“Weird A” Yankovic’s “Squeeze Box”
“Weird Al” Yankovic is partnering with Legacy Recordings and PledgeMusic for the release of Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of “Weird Al” Yankovic, a career-spanning boxed set. Squeeze Box features all 14 of Weird Al’s studio albums remastered on CD, 150-gram vinyl and digital, spanning from his debut album “Weird Al” Yankovic (1983) to Mandatory Fun (2014). Mandatory Fun, according to a press release, was not only the first comedy album in history to debut at #1 on the Billboard chart, but also the first to even reach that position in over 50 years.
“Weird Al” got plenty of MTV exposure and Top 40 airplay with his spoofs of hit songs by such artists as Queen (“Another One Rides the Bus”), Michael Jackson (“Eat It”), Madonna (“Like a Sturgeon)” and the Knack (“My Bologna”).
Six of these albums will make their debut on vinyl as part of Squeeze Box. Each has been newly remastered engineer Mark Wilder and personally approved by Yankovic. An Al-curated 15th bonus disc, Medium Rarities, features specially selected non-album tracks from across his remarkable career.
Available on Nov. 24, Squeeze Box comes in a replica of Yankovic’s signature accordion (from which the collection takes its title), with each album stored in its bellows. An accompanying 100-page book will feature “a trove of rare and unseen photos and memorabilia,” says a press release.
After “Weird Al” recorded a parody of The Beatles‘ “Tax Man” as “Pac-Man” on the Dr. Demento show in the early ’80s, it was tied up in litigation. Until now, that is. It’s just been released and will be included on the box set.
“I’d like to think that none of the Beatles ever actually heard the song back then,” Yankovic told Nerdist. “It was just some office [clerk] whose whole job is to litigate and prosecute people for copyright infringement.
“I’ve become friends with [George Harrison’s son] Dhani over the years, and he tells me that George Harrison was a fan of my work, which blows my mind,” Yankovic says. “It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it.”
Related: 13 early MTV videos
Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of “Weird Al” Yankovic will be sold through an exclusive partnership with Legacy Recordings and PledgeMusic. Pre-order is available now on CD and vinyl.
Watch his parody of Greg Kihn’s 1983 hit
“Weird Al” Boxed Set Complete Contents
“Weird Al” Yankovic (1983)
“Weird Al” Yankovic In 3-D (1984)
Dare To Be Stupid (1985)
Polka Party! (1986)
Even Worse (1988)
UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989)
Off The Deep End (1992)
Alapalooza (1993)
Bad Hair Day (1996)
Running with Scissors (1999)
Poodle Hat (2003)
Straight Outta Lynwood (2006)
Alpocalypse (2011)
Mandatory Fun (2014)
Watch Weird Al’s memorable “Eat It” video
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