The Residents — Day Dream B-liver
The release originally pressing came in the form of CD on UWEB(Uncle Willie's Eyeball Buddies), which was a shortly lived fan club label, that put out around twelve Resident & related releases in its lifetime between the late 1980’s & early 1990’s.
This new reissue appears on Klanggalerie- the Austrian experimental music label, who over the last few years of been reissuing a fair few of The Residents rarer back catalog releases. The reissue comes in a glossy fold-out mini gatefold, and this takes in a selection of pictures of the band in their infamous eyeball, top hat, and tails get-up.
In all the release takes in fourteen tracks, and these are broken into four sub- sections:
1:Nineteen Eighties
2:The Hank Williams Death And Despair Trilogy In Waltz Time
3:Before There Was Snakefinger There Was P.C. Lithman - Before There Was The Un-Named Band There Was A Band With No Name - Before There Was Time And Space There Was N. Senada.
4:Nineteen Nineties
So the opening section, as its title suggests, takes in three tracks from the 1980’s. And first of these is "We Daydream in Space" from 1985, and it’s basically a rather bizarre & shifting track built around elements from the never realized Sun Ra & Barry White album. The just over eight-minute work moves from odd & unwell muzak with slowed vocalizing on top, though primal & muffled ambient dips, onto moody-yet quirkily grand blends of synth purr & synthetic horn marches. The other two tracks in this section are "Dog Glue"- a surprisingly bright ‘n’ darting blend of synth orchestration hits & light funk guitar struts. And a cover of "Hit The Road Jack subtitled Special almost dance mix", which sees them trying to do an 80’s retake on Discomo- with its blend of rapidly skirting ‘n’ snapping elector percussion & dramatic synth lines.
The second selection takes in three unused tracks from the Stars & Hank album sessions. This 1986 release was the second (and at present) the last album in the American composure series, and for this part saw the band covering Hank Williams & John Philip Sousa. The three tracks here highlight the more easy listening pop, though still sonically odd side of The Residents sound- and will certainly surprise those who only know the project more lo-if & wonky output, as all three tracks are very pro made & nicely produced.
The third section features three tracks from early/ pre Resident’s day of the 1970’s. Taking in sawing & angular blends of violin & saxophone, weird dada cartoon sing-song vocals, bizarre theatricals, chanting, and strange/ wonky instrumental pile-up. All in all a real contrast from the previous selection of tracks.
The fourth & finally a selection of tracks Nineteen Nineties are all from the 1990’s. And this section takes in four tracks- these go from bright 90’s electro Gamelan & stabbing ‘n’ synthetic orchestration like work-outs, through to a few covers including the projects take on "Daydream Believer"- which takes the original Monkeys track, and sonically rebirths it with stabbing ethnic percussion, sneering synth horns, wonky ‘n’ twitching synth vibe elements, and the vocals of Mr Skull/ Randy/ what ever over the top.
In conclusion Day Dream B-liver is a rewarding, splendidly odd, and mostly compelling compilation of rare Resident’s material. I’d go as far to say you could play this release to a newbie, and it works as a good primer/ introduction to the very distinctive & truly one-off world of The Residents.