THE THIRD REICH 'N' ROLL

Here the Residents smash to pieces a bunch of mostly American pop songs from the 60's. They're re-assembled to form Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster where the spots on his face aren't just plukes - they're smashed cherries..

'Third Reich and Roll' should really be classed under 'plunderphonics'. All the tunes are taken from the aforementioned decade.

Similar in many ways to Nurse With Wound's cut up LP 'Sylvie and Babs' from '85. Wonky collages are rife throughout this recording. It's basically the Resident's homage to 60's pop in the same way Bowie's 'Pin Ups' was in '73, but this one is pretty deranged.

The Beatles 'Hey Jude' is wrung through a mangler and comes out the other end looking like a strip of brightly coloured plastercine.

For once, an experimental album that will probably make more sense to Americans than Europeans. The cover depicts Dick 'Wagstaff' Clark - a radio and TV presenter who hosted the USA's longest running variety show 'American Bandstand' for 30 years!. He just died this year aged 82. I wonder what he thought of this record sleeve when he saw it - being depicted as a Nazi carrot muncher?

A mostly confusing album, where many might not get the joke. If the Residents paid royalties on this one they must have been seriously out of pocket considering the amount of tunes they cannibalized.

One way or another this will get a reaction from the listener. You'll either love it or hate it. 'Third Reich and Roll' is probably their most overrated album, but it's still good for a laugh and great for parties when everyone's utterly smashed and willing to listen to atonal mash-ups..