THE RESIDENTS
WB:RMX (Euroralph)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick

---

The Residents are musical iconoclasts. WB:RMX follows in the band's tradition of working against convention. It was originally recorded in 1971, and submitted to Warner Brothers Records, who, of course, rejected it.

Then in 2003, the band decided to remix the original recording.

The record demonstrates the Residents penchant for genre-hopping electronic music. On fifteen tracks the band integrates and samples rock, jazz, world music, house, techno, classical and avant-garde, and hybridizes these disparate styles. "Oh Mommy Oh Daddy" is an exemplar of their compositional style as the band jumps from crazy blues style singing and saxophone riffing to covering classical music motifs on synthesizer. The music is also structurally irregular throughout as the record works as a entire composition rather than single songs. Contemporary technology reduces the quirkiness of the music. Since modern synthesizers attempt to imitate instruments it's more standardized; and the music is held together with driving beats and rhythm overdubs. "Baby Skeletons & Dogs" is typical of the record as it mixes Captain Beefheart-on-barbiturates-style vocals with a metronome-like beat, a Middle Eastern-style guitar riff, heavy rockin' power chords, and, astonishingly, it concludes with a cartoonish motif. If that sounds confusing - and it is a bit - then wait a a few minutes and the band will segue into another varied array of music stylings. The rest of the tracks follow roughly the same creative process.

The record is not one of Residents' best - but well worth a listen for fans of the band. One major problem I have with this record is that the original record was not included. It would be interesting to hear the original and compare the two works and their distinctively different interpretations over three decades.

© 2005 - Sherman Wick