THE THIRD REICH 'N' ROLL

Based on their first eight studio albums alone I feel THE RESIDENTS are a top three Avant band when it comes to the USA. Zappa and THINKING PLAGUE would also get my votes, but this band should really be proud of those first eight records. They kept things in their own zone for the most part although that eighth album "Mark Of The Mole" is a little different, but I think it works. It's the lowest rated on here of the first eight, while RYM has this album I'm reviewing today as the lowest rated of those. And while I don't always agree with RYM users, in this case I do.

"The Third Reich 'N' Roll" is an album full of parody and while I do like that style, a full record of it is too much. In fact the phrase "too much" is something I use a lot with this second album of theirs. Yes we get a hint of this direction from their debut "Meet The Residents" where they parody that Nancy Sinatra song. Here it's well over a dozen popular 60's songs that have been given a makeover, THE RESIDENTS style. Completely destroying some of them. The cover art and all of those Third Reich references are too much. I'm surprised Dick Clark didn't take them to court, but honestly all of this stuff probably only created a ripple back then.

So two side long suites where we get a lot of humour and inventive ideas in collage form pretty much. This is fun, especially for someone of my age who knew all these songs by the time I was a young teenager. And I like a lot of these 60s tunes. This is my least favourite of their first eight but many will point to this as their favourite of those. A matter of taste. The entertainment value is very high here. Just get all eight, come on!