The Residents — In Between Dreams- Live in San Francisco
In late 2017, after they had just completed two albums- I Am A Resident! & Intruders- The Residents, instead of resting on their considerable laurels, decided to undertake a forty-plus date world tour. It was fittingly entitled In Between Dreams- and it saw the infamous avant-pop collective reimagining a selection of songs from their near 50 years back catalogue. Here from Cherry Red, MVD Audio, and the Cryptic Corp is a double-disc taking in both audio & visual recordings one of the tour's date- and it certainly shows the four-piece firing on all cylinders- with both energy & sonic oddness.
This is the second larger edition of this release- as it originally appeared as a limited release back in June 2019 on Secret Records. This new version, as far I’m aware, is unlimited. The two-discs are presented in a six-panel mini gatefold- this takes in pictures of the band in their blue & white Chequered suits, white plague masks, and white bowler hats- with the singer dressed in a horned skin-tight cow onesie, set on a blue & black polka dot backing. In the inside middle of the gatefold, we have a twelve-page booklet- taking in pictures from the tour, and one-page write-up about the tour, and credits.
The show featured here was recorded in April 2018, at The Chapel in San Francisco. The first disc in the set is the CD- this takes in fifteen tracks, and seventy minutes of music. The second disc is a region free DVD- this takes in the full live set featuring seventeen tracks/ interludes and runs one hour and thirty-six minutes.
The set kicks-off with a long take of “Jelly Jack The Boneless Boy” from the projects 1990 album Freak Show- the band takes the original tracks tense twisting ‘n’ turning electronica, and replaces it with swooping 'n' sailing guitar scaping backed with snapping beats- later drifting in woozy & wavering drifts of vocoder voocals, jittering guitar texturing & ambience. By track five we’ve come to the eerier & unsettling vibe, piano, & compressed wailing guitar work of “Monkey Man” from 2005 album Animal Lovers- morphing the tracks original wonky nurse rhythm vibe into a felt-but-odd electro-rock ballad. As we get to the tenth track the band shift from longer tracks, to shorter works-out that run between two & four-minute. We have the off-angle jiving ‘n’ grooving harmonica tipped instrumental track “Africa Tree”. The baying vocals & seared punked blues of “Die! Die! Die!”, or the march-to-tolling electro-rock topped with robo warped vocals of “Tourniquet Of Roses” which of course takes us back to 1976 Fingerprince album, but once again complete reimagines the track.
The DVD finds the band fairly stripped-back & basic in their set-up, though to one side of the stage is this huge white globe- and throughout the show, we get weird & wonderful taking head interludes from a series of characters, including an ex American president- which nicely breaks things up, making the just over hour & half set to fly by.
All told this is a very nicely presented live release, with The Residents putting on another weird & pretty damn wonderful show- and it’s so nice to have both the CD & DVD as one, with a reasonable price point of around £11.00/ $15.00.