Search - Residents :: 13th Anniversary Live in Tokyo

An improvement over the Mole Show Live recording

David Fields | Lincoln, Nebraska United States | 04/16/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In 1985 the Residents, suffering from losses from the Mole Show, the loss of Ralph Records as a viable alternative record company, and needing a new lease on life,were talked into a Japan tour by Bomba records. Happily, they accepted the challange.The resulting album from that tour is an improvement over the flat sounding "Mole Show" recordings that have come from that earlier act. The music rises and fades, and sounds like they are actually playing instruments rather than suffering the flat synthetic sound of the Mole Show.By far the highlight to this recording is the guitar workings of Snakefinger, a man who was probably one of the most underated and overlooked guitarists of his era. His range of musical abilities, ranged from folk to advant garde, with blues and jazz in the middle show his considerable talent, and the world is a poorer place without him. Of course, we hear the rock and advante garde ranges in this recording, and it is recommended that you seek out and find out more about this lost talent.This is a recoring of a "greatest hits tour" rather than of the concept tours of the Mole Show or E Cubed. However, in the sense of musical talent shown and pure entertainment for the audience, this recording is a success.Happily the show ends with "Cry for Fire" with Snakefinger blistering his way throught the acme of a guitar solo that ends this song, and this album. Inexplicably (was it purposely done in the show?) the guitar solo fades out, the audience can be heard applauding, and the show ends.Recommended for fans, and for the open minded uninitiated."

A Great Album to Start With

Phylo Brag | New York, NY | 11/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a matter of fact this WAS my first Residents album. I am now an owner of most of the Residents' music. The music in this show is dark, haunting, manical (Smelly Tongues), aggressive, and absolutely satisfying. Its long enough to hold hour of listenig value, but all of the "retranslations" are different from one another. Listen to this at 3 AM, in a dark room, with sterio headphones. I did when I first got it. The climax of the show might give you a migraine.Thanks to technology, this performance can be heard with the audience. Previous releases of the show included the "empty house" affect."

All Alone, Has No Hone...

Robert J. Burdick | Los Altos, CA | 01/05/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"After the Mole Show debacle, The Residents (temporarily) changed for the worse. The Big Bubble (their worst recording of all time) and the 13th Anniversary Tour were the results of the "band" regrouping. Anyone familiar enough with The Residents phases and sounds can easily figure that a number of the original foursome flew the coop after the Mole Show. The lone survivor took it one the road. Flat, bland, and one dimensional, this recording shows the remaining Resident (now known as Mr. Skull) trying to regroup. Fortunately, with the discovery of new sounds, styles, MIDI, and the like, the "group" got it back together. But "The 13th Anniversary Show" demonstrates that art indeed imitates life. As in the early Residents tune "The Sandman", here our front man is "All Alone, Has No Hone To Edge His Knify Bone.""