MEET THE RESIDENTS

Well this is where it all started for THE RESIDENTS, releasing their strange music on an unexpecting World back in 1974. Fractured song structures, twisted melodies, funny vocals, plenty of noise and oh... that album cover? Yeah these guys were sort of the anti-THE BEATLES weren't they? Captain Beefheart even sings on one track and yes Frank Zappa might come to mind once in a while but this all sounds pretty original.

I have to say I had no idea this was the Nancy Sinatra song that's how much they deconstructed this piece. The first six songs are all short and blend into each other often making this feel like one piece of music. We even get female vocals on "Breath And Length". During this first section we get lots of horns, electronics, beats and piano all made to sound anything but melodic. "Rest Aria" is fairly melodic and clocks in at over 5 minutes the first song to hit over 2 minutes so far. Piano and horns stand out in this one.

"Skratz" will be the last short tune as we get four more tracks to end it with nothing less than 5 minutes long. "Spotted Pinto Bean" has these operatic male and female vocals and the male vocals make me laugh. "Infant Tango" is too catchy with Captain Beefheart singing. It's all instrumental from one minute to the end. "Seasoned Greetings" is perfect for this time of year. Oh man those hilarious vocals on "N-Er-Gee(Crisis Blues)" is the icing on the cake. They appear before 6 1/2 minutes.

So not their best in my opinion but a great start to their careers which I understand still continues.