Permanent Record: Al in the Box is a four disc compilation box set of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on September 27, 1994. The album, released by Scotti Brothers Records so that the label could make monetary projections for the fiscal year, collects Yankovic's favorite songs from his first eight studio albums. The collection also includes alternate versions of "My Bologna", "Happy Birthday", "UHF" and the new single, "Headline News", a parody of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies. It peaked at number 104 on the Billboard Hot 100. The collection was met with mostly positive critical reviews, with many appreciating the gathering of some of Yankovic's best works. However, the box set was not a high seller, and near the end of the 1990s, it ranked as Yankovic's least-purchased album. In 2006, due to a mishap by Volcano Records, the artwork for the set was lost, and the collection went out of print. Yankovic refused to scan existing copies of the album to make new ones, fearing that it would lead to an inferior product. Yankovic would later release a second box set called Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic in 2017.

Production

Release and music

While Yankovic was writing the original songs for a new album—which would later be released in 1996 as Bad Hair Day—his label, Scotti Brothers Records, insisted that he release a new record in order to meet monetary projections for the fourth fiscal quarter of the year. Yankovic, however, explained that he would be unable to finish a new record in time, so his label decided to release a box set that eventually was named Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The label then stipulated that Yankovic would need to at least record a new single to promote the box set. Yankovic complied, producing the parody "Headline News", a spoof of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies, which would also appear on his second greatest hits album. While most of the songs that appear on this record can be found on Yankovic's first eight studio albums, there are several unique inclusions. The version of "My Bologna" is the Capitol Records single version, which only featured the accordion and Yankovic's voice. Early pressings of the album included the incorrect version of "My Bologna", but this was later rectified in subsequent pressings. The version of "Happy Birthday" included was previously released on the 1981 independent Another One Rides the Bus EP. Finally, the third disc contains the single edit of "UHF" as opposed to the lengthier version available on UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff; this was done because Yankovic figured that "fans would appreciate having both versions available."

Title and artwork

Both "Permanent Record" and "Al in the Box" were titles proposed by Yankovic; however, he favored the former, whereas his label preferred the latter. Both parties, being unwilling to yield, eventually decided to compromise and name the release Permanent Record: Al in the Box. The album also included a detailed booklet, written by Yankovic's long-time associate, Dr. Demento. When Yankovic's recording contract was transferred from Scotti Brothers to Volcano in the late 1990s, the artwork for the set was lost, causing the set to go out of print; although Yankovic noted that the label "could just scan existing booklets and CD art and crank out boxed sets with slightly inferior graphics," he did not want to put out a product that was not up to his usual standards.

Reception

Critical response

Barry Weber of AllMusic awarded the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, and argued that "no [other greatest hits album of Yankovic's] matches Permanent Record, a four-CD set of Yankovic's best songs". He applauded many of the parodies, and called several of them—namely "My Bologna", "Eat It", "Like a Surgeon", "Yoda", "Fat", and "Smells Like Nirvana"—"defining satires". He also wrote that the originals contained on the record were "overlooked but equally entertaining". Nathan Brackett and Christian Hoard, in The Rolling Stone Album Guide, awarded the album three-and-a-half stars out of five, denoting that the album averaged between good and excellent. Craig Rosen of Billboard magazine opined that the album "will remind consumers that Yankovic has outlasted" many of his past parody targets. Chuck Eddy of Spin magazine named the album the fourth most "essential" comedy record, writing that album is proof "for fifth-grade smart alecks, no rock star is greater" than Yankovic.

Commercial performance

The box set was released on September 27, 1994. As of January 1997, the set was Yankovic's worst-selling album, trailing all of his studio releases, as well as his various compilation and greatest hits albums. On March 1, 2006, the record went out of print, due to the aforementioned loss of the artwork. The collection's only single, "Headline News", charted and peaked at number four on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, which corresponds to a position of 104 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Track listing

Disc one

Disc two

Disc three

Disc four

Credits and personnel

Chart positions

Singles