MEET THE RESIDENTS

Here they are everybody. Who? The Residents. Who still? I don't know. This anonymous group started us with Meet The Residents (after the rare Santa Dog single of course). The cover, infamously a mockery of the Meet The Beatles LP. Meet The Residents can only be compared to (and slightly) to the earliest works of Faust. This album was homemade with tape manipulation and electronics, combined with piano and who knows what else what. Also it should be noted that The Residents haven't started using synthesizers yet. The quality of the music within foreshadows a lot of future work from The Residents, but a lot of it really doesn't stand up, a few exceptions going to the catchy melodies of "Smelly Tongues", the ode to the spirit of 1974 "N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues)" and the disturbing and calm "Rest Aria", the latter being nearly entirely piano. However the entire albums seems to be a bunch of guys deconstructiong convention (which is dreadfully nice), and having fun with some electronic tricks they've learned. You can't start this album looking for concepts or great chops, and if you don't, you could probably have a fun time.