Third Reich 'N Roll [Preserved Edition]

The Residents' second album takes the sound and approach of their first album (MEET THE RESIDENTS) and attaches it to a large concept. The album's two long pieces (each originally one side of the record) are densely packed excursions into a flurry of sixties rock & roll hits as seen through the dark heart of a nightmare. That said, however, the sheer absurdity factor here makes the whole quite funny. Songs from "Good Lovin''" to "Gloria," from "Psychotic Reaction" to "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," are stripped to their basic architecture, costumed in ritualistic garb, and paraded anew as shamanistic chants.
The element of satire is ever present, but so too is a love for these assorted pop ditties--their melodies are explored with a knowledge that can't come from interlopers, but only from those who care for them deeply. These mysteriously veiled men grew up with this music--they trust it sonically, but question the motives, the culture, and the business that surrounds it.