Search - Residents :: Tweedles

Rich and varied, with unexpected turns and twists. Hypnotic!

A viewer | Portland, Maine | 01/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
When I read reviews about how dark the contents of this record was supposed to be, this scared me off and I felt reluctant to buy it.



But having listened to Tweedles, I now realize that these negative comments are really about moral sexual panic in repressed individuals. For example, one hysterical critic wrote this: "Tweedles is completely pointless. Nobody would have the slightest interest in hearing it let alone owning a copy. The Residents obviously don't care, its art. They've done what they've done brilliantly but it's akin to making a life size exact replica of Auschwitz, clever but ultimately grotesque and futile."



The story is about a man who is slave under his own sexual instinct. This is an everpresent internal struggle that he shares with most people. Many of us have fantasies about having sex with persons we find attractive, without having to take social responsibilities for it, just to please our own desires. The difference is that most people are refrained from living out those fantasies, because our conscience (or superego) stops us from hurting others we relate to. We seek a balance between the two inner sides. This man has no such barrier and only follows his sexual drive, using and hurting others (who for their own disturbed reasons may let themselves be hurt), which of course is bad. But this happens to a certain degree every day between people; people use each other sexually in more or less degree. People flirt in bars, at jobs, and it ends with sex; and often there is an unbalance, where one person (or both) is in it more for egoisitical needs than caring for or truly loving the other person. People hurt each other unconciously all the time. This man is extreme, but he is only an allegory for the animal side in all of us. He is also emotionally insecure and disturbed, afraid of real intimacy and giving and trusting in a close relationship. Actually a very sad case, and he probably had an early childhood lacking in good contact with the parents, especially the mother.



He is a also an expression of the destructive reactions that result in a society where our sexual and animal nature has been repressed by Christianity (and the other Semitic religions), and where shallow materialistic living leads to emotional needs being ignored. I find the politically correct and simplified shallow judgements by critics to the contents of the record more horrible than the man himself.



Musically this is one fantastic record. Very complex and dynamic. Reminds me a bit of God In Three Persons in the subject matter, but the narrative voice doesn't dominate over the music quite as much. Soundwise Tweedles is more advanced and charged. This is great and unrestrained art.





"

Can't wait for some TRUE reinvention on their part

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 04/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe there is still the possiblity for true reinvention from the Guys with Eyes, the legendary Rz.



I DO have an esteemed collection of Rz music, from _Meet_ to the Ralph Records anniversary with Penn Jillette, to _Title in Limbo_, as well as all four discs of the Mole Trilogy and (my personal favorite) _The Commercial Album_, and I have all the respect in the world for the distance the Rz have traveled and how they've maintained a cohesive identity and independence. And this release definitely stands above much of their most recent stuff and probably their best work since _Wormwood_ (Ralph America-only releases included)....



...and here come the inevitable 'but'...



...I find myself wishing that I could be impressed solely by the new sound of a new album rather than how well the Rz sound is working this time. I have no concerns or am put off about the subject matter itself--the Rz have been examining the darker sides of sexuality and human nature overtly since _God in Three Persons_, and _Wormwood_ continues this exploration even into Biblical matters, but this album and the River of Crime radio dramas have put these insidious matters on the front burner, and that I do by all means applaud. _Tweedles_ is a kind of one-man show from a sexually obsessed clown, who of course has a longing he is unable to fulfill, which makes him go through a spiral of regret and need and justification. Some tracks on here are quite wonderful, like "Stop Signs" and "Mark of the Male," as well as the moment Tweedles reveals the basis of his name. But these tracks stand out not for the Rz redfining their own sound into something absolutely fresh and new, but by making the best of their usual, albeit unique and immediately recognizable, sound. There are echoes of classic Rz tracks in here, and it would seem that these are conscious references, but they also smack of the inevitability of repetition.



The word reinvention is so overused nowadays in that it most often refers to superficial image changes rather than true revision of self and artistic vision. The Rz are in line, and I am confident have the ability, to take their art to another level, beyond content, but into a new realm of music and art, beyond the grounds they have already established. Yes, the Rz have created a realm that is wholly their own, but why stop there? If the music industry is still unable to catch up to them, let the Rz lap the tired old dinosaurs.



But only if they truly want to. _Tweedles_ will scare and challenge some, but it's hard to see how the Rz truly challenged themselves in this endeavor.

"

Nature v.s. Nurture

S. A DUNN | Chehalis, WA United States | 05/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Residents have recovered from their trainwreck album, "Animal Lover!" And boy, they are on top of their game on this one!



The gist of this album is similar to their groundbreaking rock opera, "God in 3 Persons." As in G3P, it is mostly a narrative set to Residential magical music. And like G3P, it investigates very adult topics.



The Residents explore male sexuality in this one. They explore what drives a man physicly. (as if we didn't know:) The "Power of Procreation" (as the Mormons teach it to youth) is strong and constant from birth till death in the Male animal. The Residents explore both the blessing and the curse of a man having a Home Entertainment System in his lap!



But of course, such a demanding power must also be regulated. Whether by the self or the State. The Residents tell through their music here what a Pandora's Box this power is. They articulate "Tweedle's" coupling with the ego, the superego and society. The ego demands couplating with the most beautiful. The superego dictates responsibility. And society demands that "Tweedle's" force must be channelled into acceptable outlets. The Residents dare to unzip the struggle that every man born alive goes through in life.



After the narrator looks into most all aspects of the love-hate relationship a male has with such a power, he reminisces to the days of his youth where the undeveloped power was happy and a private joke. At last, he can reconcile such a power with his better self and feel happy about it."