The Residents — Freak Show (Preserved Edition)

Originally released in the year 1990 Freak show was the 18th studio album from The Residents- it found the sonically quirky collective offering up a concept album  about a selection of characters from a traditional carny Freak show. The original nine-track album was a mixture of wonky theatricals, bouncing ‘n’ darting electronica, and synthesizer orchestration- topped with a blend of male & female vocals, which went from showy, barker like, and powerfully wordy. The album stands as one of the projects more approachable/easy records, as well as the album that had the most off-shoots/ spin-offs, taking in a live show, bizarre PC game, and a comic book. Here as part of the ‘pREServed’ series is a new deluxe three CD release of the album- bringing together a newly remastered version of the original album, a host of bonus & live material, and most important for long-term fans like myself a whole disc full of early demos/ song sketchers.

Like the other single album releases in the ‘pREServed’ series, this three-disc set comes presented in a thick six-panel mini gatefold presentation, which features cover artwork, Freakshow logo and a write up about the albums concept/ tracks. In the middle of the set is a twenty-page booklet taking in a new six-page write-up about the album by Jim Knipfel, a write-up about the bonus material, and a selection of stills, character pictures, etc.

The first disc in the set takes in the original album, plus seven bonus tracks, and has a full runtime of seventy-eight minutes. The new restoration & re-mastering from the original studio tapes by Scott Colburn is suitable punchy & layered in its feel, with both the instrumental, vocal, and sound effects all been balanced in an even & bold manner. The sprightly & creepily joyful elements seem even more vibrate & brash, and the more showy/ theatrical traits sound grander & more sassy, while the darker more wonky/ unease sides dart & stab with more power.
The seven bonus tracks have worth too- we get two fairly different Icky Flix’s versions of album tracks, a Jelly Jack remix track, and a few other interesting bits.

Moving onto disc two, and here we have those demo/song sketchers- the disc is entitled The Freakshow Evolutions, it takes in twenty-seven never released tracks, with an impressive full runtime of seventy-four minutes. The disc opens up with the three tracks Spring 1990 Jam 1-3 -these each run between five and nine minutes apiece, and there much as the title suggests 'jams', but there are some great moments here. There are no vocal elements here(aside from later chanting), and we of course get a selection of melodies/ riffs that would later turn-up in finished songs, but most interesting we different variations/ takes on certain themes, and even some rather neat melodies/ elements that never made it to the finished album. The next eleven tracks are entitled rough mixes, and these are once again purely instrumental taking in slight different mixes/ versions of album tracks- once again some interestingly versions/ elements here. The disc final eleven tracks are all entitled Pony Rink, and these take in bits & bobs of stuff that would later be fully realized & weaved into the album tracks, though once again there’s some stuff here that never made the cut. All in all a most fascinating look at The Residents way or working on, developing & building tracks.

The third and final disc in the set is entitled Live Freaks, and is as it suggests a selection of live recordings of album tracks. In all, there are ten tracks, with a total runtime of fifty-eight minutes- and as you’d expect from The Residents you get some at times quite different takes of the tracks, making this disc certainly a worthwhile play.

In finishing the folks at Cherry Red/MVD Audio/New Ralph have once again done a wonderful job with this ‘pREServed’ edition of this classic 1990 Residents album. And like the other releases in this series, it’s equally appealing to old Rez-heads like my self, and newbies  alike.