THE TUNES OF TWO CITIES

Part two of the so called 'Mole Trilogy' of which there were only two parts. This part is utter tripe. Massively spoiled by some horrendous keyboards that sound like something Rod, Jane and Freddy would conjure up in the British kids programme 'Rainbow'.

In 'A Tale of Two Cities' the story briefly goes like this: There are two tribes, one of which are the Chubs who are only interested in a hedonistic lifestyle. The others are the Moles who actually get things done. That's about it. Pants...

In some ways it's similar to the far better 'Eskimo' from '79 with its tribal culture references. This, however, is a dreadful slump in the Residents discography from which they would struggle to escape from for many years. Only the first two tracks prevent this recording receiving the ignominious one star as they are both excruciatingly catchy - the kind of tunes that make you want to punch yourself in the face because they won't go away and leave you in peace.

Probably the second worst Residents album available. Dreadfully dated, mostly instrumental and a complete departure from their 70's successes. A real ugly album full of outmoded and outdated synthetic sounds with very little to commend. The infantile sleeve artwork should be enough to scare any newcomer away.