Animal Lover [Enhanced]

After 35 years of a career with better and worse moments, The Residents are one of the few musical groups which can keep surprising their audiences, even if the main core of their audiences is formed by those, like me, who are listening to the group for several decades. Always swimming against the tide, they are one of the few bands -maybe with Zappa and some others- in constant criticism of the western culture, and more exactly, of the north american way of thinking: from their first albums, musically distorted and conceptually agressive ("The third reich & roll") to the latest ("Wormwood", centered on the most dark and cruel stories from the bible), passing through their 70's and 80's covers of other musicians from John Philip Sousa to Elvis Presley, The Residents have been a group very different from the rest. Their albums focused on a single concept, their few performances with an extensive use of theatrical resorts, their unkown identities, the use of the fan clubs as a way of distribute their music and paraphernalia, their incredible lp and cd covers, those 3 cdrom "games", way beyond everything ever made to play with on computers... maybe The Residents are not the best group on earth but they are quite different... and very interesting.

"Animal Lover" is, as far as today, their last cd. One of the things that I have always found on cd format is that they are too long. On the lp format, with 40-45 min. recordings, there was space enough for a concept album to be developed. In the rare cases when more playing time was needed, the double lp was perfect. But cd's offer 80 minutes of music, and no group would keep the 40 minutes length, because all the reviews would say "too short". Thus, most musicians fill their cd's with more music than needed. "Animal Lover" would have been a complete masterpiece if you didn't find some of the tracks as superfluous. Most of them are pure gold: dense, sad, sinister, perfectly recorded, telling disturbing stories. A few of them are less focused, less understandable, less attractive, lower level.

The wonderful package that the disk comes with -when did you buy your last cd with a 52 page booklet, original illustrations, careful design and a free second cd with remixes?- explains a little the plot: Every song has a short introductory tale about an animal -chicken, bat, dog, cat, monkey, etc- on the main role. Then, the song itself tells the same story from a totally different point of view, that of the human on the same tale. We know then the story of the mouse who lives at the hospital where the girl goes to see her dying father; the cat who loves the son of its master, and misses his voice after he returns from war and never say a word; the ant living on a garden where a man is so obsessed by his tulips that he forgets everything else in life. Strange stories indeed, strange music too. Not for everybody, but give it a try, and maybe you'll be caught.

As I recall, back in the early eighties when I first heard my first Residents album,I sat listening to "The mark of the mole" with my eyes wide and my mouth dropped to the floor. It was obvious that these highly creative artists had tapped into the same netherdepths that I had always assumed existed, but could never convince others of its reality. It seemed that someone else had experienced the same oddball childhood fantasies.
All subsequent albums left the same mark. Though the quality of the work waned and waxed, all their ideas of musical simplicity involving the use of childlike tunes with an edge of insanity remained absorbing.
"Animal Lover" after a few listenings comes across as one of the great ones. The haunting and mesmerizing tunes roll out like vivid feverish dreams. This CD is extremely well conceived. I must say also that it is one of the strangest, even for the Residents, I have ever heard. Has anyone else figured out what the old woman and the chicken song is about? I have, and its not pretty!

If anyone is reading this that doesnt know the Residents already (which I think is an irregularity... that is looking up Residents music) then let me tell you I am a complete, 100% new listener to this band. The first time I even became aware of this band is a memory that that i had of MTV, in the late eighties, giving some wierd tribute to them as being the band that had no faces but changed the way music was played/watched. I remember MTV saying that they were the "great unknowns", or something equally mysterious like that. And in the video/documetary, the last scene on MTV, after they had made such a hullabulloo about these artists, they just walked away, into the black and white sunset. That was like '88.

Recently, within the last year I had been fighting with this memory. I got back into the eighties, the synth, the one hit wonders, the songs and bands I loved, but always there was that memory of this group with four members, dressed in penguin suits and wearing eyeball heads and top hats. The band that MTV hailed as great innovators.

Seriuosly... Until three weeks ago I thought they were the originators of cool ass eighties synth and dance like OMD, New Order, etc.

I was so wrong.

After trying to find a vinyl album of theirs from my local stores, to no avail, I went to the CDs. This album was there.

The Residents are true underground artists. Operating under the Theory of Obscurity (and various other life theories I'm sure) they are truer to their personal musical foundations then ANY other bands in America. Avant Garde Musicians is there true genre. Artists like Beck, They Might Be Giants, Gwar, Slipknot... all imitators. The Residents are an enigma when it comes to the band itself. You just have to trust they are who they are... and they are, but you will never know that, cause they wont ever tell you.

I couldnt find an album of theirs cause their history is one of minimal production. Checking up on their history I found the largest production was like 1000-2000 albums. In many cases these were only given to those who were in their fan clubs.

After reading reviews from many different sites, including the reviews from this website, I realized I had stepped into another world of music.

This album, from what Ive read does not display the totality of the Residents musical background. But from what Ive read nothing can. They are avant garde synth artistes.

This album is nothing like Ive ever heard period. Its like what Radiohead tried to do with Kid A, unfortunately The Residents were doing it since 1972. This album, from my limited research, is actually one of their more recent full albums that they have done, meaning a full amount of songs (15) that are cohesive and have a running theme.

My first impression of listening to this album, and reading the intricate and beautiful CD package (which I get the impression they are known for), is one of distress, unsettledness, discomfort, amazement, wonder. If this album was like the old Residents, which if you read the comments from the other commentators on Amazon they will tell you they were crazier, then yikes.

Of course they are also highly regarded as the contempory originators of the "concept album", from what I have read, so this album seems to be a great addition to their thirty + years of work.

Like I said I'm a complete newcomer to them, and I feel like when you get a Residents album its like musical homework. Mainly because you cant stop listening to them. And the Residents in particular have such a rich history.

Their car broke down in San Mateo in 69', where I live for God Sakes, and stayed in the area to start their career.

You cant understand them unless you read about them. The songs on this album are nothing like you ever heard, unless you have been listening to the Residents for a while, of course.

The most notable references to those who would like the musical originality of The Residents are Sun Ra, Frank Zappa as those are the common references made, but also if you like Kool Keith, aka Dr Doom, aka Dr Otcogon, Black Elvis. Keith would dig this.

Straight up, buy this album. Dive deep into musical lore to find more work. Enjoy sounds, musical compositions that no artists would ever attempt, and forget trying to discover who the members of the band actually are. You'll never know until they're dead... if they havent already.