The Residents: Animal Lover
Published February 17, 2005
The Residents have released a crap-load of records over the 30+ years of their existence. Their first album, "Meet The Residents," was released in 1973. Since then, only considering nationally distributed full lengths, the quantity of releases is enough to make a music fan look at his or her bank account in sorrow. Then factoring in all the website/fan-club exclusives (many of which can fetch in the realm of $80+ on ebay) you'll get historians scratching their heads trying to document it all. Then there are the re-releases... many albums have seen more then one re-release... and still the majority of their catalog is out of print and unavailable except through online or used sources.
Their early work is, without question, their best. In fact, of the eight albums I rank as my favorite releases by them, the only one released after 1982* was "WB:RMX," which was released in 2004. I, and I am sure I'm not alone in this, would argue that "WB:RMX" hardly counts since it is a remix of the previously unreleased demo tape The Residents recorded in 1971 to shop around to potential labels.
So it is with some sense of awe that I have to report that The Residents' soon to be released album "Animal Lover" ranks up there with those eight masterpieces as the best thing The Residents have done since '82. My love love of The Residents, as with most, was kindled with the early albums. For me it was specifically "Duck Stab" that completely revolutionized the way I viewed music. For others it may have been "Fingerprince," which may be the best work they've done, or "Not Available," or the mind boggling "Eskimo." Even "Commercial Album," which signaled the beginning decline of the musical quality (though scoring points for the totally pretentious point of the album and method of promotion.)
After that, The Residents seemed to slip into a mindset of caring more about the storyline or theme of the albums than the music used to accompany them. Ranging from "Mark of the Mole" (which was a good album, but who's impact was majorly lessened by making two more cds based on it's idea to make up the Mole Trilogy) to the horrid American Composer series which, thank God, only saw two installments.
- The Residents: Animal Lover
- Published: February 17, 2005
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Indie Rock, Music: Punk Rock, Music: Rock
- Writer: The Theory
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huge fan of their seemingly endless stream of weirdness - check out our interview with spokesman Homer here
Mark... if you can pick up Fingerprince or Duck Stab at a good price (either Amazon's used option or ebay) either one of them would be, I think, a good place to start.
eric- sorry I didn't post the Amazon ASINs... but i was doing this at, like, 2:30am and forgot with the innitial posting. Then when I checked the article on the site I noticed that I forgot them... but my computer crashed and I said "to heck with it" and went to bed. I was going to fix that today.
oh, Mark, and Commerical Album is readily available these days thanks to the 25th Anniversary edition... that's also a good one.
Theory's recommendations are great places to start.
I also think you could get a cool viewpoint of these guys by buying the new one first and then going back to the ones the theoretical one theorizes are best.
I looove Animal Lover. The first four songs are, like Theory says, a kind of Residents demi-glace, like a sort of summation of a lot of what they do condensed into just a little portion. Theory, do you hear a sort of "summing up" quality to this album, like a purposeful looking backward?
I sort of do, but I doubt myself, because this idea seems so antithetical to their aesthetic.
Great job on the review, too.
PS: If we're taking a survey, my favorites are Eskimo and Meet the Rs.
very early on, those - I love the queasiness of FReak Show
Me too. I'm higher on Mark of the Mole than Theory, I think, also.
if you guys don't cut it out i'm gonna haveta buy every danged record they ever put out!
Or you can steal them!
Wait, that's another thread....
You'll like these guys, Mark, I'll predict.
there's a 25 anniversary collection out too, maybe start there?
i dunno, i'm not too fond of collections.
i like to hear stuff in it's original context.
I'll save you the keystrokes, EO.
"I love greatest hits albums!
Sincerely,
Eric"
some I do, some I don't - context can be everything or nothing - snatch the pebble glasshopper
I don't want to listen to five albums by some group that have one or two good songs on each when I can listen to a hits collection that collects them all - hence the name
sure, but how do you know that the other songs aren't 'good'?
one of the few collections i have is Tom Waits' "Used Songs", and the only reason i got that was because i unpacked my stuff after arriving on vacation and realized i'd neglected to pack any Waits cds.
two weeks with no Tom Waits? i don' think so.
the hits collections almost always come out after the original albums the songs were on
Wow, quite the convo sprang up since I was last on. Letssee...
Re: CC's comment on #5... I think that rather than calling Animal Lover a look back, or a summing up, I think it manages to masterfully cull (a seperation of the wheat from the chaff) what The Residents do best and make it into a cohesive album. If they were trying to look back I suspect that it would sound very forced and end up as ultimately disappointing as Demons Dance Alone.
re: EO's comment #7... Freak Show was the first one (along with Duck Stab and Cube E) I bought... it was used and I was intrigued. Definately ranks up there. I'm also fond of the often ignored (but simular) Gingerbread Man. I love how haunting that melody can be... especially when twisted and repeated to almost a Philip Glass-ian extent.
re: MS's comment #9... doubtful you could do that, even if you wanted to. I've been working on it... and I'm still nine (more or less...) shy of the regular releases... and that's ignoring the undistributed, website/fan club releases.
The one I really want is High Horses, an EP released a number of years back through the website. Only 15 minutes long, it's carosel music, Rez style. Apperantly it has a very 3D effect. The only copy I saw on ebay went for $100+... not something I can spend on 15 minutes of music. haha.
TT,
I moved this up and over to Advance.net, which includes these places.
Potentially read by hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Thank you for the post. - Temple Stark
I have 99% of all thier releases. All the regular releases. Only shy the first single release and a couple others. I've been a fan for 22 years, and love ALL the releases!!! I can only pray to see them live one more time in my life. You've not seen anything until you have seen them live.
well then I officially hate you... just like I hate everyone who has seen them live.
;-)
(yeah!)
Well, I do not think that "My Window" is a bad track. For more sensitive listeners it is a gorgeous track. I don't need too much experimenting any more since I went through a lot of it in the past. Slow, deep, sensitive is not equal to boring, but many people think so, especially those who are in a hurry all the time and need fast, mellow music. Try to listen to e.g. Kancheli's works if you will be able to concentrate in for such a long time. Then you will probably change your attitude to slower tracks by The Residents. All the best! M.
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cool stuff theory.
i've only got one Residents cd (Cube-E Live, i think) and have always wanted to fill in some holes.
recommendations?