1976
The masked pranksters mount a frontal assault on the AM radio hits that at once formed the musical vocabulary that would make them possible while also scarring them for life. The grand irony is that the harder the Residents push the dissonance in this music, the songs still sound catchy and fun, and the balance of love and hate on this album is as weirdly entertaining as anything the group ever released.
July 26, 2005
On their second album, the Montreal group cast off the '60s straightjacket that gave their first album the feel of a museum piece or a school assignment. Instead they open up their sound to include more "modern" reference points like the Stone Roses, the '90s shoegaze sound, and jangling new wave. The extra layer of influences free the band from the clutches of the past, and they magically end up sounding like no one but themselves.
