THE THIRD REICH 'N' ROLL

The Third Reich N' Roll is what I guess you could describe as a cover album of 100% original material, if that paradoxical statement makes sense to anyone out there. The Residents take well known pop hits of the 60s, with artists including Iron Butterfly, The Doors, and The Beatles, completely deconstruct them, and rebuild them with their trademark avant sound, which sounds something like you'd expect eyeballs in tuxedos to sound like. Most of the time songs are completely unrecognizable besides one prominent melody remaining from the original song, and sometimes even that is missing with the original only recognizable by the lyrics.

The Residents were obviously, and not quietly, influenced by the Krautrock movement, and many characteristics of that music's composition and instrumentation are replicated here. "Hitler was a Vegetarian" is the far superior song on this album. Not only does it contain the better songs being "covered" but it's more cohesive and sounds less like 10 different compositions thrown together as "Swastikas On Parade" does. There's a strong comical aspect to this album and if you miss it, you'll probably be cold to this whole affair.