DOLLAR GENERAL

This is actually an album with a limited release of 800 copies. It was the last album to be released by Ralph America before it shut down and was reissued a year later with different artwork and two additional tracks. This album is strictly instrumental and is music that was played over the PA system before and after shows during the "Talking Light" tour.

The music is all very ambient and avant gard. The sound is very spacy, mysterious and at times, rhythmic. Sound is mostly comprised of electronics and percussion. There really isn't a lot of variety among the tracks and difficult to distinguish anything that stands out here. The music works very well for back ground music but not so much for entertainment and it was used effectively for it's original purpose of background music during the tours. But that is really most of what it was good for because there is a definite lack of variety among the tracks. The Residents have released some excellent recordings and some real duds. One of the greatest things about the group is that you never know what to expect, and if The Residents think you know what to expect next, they release something completely different.

So, this is good for ambient or background listening and not much else. You can find a lot more great avant garde music in The Residents discography, but there just isn't anything essential here. The album is simply something that should only interest collectors and fans. 2 stars.