THE RESIDENTS / Not Available [1978]

Released in 1978, avant-garde multimedia artists The Residents' Not Available is a surreal 4 part "rock opera" with a history that's surrounded in bizarre mystery.  

It's a swirling, spooky musical trip that only Tom Waits and Frank Zappa would find on the worst of acid trips.  Through all the haunted jazz, piano pounding and delightfully unpleasant synth plodding, there's moments of musical coherency to go with a lyrical narrative that makes sense in the kind of way that doesn't.  Most folks will brush it off as pure nonsensical noise but with each listen you begin to piece things together making the purpose all the more clearer and brilliant.  Whether or not that's a good thing is for you to decide.

4 theories of obscurity out of 5

Songs Of Note: Part 1: Edweena; Part 2: The Making Of A Soul   

THE RESIDENTS / Duck Stab - Buster & Glen [1978]

The Residents aren't for everybody. Or many people at all really. You might find Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa tapping their feet to them though.
The multimedia fuckered art collective known as The Residents have been baffling listeners for years, so it's difficult to convince folks that their 1978 album Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen is their most easily accessible record.
It plays like a children's album for funerals gone terribly wrong in the most perverse and cringe worthy ways possible. The distorted synthesizers and nasally vocals sound hilarious at first but with repeated listens it only becomes more disturbing and creepy.

3½ KD ditties out of 5

Songs Of Note: Birthday Boy; Hello Skinny