The Residents — Demons Dance Alone (Preserved Edition)

Demons Dance Alone was the 27th album from The Residents. Released in the year 2002, it offered some of the long-running US project's most tuneful/ approachable, at times emotionally charged material- with much of their more difficult edges stripped back, for a quirkier, at points melancholic vibe.  From Cherry Red/ MVD audio/ New Ralph here is the next in the 'Preserved Series’ which sees the labels releasing the ultimate edition of Resident albums- with each album getting a classy new remastering, and loads of rare/unreleased material. This is a three-disc CD set- that brings together the original album, demos, bonus tracks, and live takes on the material.

The set is presented in an eight-panel mini gatefold. Two of the discs appear at either end of the gatefold- each with its own card slips, with the third disc tucked in the card panel. Included is an eight-page booklet- this features a new write-up about the album/ period, as well as a breakdown of the unreleased tracks/ demos.

Demons Dance Alone was written as an emotional response to the September 11 attacks of 2001. It’s a concept album- which is split into three main parts, "Loss", "Denial", and "The Three Metaphors", bookended by "Tongue" and "Demons Dance Alone", and broken up by various untitled transitional instrumentals.

The first disc in the set takes in the twenty tracks from the original album and five bonus tracks. We move from mellow grooving piano keys, lightly squelching guitar strum, vibe tones & light string detail of “The Weatherman”  which features wavering yet heartfelt vocals from Molly Harvey. Onto “Honey Bear”  with its gentle skitter-to-lightly twisting a screw beats, piano key cascade, and glum baritone of the singing Residents' vocals.  

As we move further in we have the light grooving bass guitar line, seesaw guitar tones,  flamboyant organ fills, and mix of sing-song child vocals/ singing Residents vocals of “Mickey Macaroni”. There are the playful chiming tones, singing-song backing vocals, and impassioned female vocals of “The Beekeeper Daughter”. The original album plays out with the title track- which features a steadily darting ‘n’ stabbing blend of twanging guitar, skittering beats, plucking tone gallop, and mournful baritone vocals of the singing Resident.

The five bonus tracks are pretty good, following the tone/ quality of the main album tracks, though they may have a more hazy feel. We have the jiving organ, warping ‘n’ whistling synth tones, and slightly wrapped sing-song vocals of “Hidden Hand”. Onto seesawing electric guitar chug, skittering beats, and slightly sassy/rocked-up showtime female vocals of "The Golden Goat".

Moving onto the second disc in the set, this takes in twenty-four tracks- bringing together a huge selection of demo tracks, and a few alternative/ remixed version of tracks. This for me is the true treasure of the album- as it shows the band working on ideas, melodies, and instrumental pallets- with some of the demos being quite different from how they worked out on the album, as well as tracks that never made the album. We go from the jaunting fairground, stop-start percussion, and jiving keys/ raising synth choir tones of “KLEnex”.  There’s the upfront tip-topping bongo drums, ambient synth swoon, and slight vocoded vocals  “Mr Wonderful”. The slower more slurred bass line, piping synth tones, and slight scuttling piano/ keys of “Honey Bear”. There’s a more bouncing/ jaunting synth-tone-led version of the title track. We have the ghoulish galloping paino, bass, light skitter percussion, and slightly singing Resident hazed vocals of “Love Song Of A Vampire”. As  I said a real treasure chest of a disc.

The third and final disc features seventeen tracks- all of these are live recordings of the album tracks, and as you’d expect some of these are fairly different/more pump-up versions of the tracks- with often a more seared guitar edge to proceedings too. It’s great to have this disc to finish of the set, and all Demons Dance Alone album/ touring cycle was.

All told this is another well-put-together/ worthy edition to the 'Preserved Series’- and this is most definitely a great release to pick up if you want to get into The Residents, as there’s no doubt it’s one of the project's most approachable releases.