Tweedles

When I read reviews about how dark the contents of this record was supposed to be, this scared me off and I felt reluctant to buy it.

But having listened to Tweedles, I now realize that these negative comments are really about moral sexual panic in repressed individuals. For example, one hysterical critic wrote this: "Tweedles is completely pointless. Nobody would have the slightest interest in hearing it let alone owning a copy. The Residents obviously don't care, its art. They've done what they've done brilliantly but it's akin to making a life size exact replica of Auschwitz, clever but ultimately grotesque and futile."

The story is about a man who is slave under his own sexual instinct. This is an everpresent internal struggle that he shares with most people. Many of us have fantasies about having sex with persons we find attractive, without having to take social responsibilities for it, just to please our own desires. The difference is that most people are refrained from living out those fantasies, because our conscience (or superego) stops us from hurting others we relate to. We seek a balance between the two inner sides. This man has no such barrier and only follows his sexual drive, using and hurting others (who for their own disturbed reasons may let themselves be hurt), which of course is bad. But this happens to a certain degree every day between people; people use each other sexually in more or less degree. People flirt in bars, at jobs, and it ends with sex; and often there is an unbalance, where one person (or both) is in it more for egoisitical needs than caring for or truly loving the other person. People hurt each other unconciously all the time. This man is extreme, but he is only an allegory for the animal side in all of us. He is also emotionally insecure and disturbed, afraid of real intimacy and giving and trusting in a close relationship. Actually a very sad case, and he probably had an early childhood lacking in good contact with the parents, especially the mother.

He is a also an expression of the destructive reactions that result in a society where our sexual and animal nature has been repressed by Christianity (and the other Semitic religions), and where shallow materialistic living leads to emotional needs being ignored. I find the politically correct and simplified shallow judgements by critics to the contents of the record more horrible than the man himself.

Musically this is one fantastic record. Very complex and dynamic. Reminds me a bit of God In Three Persons in the subject matter, but the narrative voice doesn't dominate over the music quite as much. Soundwise Tweedles is more advanced and charged. This is great and unrestrained art.

Maybe there is still the possiblity for true reinvention from the Guys with Eyes, the legendary Rz.

I DO have an esteemed collection of Rz music, from _Meet_ to the Ralph Records anniversary with Penn Jillette, to _Title in Limbo_, as well as all four discs of the Mole Trilogy and (my personal favorite) _The Commercial Album_, and I have all the respect in the world for the distance the Rz have traveled and how they've maintained a cohesive identity and independence. And this release definitely stands above much of their most recent stuff and probably their best work since _Wormwood_ (Ralph America-only releases included)....

...and here come the inevitable 'but'...

...I find myself wishing that I could be impressed solely by the new sound of a new album rather than how well the Rz sound is working this time. I have no concerns or am put off about the subject matter itself--the Rz have been examining the darker sides of sexuality and human nature overtly since _God in Three Persons_, and _Wormwood_ continues this exploration even into Biblical matters, but this album and the River of Crime radio dramas have put these insidious matters on the front burner, and that I do by all means applaud. _Tweedles_ is a kind of one-man show from a sexually obsessed clown, who of course has a longing he is unable to fulfill, which makes him go through a spiral of regret and need and justification. Some tracks on here are quite wonderful, like "Stop Signs" and "Mark of the Male," as well as the moment Tweedles reveals the basis of his name. But these tracks stand out not for the Rz redfining their own sound into something absolutely fresh and new, but by making the best of their usual, albeit unique and immediately recognizable, sound. There are echoes of classic Rz tracks in here, and it would seem that these are conscious references, but they also smack of the inevitability of repetition.

The word reinvention is so overused nowadays in that it most often refers to superficial image changes rather than true revision of self and artistic vision. The Rz are in line, and I am confident have the ability, to take their art to another level, beyond content, but into a new realm of music and art, beyond the grounds they have already established. Yes, the Rz have created a realm that is wholly their own, but why stop there? If the music industry is still unable to catch up to them, let the Rz lap the tired old dinosaurs.

But only if they truly want to. _Tweedles_ will scare and challenge some, but it's hard to see how the Rz truly challenged themselves in this endeavor.

Admittedly, I didn't like this album when I first got it. I wanted to love it... the package was stunning and the story behind the album was very interesting. A Transylvanian Residents fanatic finishes building his state of the art studio and asks them to break it in for him. While there, they do lots of field recording of street performers and write a tale of a sort of love-vampire who frantically jumps between sexual partners, perhaps addicted to success, and in search of an unknown satisfaction.

However, the subject matter put me in a bad mood the first few times I heard it. It's not really disturbing in a typical Resident's fashion, but more....intensely negative. This one pushes their limits a bit further...in different ways. I eventually grew to love it...for one, It is mastered exceptionally well for The Residents. I'm a long time fan, and this one sounds better (by standards of fuller, crisper, cleaner stereo sound. The highs are pristine and the lows thunder.) than any of their other albums ( Old residents recordings have a very different set of values).

The story and dialogues eventually grew on me as a character study, rather than an intentionally negative perspective from the band. The music is scatter-brained and beautifully psychedelic. It sounds as though they decided to make a concept album that is also a retrospective. Similar to the "Our Finest Flowers" retrospective mash-up style but much more effective, ambiguous, creative, and fluid....flowing from vocal references to "Not Avilable" to styling references from "The King & Eye" (on Forgiveness) and "Tunes of Two Cities", and they occasionally slip into the weird techo stylings of "WB:RMX". In fact, there is a direct sample from "Our Finest Flowers" on Stop Signs. Occasionally there is some corn-ball guitar, and yet other times it is delicate and skillfull.

The album mixes lots of sounds, old and new, yet still continues (in my opinion) a general artistic direction that the Residents began with Demons Dance Alone. This direction is older, wiser, and more stylistically diverse, paving a road that would be difficult to travel for anyone else. That is to say that today, just as always, there music remains unique in every sense of the word. Today though, they focus on a remarkable kind of electronica, that even the greats could take notes from. They mix live performance with programing and field recording and story-telling in a grand mut of a show. Your CD player may never have spoken so abstractly.

If you are thinking upon getting this as your first Residents CD, I say go right ahead...It's as good as any that are available. Don't let the cheesiness of The Residents throw you off. It is a quality they employ on purpose, frequently, to make you feel uncomfortable and riddled.