi has barely changed since he put out his first single in 1979 -- singing silly songs with effective punch lines, either over already-familiar tunes or with gimmicky melodies he wrote himself -- but thanks to solid craft, consistent quality, and a likable personality, hes become the unquestioned king of the novelty song, and a major star whose career has had better legs than many of the acts hes parodied. Given all this, its only fitting that Weird Al has received one of the greatest of all celebrity accolades, the wildly inaccurate biopic, though in this case, Yankovic not only had a hand in creating his own mythic tale, he had the good sense to play it for laughs and made it a lot more entertaining than the truth might have been. (Unless he really did take down Pablo Escobar, in which case, nice work, Al!) Unlike the typical made-for-cable or streaming biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story has been deemed worthy of a soundtrack album, and it sounds like a fairly typical major motion picture OST in the 2020s, mixing pop tunes and interstitial music of various sorts. Weird leads off with re-recorded versions of five of Yankovics better-known songs (alongside the original recording of "Eat It"), though the new takes are hard to tell from the originals except when theyve been changed to suit the needs of the film (like Als friends spontaneously becoming his backing band midway through "I Love Rocky Road"), along with one new tune, a full-bodied rocker called "Now You Know" that offers a few narrative spoilers if you havent seen the film. The rest of the album is a mixed bag -- the theme music from Dr. Dementos radio show, some authentic polkas, a dash of Mexican folk music, and plenty of cues from Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinsons original score, performed by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Most of Birenberg and Robinsons music plays just enough on the standard tropes of a dramatic film score to work as satire and as straightforward dramatic film music, though theyre versatile enough to switch things up for a pool party, an LSD trip, a heavy romantic assignation, or a Doors-like dirge cooked up by Al and his band during a concert gone wrong. The vast majority of Weird Al Yankovic fans are likely to regularly spin the first eight tracks on Weird: The Al Yankovic Story and sample the rest only occasionally, but if you like well-crafted, slightly tongue-in-cheek film music, the rest of the album has its memorable moments, too. ~ Mark Deming