OUR FINEST FLOWERS

This album is not really a compilation, and not exactly new music. To celebrate thier twentith anniverary as a band, the eyeballs decided that instead of releasing a traditional "best of" collection, the would combine bits and pieces of multiple songs (most of them newly recorded), and create new works. A seasoned Residents veteran can pick out many of the themes, licks and lyrics used from songs from throughout the band's history. And that's where most of this album's enjoyment comes from.

The down side of the album is the execution. In later years, instead of concocting odd sounds from whatever instruments they found, The Residents now use mostly traditional synthesizer patches to create their music, causing a sameness to their sound that didn't exist in the early years.

But hey, it's still The Residents, and synthesizers or not, no one makes music like they do.