NOT AVAILABLE

According to the legend told by the Residents this album was originally recorded as a follow-up to the debut album but became shelved until the band members had completely forgotten about its existence and therefore complying to the Theory of Obscurity.

Although I doubt that this album was actually recorded right after Meet The Residents, since it doesn't sound a bit like the band's early material, it still ranks among my top 15 album favorite albums of all time! There is just so much thought put in every single moment that, as a listener, I actually feel privileged to be along for this short ride!

I guess the idea of concept album without a real concept might put some people off but I personally find it very charming and I, by no means, see it as a mockery of the progressive genre. What I'm mean is that Not Available has characters and plot line that becomes apparent over the course of the first three tracks while Never Known Questions sounds like a complete conceptual mess to my ears. Still, the fun part is that the album's Epilogue makes the listener assume that we've just heard a masterpiece of a concept album. So in short, this album's concept has a beginning and an ending but lacks the middle section, which in my opinion is a very unique experiment in conceptual music writing!

If anything, this album should be considered an interesting spin on the concept piece writing and I'm surprised that it hasn't caught on in the progressive rock community. Not Available is a masterpiece both musically and conceptually and therefore should be in every respectable progressive rock music collection.

***** star songs: Edweena (9:29) The Making Of A Soul (9:59) Epilogue (2:21)

**** star songs: Ship's A'Going Down (6:34) Never Known Questions (7:00)

Total rating: 4,61