Yes, I'm demented, yes, I'm stuck in the '80s, and yes, I've listened to this album about 3,546,034,002 times, and I think it's one of his best. "Nature Trail to Hell" is ingenius musically. Yes, it's twisted and morbid and has a lot of screaming, but it has the most bizarre instrumentation. I've never heard anything like it before. "The Brady Bunch," a parody of "The Safety Dance" (and '80s classic), is a very unlikely combination, but that's what makes it work. Personally, I think it should've been a single. I can relate to "Midnight Star" because I was a cashier, and when I wasn't checking out customers, I was laughing at the tabloids, which is what "Midnight Star" is mocking. My other favorite is "Polkas on 45" which includes Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (I doubt I spelled that right) and a Devo song who's name I'm not sure of. Call me uncommercial, but I could do without "Eat It," but I'm sure Al would disagree with me. If it weren't for that single, we couldn't call him the "Eat It" guy. Overall, this is a great album, and I think the title, though dated (who wear 3-D glasses anymore?) is great.

So... In 3-D. A very good Al-bum with six really good songs, three mediocre/bad ones and two pretty good ones.

1. Eat It - 5/5. Classic. Nuff said
2. Midnight Star - 5/5. Hilarious song about a tabliod newpaper. Contains the immortal line: "They're keeping Hitler's brain alive inside a jar". Good tune, also.
3. Brady Bunch - 4/5. I can relate to this one.
4. Buy Me A Condo - 2/5. Ok, at best
5. I Lost On Jeopardy - 5/5. Another great one. Music video is very funny.
6. Polkas On 45 - 5/5. One of his best polkas. Al creates polka versions of classic rock songs.
7. Mr. Popeil - 1/5. Every Al-bum has one of these.
8. King Of Suede - 4/5. Funny Police parody.
9. That Boy Could Dance - 3/5. Okay.
10. Theme From Rocky VIII (Rye Or The Kaiser) - 5/5. Great parody of the Rocky films, and another great food song.
11. Nature Trail To Hell - 5/5. Hilarious satire on those stupid teen slasher films. A great epic (six minutes in length) with cool music and a hilarious backwards line: "Satan eats Cheez Wiz". People who find this offensive and potty-mouthed, should either get a life, or watch a Quentin Taratino film, whatever comes first.

So, this is worth buying for: "Eat It", "Midnight Star", "I Lost On Jeopardy", "Polkas On 45" "Theme From Rocky VIII (Rye Or The Kaiser)", and "Nature Trail To Hell".

This was "Weird Al's" breakthrough album. This was the first album to feature Al's touring band of guitarist Jim West, bassist Steve Jay and drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz. The album opens with Al's biggest hit, "Eat It". There are four other great parodies of then recent hits, including the chart singles "King of Suede" and "I Lost on Jeopardy". Al also wrote five funny original songs on this album. "Midnight Star" is a hilarious song about tabloid newspapers. "Buy Me a Condo" is a reggae song about a Jamaican trying to assimilate in America. "Mr. Popeil" is a funny song about the creator of Veg-a-matic and many other "as seen on TV" products (Popeil's daughter actually sings background vocals on this song). "That Boy Could Dance" is about a dorky guy who was a good dancer, and it's probably my least favorite song on the album (but still pretty good). "Nature Trail To Hell" is a great song that is a parody of horror movie trailers. The album also features Al's first polka style medley of rock songs, "Polkas on 45". He continued to do a polka medley on virtually all his albums. This is a great album that Al's fans will love.

"Now how much would you pay?"

While this is Al's second album, it's the one that launched his career, thanks to that notorious hit "Eat It". Fortunately, this is no one hit wonder. The Police get 'sent to the cleaners' as it were with "King of Suede", and in a bizarre twist of musical fate, we find out that you can actually sing the theme from "The Brady Bunch" to the tune of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance".

Most of the public seems to be unaware that Al doesn't just do parodies. Five tracks are completely original, emphasis on original. After all, who else could write "Buy Me A Condo", a reggae celebration of suburbia? Who else would pen "Midnight Star", a salute to those wacky tabloid headlines? And of course, my personal favorite from this album, "That Boy Could Dance". Sort of a Weird Al version of the Ugly Duckling. But one that definitely makes you want to get up and join that boy. In dancing I mean. Now, they're not all fabulous. "Mr. Popeil" (extolling the virtues of Ronco products; if you don't know the name, you're lucky) is kind of bland and "Nature Trail to Hell" just doesn't seem to know when to end.

And finally, it should be noted that In 3-D begins Al's tradition of polkas with "Polkas On 45". For those of you unfamilliar with the Yankovic oeuvre, "the polkas" refer to the medley of pop songs set to accordion a la Hooked on Classics.

True, the lyrics are silly, but Al has a great band backing him up and the music is sure to get you moving. Now get moving and check it out.

Just wanted to let you guys in on a little secret I discovered:

Way back when this album came out (and I was 13), there was a lot of talk in the media about bands using "backwards masking" - the technique of putting backwards messages into music - to send secret subversive messages to their listeners. The Religious Right/Southern Baptists made a HUGE deal out of this (of course), claiming that metal bands were putting backwards-masked Satanic messages on their albums to recruit fair, young Christians down the dark path! There wasn't a shred of truth to the claims (isn't lying a "sin" or something . . ?), and in the end all the Jesus-Freaks' bellowing accomlished was to make Ozzy Osbourne a household name and a VERY rich man - idiots!

Anyway, Al makes fun of the Religious Right's album-burning dementia by inserting his own "Satanic" backwards message in "Nature Trail to Hell"!

Listen to "Nature . . ." again - hear that low, mumbled voice after the guitar solo? If you play it backwards (which I did by spinning the album backwards on dad's turntable - remember those?) that mumbling turns into Al's voice as he manacingly declares, "SATAN EATS CHEEZ WHIZ! " Hysterical!

To all the fanatics and whiners who have a problem with this:

PLEASE TRY TO DEVELOP A SENSE OF HUMOR! IF YOU THINK YOUR KIDS WOULD BE WARPED BY "NATURE TRAIL TO HELL" (forwards or backwards) THEN YOU HAVE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A KID - CALM DOWN! JEEZ!