Search - Residents :: Not Available

The quintessential independent musicians

Oliver | Morelia, MICH MEX | 11/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Inspired by Dada, surrealism and Frank Zappa, the Residents assembled fragments and debris of junk culture (commercials, orchestral easy-listening, cartoon soundtracks, pop muzak, exotica, marching-band fanfares) and proceeded to sculpt a sonic montage that was deliberately amateurish but also provided a chilling documentary of the western civilization, albeit disguised as a grotesque parody of its consumerism. Where Zappa was actually a virtuoso of composition and direction, a heroic implementer of sloppy ideas, the Residents were sloppy implementers of heroic ideas. Glacial, distorted, monotonous voices soared over instruments that merged chamber and atonal pretenses with puerile rhythms and clumsy melodies. Not Available (1978), conceived in 1974 but released several years later, one of the milestone recordings of the era, was their most sophisticated work of art. Its suites virtually coined a new form of avantgarde music out of symphonic primitivism and cacophonous world-music. Despite the gargantuan display of sounds, they offered a bleak and terrifying vision of humankind."

Another great album from the eyeballs!

Michael Noyes | San Francisco, CA USA | 03/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been buying and enjoying Residents album for years and I finally got my hands on this little number. All I can say is why did I wait so long? This album is great, ranking up there with other classic Residents ablums like Duck Stab (their best) and their most recent Demons Dance Alone. For one of their 70's albums Not Available is very accecable. Even non-Residents fans should be able to enjoy this delicious selection of music."

A good rerelease of an early Rz document

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 05/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good, clean version of this early Rz historical document. The original legend went that this was originally recorded under a philosophy of Obscurity, a kind of purist artistic vision that demanded art for art's sake, which included the creation of art that would never be released to the public. Various stories of the actual reason for release came through, from business needs to not wanting to reveal some personal in-fighting, but released it got, and this EuroRalph digipak release is a very listenable one. I used to have a release that included some bonus tracks from the amazing Rz - Renaldo and the Loaf collaboration, which I am thankful for because it gave me good reason to seek out _Title in Limbo_, but _Not Available_ itself was rather poorly put to disc and after a while became unlistenable. This release is a lot more listenable and clean in sound and includes some more info about the in-fighting legend and even some info about the performance aspect that was behind this recording. While this isn't the best the Rz has to offer, I've always been fond of "Ship's A'Going Down" as well as some of the other tracks within these tracks that never quite go named, though they should. This is also a good segue away from the plodding _Meet the Residents_ into their more synthesized and electronic work, which is where their art really started to take off. Well worth getting, if you're looking to make the effort.

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