CD Review
Jimmy Fallon: Blow Your Pants Off
4 stars (out of 5)
Late night host Jimmy Fallon recently released his latest comedy album, Blow Your Pants Off, a collection of original songs and covers performed by Fallon and various guest artists including Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney.
The album, released on June 12th, showcased Fallon’s strength as an impressionist and a musician. He performs on all the tracks, however, not always as Jimmy Fallon. Two tracks on the CD that stuck out were his impressions of Neil Young singing “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme, and Bob Dylan singing the “Charles in Charge” theme song. Though Fallon has been off SNL for nearly ten years now, he proved his skills as an impressionist are as intact as they were during his tenure on the show.
One of the album’s highlights is the song “Scrambled Eggs” performed by Fallon and McCartney, a parody of McCartney’s hit song “Yesterday.” The cheeky humor in the song, particularly by McCartney, is what makes it a stand out. When Jimmy Fallon begins to sing about his love of chicken wings, McCartney very gently reminds him that he does not support the idea of eating animals, and quickly changes the lyrics to “Tofu Wings.” McCartney’s willingness to poke fun at his own masterpiece and Fallon’s obvious enthusiasm about singing with McCartney made this track stand out for me. While it’s not as flashy as other tracks are, the humor in it makes it special.
My personal favorite track was the cover of the viral hit, “Friday” by Rebecca Black. The song was covered by Fallon, the Legendary Roots, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and The Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert. The much discussed pop song has been turned into a giant production number, complete with a new musical arrangement by The Roots, harmonies by Fallon, Hicks and Colbert and an overall bubbly feeling that makes the parody fun to listen to.
Fallon’s CD is an overall success. The mix of humor and music and wide array of guest stars make Blow Your Pants Off a great album for anyone looking for a good laugh and well performed comedy.
