DUCK STAB / BUSTER & GLEN

This album is actually a combination of two E.P.s of the same names. However, only "Duck Stab!" had been previously released alone where "Buster & Glen" was not yet released. The studio decided to release them together, one per record side. The track order was also changed for "Duck Stab!" The band wanted them released separate, but the two E.P.s actually work together well, and since each track is not over 4 minutes, the crazy off the wall sound of The Residents doesn't wear itself out on this album.

So, the people that seem to like this album (like myself) tend to like it for it's strange eclectic sound. Throughout this album, pretty much everything is distorted in one way or another. This works well with the scary, yet zany lyrics. Vocal harmonies, instruments, melodies are off just enough so that you know things are not quite right. If these songs were standard, this would almost be a pop album, but with everything off kilter and over processed, what you get is a bunch of art-pop....experimentation with pop music. With earlier Residents sound (which this album is), you not only get the usual sparse electronic sound, but you get odd guitar licks and hooks from Snakefinger. The weirdness is what makes this album so attractive to those people that tend to like this album, and when you listen to it, there is that certain something about it.

For those wanting to dive into The Residents massive discography, this is a good place to start. The "Duck Stab!" portion of this is actually the better part with the "Buster & Glen" portion not being quite as interesting, but still has it's share of surprises like the warped singing of "Happy Birthday" and the hello dolly sound of "Hello Skinny". Most editions also have the "Goosebumps" suite which is a B side to "Diskomo" which jacks the value of the 2nd side back up to the 1st side. The 3 songs that make up the suite are hilarious takes on nursery rhymes that crack me up everytime I hear them. These are not nursery rhymes to share with your kids though unless you want them to grow up to be strange.

The combination of these two E.P.s along with the added B-side makes this collection (or album if you prefer) well worth while especially for beginners to The Residents sound. I guarantee you if you don't like this, then it's probably best to not look any further in their catalogue. But if it does appeal to you in that weird way that it appeals to lovers of avant-prog music, then you have a lot of work to do listening to their discography. Even though there are a lot of bombs in the discography, there are a lot of gems too. It's worth checking out. In the meantime, this gets 4.5 stars, but I'll round it up to 5 because the "Duck Stab!" side and the Goosebumps suite are priceless.