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Album Review
by A. Prisoner
29-3-2005
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| The Residents: 'Animal Lover' is de-evo! |
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The Residents : 'Animal Lover'
(Mute)
The Residents: better than other people’s opuses
A long, long, long time ago, well - a few years prior to the original ‘Star Wars’ movie being released - there was only one band that could satisfy all the things that mattered to this rebellious spirit when in a bad need to run away from prog-rock, emerging Heavy Metal, the infernal disco, singer-songwriters’ self-obsession or hit-parade… The Residents: mad, bad, experimental, renegades, dissidents, mystic, eye-balling the world with all the impudence anonymity could afford them.
The Residents were a liberation ticket from the amusement park of bullshit. It’s got worse and it is great to have a band like them still around but things have changed: socially, individually, economically, politically… The Rez are still on their merry way of subverting with quirky, odd, offbeat, often minimal and deconstructed songs. But, having been there all this time, it’s hard to get surprised.
Not wishing to plagiarise ‘Seinfeld’, it is not them, it’s me. I’ve changed, gone more extreme, demanding a revolution from a studio despite so much hope-turned-futility being consigned to history. Whereas once there was fuelling the eternal flame of creativity, we only have echoes and reiteration of the explored. When I think of the yellow-vinyl’d 7-incher of ‘Satisfaction’, The Rolling Stones had to admit themselves it was the best muthaf**king cover ever! Superior to the original to the point of actually pishing all over and then some!?
‘Animal Lover’ articulates valid scrutinising - that of meaning of life. Creating this picture book of animal tales, The Residents wanted to include a soundtrack that related directly to "animal love." The result is a CD with rhythm tracks based entirely on animal noise mating patterns generated primarily by cicadas and frogs. Also the actual sounds of mating whales and humans were used for longer tonal passages. [Alas, for you perverts outta there, they weren't mating with each other - claims the press release.]
So sex makes the world go round. [Try arguing the point with your boss!] And, life is like Swiss cheese, all about holes: food goes in one end and wastage comes out the other. Sperm goes in and babies come out. It's all we've got - procreation, prolonging the species… And, sometime, love. Although it usually is about looking for a soul-mate.
It is like The Rez have lately subscribed to the Woody Allen art-ethic; not so much of being a comedy - no disrespect intended - but in a sense of knowing what you’ll get and getting it without letdown, no matter what. The Rez, for the difference of Mr Allen, are not funny but the tone, colour and feel are - oh, so familiar. The Rez used to be like seeing a David Lynch’s film for the first time - it blew one’s goddam mind to pieces - every time!
Processed vocals to the point of nonsense, beauty of melodies obscured by noises, and vocals sounding far too often as a gimmick per se, going even dumb on ‘Dead Men; ‘Animal Lover’ feels rather benign to veteran activist, it has no vicious teeth to bite with, it lacks an edge; it sounds comfortable, confident and harmless. Thematically it reminds a fair bit of ‘Mark of The Mole’/'The Mole Show Live' [1981 and 1989 respectively]; how many different ways are there to offer Aesopian view of humanity, a take on [de]evolution, again?
One has been hoping they would have furthered the psychedelic ideal to marry classical, experimental and pop music, with rhythm, movements, dynamics, cadenzas, coda, finale! It looks like they may be still working at it… Or, not.
Nonetheless, The Rez under par are much f**king better than other people’s opuses!
8/10
A. Prisoner
16-7-2004
The Residents’ album ’Animal Lover’ is released 28 March 2005 by Mute
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