ICKY FLIX

This is an absolulety brilliant release, one that not only demonstrates what amazing artists The Residents truly are, but how willing they to evolve with the changing times. In many ways it is also a wonderful love letter to their fans, as it gives them so much.

The Residents, as I am sure they would agree are better described as artists than as musicians, and it was the medium of film and video that really showcased their brilliance. This disc features all of their promotional videos for their various releases, including 'The Third Reich 'n Roll' (a heartless skewering of fascism and pop music), their four 'One-Minute Movies' (generally credited as being one of the first examples of music video), and 'This Is Man's World' (James Brown deconstructed)

It all showcases their foray into digital media with scenes from their ground-breaking Cd-Rom's 'Freak Show' and 'Bad Day At The Midway', live performances from their Fillmore show and Wormwood tour, as well as new video created specifically for this release. It is as complete an overview of the band's ouvere as you could hope.

The video is primitive at times, but always intriguing. It is, however, in the remastered audio that this disc truly shines. All the tracks have been remixed and have never sounded better. But wait there's more...

Not satisfied to hoist previously released material, no matter how polished, The Residents re-recorded every track on the album, completely reworking into an entirely new soundtrack. This effort not only shows how far they have progressed, but also how much their philosophy has remained true. The updated tracks are outstanding with the highlights being Molly Harvey's mournful vocal on 'Man's World' , and the demented 'We Are The World' cover on 'Disfigured Night' (unbelievably tortured and dark). In addition the 5:1 surround mix is out of this world with the sounds and instruments snaking in at you from all angles.

All of this plus elegant menus, easter eggs (tons of them) make this not only one of their best efforts, but perhaps the best music DVD yet released. Highly recommended.

Also be on the lookout for their cover of Renaldo and the Loaf's 'Songs For Swinging Larvae' which is featured here. Simply one of the more disturbing videos ever released.