ARTIST: “Weird Al” Yankovic 
TITLE: In 3-D
YEAR RELEASED: 1984
CHART ACTION: #17
SINGLES: Eat It (#12 US, #36 UK), King of Suede (#62), I Lost on Jeopardy (#81)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Polkas on 45, Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye of the Kaiser)
LINEUP: “Weird Al” Yankovic, Jim West, Steve Jay, John Schwarts, Rick Derringer, Pat Regan. Don Pardo is a guest, of course.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: The parodist hits his stride with great parodies and videos, and some of his originals are OK, too.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: When you think of Weird Al, chances are you first think of his iconic videos from the early days of MTV. The video for “Eat It” made him famous, as did the outstanding “I Lost on Jeopardy”. He wasn’t all video though.
The concept of “Polkas on 45” was genius here – pairing classic rock tunes to polka rhythms and melody tropes. He also hit at songs by Men Without Hats, Survivor and the Police, along with stylistic parodies of reggae and the B-52’s.
This time, a few of the originals are worth keeping around. His non-parody songwriting was improving, but a couple of cuts were exiled for being long and not that clever or funny.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: One of the backing vocals on “Mr. Popeil” is Lisa Popeil, the daughter of the famous inventor.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B: A more consistent effort with some great, funny parodies..
But Is It Any Good? 