From its humble beginnings in 2001 as a Civil War themed album, through multiple incarnations (Feast Of Manias, Tiger Love and more), Animal Lover took shape in a way no other Residents album had before.

Evolving and morphing across multiple distinct phases, with contributions from collaborators as well as The Residents themselves, the album saw the group explore new sonic territory, complex arrangements and a contemporary sound whilst retaining their own unmistakable aesthetic.

This 3CD Evolution Edition provides over forty unreleased tracks showcasing the 2001-2004 development of the album, including a detour into abandoned songs such as Vanishing Genitalia and Starvation Demon, as well as contemporary outtakes and the Imaginary Jack suite.

Also featuring notes from Brian Poole and Carla Fabrizio, and the usual insightful essay from Jim Knipfel (based on the recollections of The Cryptic Corporation’s Homer Flynn), this set explores a level of access and detail rarely available to fans of any particular album.

As for the music we are gifted here across the newly-expanded 3CD set, well, it is a real gumbo mix of influences. Their collaboration with Carla Fabrizio (one of my personal heroines and essentially a fifth Resident, if you will, around the first decade of the 21st century) reaches a gorgeous peak here also.

The Residents are often derided for just letting computers do increasingly more of the heavy lifting for them (I won’t blame people for being miffed about that, though I really don’t mind), but Animal Lover is mostly real instruments played by Carla and the many, many friends she brings along to give this music a palette richer than anything else the group has ever released after the 1970s.

Of course, I don’t want to leave out Nolan Cook, easily the most divisive guitarist who has ever worked with the group, but who shines on this album like he never did since. During the later tours Nolan seemed content to have a tone ranging from sneeringly obnoxious to ear-splittingly obnoxious, only slightly cooling down in the studio stuff, but on Animal Lover he seems to have a different idea for mostly every song he plays on.

And sure, whilst some may disagree with some of those ideas (like the bratty guitar riff in the middle of Mother No More - which I personally always heard as the selfish indifference of the cat in the story towards the situation happening with the humans around him - he is never dull or boring, that’s for darn tootin’ sure!

On the vocal department, some people are bummed at the lack of the Singing Resident but I say to those people that the wide variety of vocalists on these songs only enhances the feeling that this is a GROUP of people. Only some of them with any musical talent, making music that evokes so damn well the Civil War-era folk tunes most of these tracks took inspiration from; and here I was, always wondering why these melodies sounded so folksy, so old-fashioned, so SPOOKY!

I mean, come on now, this complete set IS bloody SPOOKY! The last time The Residents truly sounded like a scary group, and more effectively this time around because Homer and Hardy were both nearing their sixties by now. There is a communal feeling here that hadn’t been present in their music for so long. I would wager even Eskimo feels a bit too much like someone’s passion project to sound as democratic as this. In fact, The Third Reich ’n’ Roll was the last project until this one where there was a genuine feeling of I don’t know how many people are in this group.

Full Tracklisting:
1. On The Way (To Oklahoma); 2. Olive and Gray; 3. What Have My Chickens Done Now?; 4. Two Lips; 5. Mr. Bee’s Bumble; 6. Inner Space; 7. Dead Man; 8. My Window; 9. Ingrid’s Oily Tongue; 10. Mother No More; 11. Dreaming Of An Anthill (Teeming); 12. Elmer’s Song; 13. The Monkey Man; 14. The Whispering Boys; 15. Burn My Bones; 16. Animal Lover Seven; 17. Dead Men (Unspoken Outtake); 18. The Mad Gasser; 19. Two Testes; 20. On The Way To Oklahoma For Christmas; 21. Jack’s Lament; 22. I’m A Good Old Rebel (Good Soldier); 23. The Lakes Of Pontchartrain (Sweet Dreams); 24. Drill Ye Tarriers (Elmer); 25. Lost Jimmie Whelan (Jack’s Lament); 26. Molly & Tenbrooks (Tea); 27. Greenland Whale Fisheries (Mother); 28. Aura Lea (Aura); 29. Oh Dem Golden Slippers (Better Than None); 30. Lily Of The West (Of The West); 31. Follow The Drinking Gourd (Water); 32.Kurth (Bones); 33. Of The West 1 (Monkey); 34. Battle (Inner Space); 35. Water (Mother Samuel); 36. Tea (Whispering); 37. The Range (Ingrid); 38. Of The West 2 (Monkey); 39. Low Rain (Dead Men); 40. Gold Shipper (Lips); 41. Good Soldier (Tiger Love); 42. Aura Lea (Vocal Demo); 43. Jack’s Lament; 44. Aura Lea; 45. Mother Samuel (Chickens); 46. Vanishing Genitalia (Olive And Gray); 47. Tiger Love - Long Version (Oklahoma); 48. Inner Space (Outtake); 49. Sweet Dreams - Long Version (Window); 50. Goat Sucker (Molly’s Vocal Demo); 51. Witchcraft; 52. Vanishing Genitalia (Mania); 53. Starvation Demon; 54. Tulip; 55. Two Lips; 56. Inner Space; 57. Untitled Instrumental; 58. Whispering Boys (MIDI); 59. Untitled Oklahoma Fragment; 60. Dead Men; 61. Jack’s Lament Refrain; 62. Visions Of Joanna; 63. Sneeking A Pee; 64. Lament; 65. Shiny Dough; 66. The Window (Opening); 67. Anger/Hunger; 68. Two Lips; 69. Yes/No; 70. Animal Lover; 71. The Window (Closening)

A must-hear for Residents fans and collectors, including those not already familiar with Animal Lover, and an essential part of the ongoing pREServed series. Expect forthcoming sets exploring Tweedles!, The Ughs and the Randy, Chuck & Bob era.

Official Purchase Link

www.residents.com