Eric Appel’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is getting mixed reviews ahead of its Roku Channel premiere this weekend: Critics praised Daniel Radcliffe’s committed performance as a weird version of musical comedy master Yankovic, but they panned the film for not doing more with the “biography is a parody of biographies” conceit. Now you know Less mixed: Our feelings on the film’s release spawned new music from Yankovic himself, including a new single released today, “Now You Know,” which serves as the film’s ending song. In addition to being released online, “Now You Know” – which includes jokes about the fact that the song itself is now technically Oscar-eligible and general rants about how long a title track should be these days days – has also been released alongside the album’s soundtrack, out today on Sony Music. About half of the soundtrack album is taken up, unsurprisingly, by the film’s score. (Track titles include “The Accordion,” “Al And Madonna” and, of course, “The Heart Of The Jungle.”) But the album also features new versions of many of Yankovic’s best-loved parodies, including “My Bologna” , “I Love Rocky Road,” “Another One Rides The Bus,” “Amish Paradise,” and “Eat It,” all recorded fresh for the film by Yankovic. (And, yes, the jokes (“Al’s Version”) about Yankovic revisiting his early material like this are already flowing.) It’s also, as far as we know, one of the only soundtrack albums this year with multiple polka compositions and a version of “The Chicken Dance”, ensuring it’s a staple weapon in any amateur DJ’s arsenal. The Weird soundtrack is, in Yankovic’s words, currently available “wherever music is sold, streamed or stolen.”
