FREAK SHOW

This is the album The Residents' always seemed destined to record. Throughout their career, they made a living out of writing songs about outsiders, people who are different in one way or the other. You know, freaks.

The music is quite spacious. The guys really know their way around the digital synthesizers. But that's also a negative. Every sound is identifyable as a synth patch, even the percussion. It makes me miss the days when you could barely identify most of the sounds that made up The Residents' music.

But still, the songs are all eerily weird, like most of these guys songs, and document the travails of various freak show attractions. The songs, being very lush and full sounding, may be the closest to tradition prog that the band has ever come.

Another side note, at the time this was released, The Residents also release a CD, one could explore the freak show, visiting the show and individual trailers of some of the characters. It's adds more background to the music. Maybe that's another reason I like it so much.