R5 Bluejl 10 Osgood 5

[rayge]

A Residents - Hello Skinny

B Ry Cooder – Yellow Roses

[oh oooh]

Is that a pedal steel in B? I think I recognise it.

^ Good comment, eh? You wanted something more than 'A' or 'B' and there you have it!


Anyway. I couldn't care less about Ry Cooder pissing about with his pedal steel, even though the tune is pleasant enough.

That's a prime Residents' cut off what's possibly their finest album. They achieve the perfect balance between fucked-up and fun. Clever fellas.

A

[sloopjohnc]

I really want to like Ry Cooder more than I do. He has a lot of the goods except for being able to write good songs.

Not my favorite Residents' song, but the homies win it here.

A

[toomanyhatz]

B is gonna get killed here! So I'm doing what little I can. It doesn't help that the longest and probably most cerebral track on a great album was chosen. Great if you're already a Cooder fan, as I am, but it's not going to win any converts.

I like A just fine, but as usual for me with the Residents, I admire it more than I feel any particular connection with it. I'm glad they exist, but I could do without it a lot more easily than I could Cooder.

[Sneelock]

sometimes life makes you pick between the Residents and Ry Cooder, doesn't it?
you'll have to excuse me. EVERYTHING is a goddam metaphor today & it's only Tuesday.

the blockbuster one-two punch "Duck Stab/Buster & Glen" LP was my first Residents LP. People who have owned Residents LP's willingly will understand the power of that statement. it's like talking about your first car crash or your first blow-job. it's something you don't forget.

Poor Ry. He was never much of a singer and since he's not in the Residents that's something of a liability. IMO You could defend yourself against a surly attacker with a stack of good Ry Cooder albums.

the guy had a real sense of... appropriateness. is that the word I'm looking for? yeah, everything seems real well thought out to me. well, except his vocals which I often find very tentative. Naturally the more he plays that bottle-necky style he has - the more I like him.

Ry is great but this is an easy A. those fuckin' Resident guys hurt my brain but in a really good way. they affected my music processing membrane in an undeniable way & it was pretty fucked up to begin with.

[DayoRemix]

Guess I have to go with the Residents, being it was MY original "R" choice..Luckily, Cooder does nothing for me anyway..Vote A

[Deleted]

A is pretentious and annoying, like most of their records. Nothing musical happening there at all.

B is pleasant but soporific and far too long. Very odd choice.

Trying to avoid abstaining so B

[bungo the mungo]

Aug 4, 2021 5:00:26 GMT @madcyril1 said:

A is pretentious and annoying, like most of their records. Nothing musical happening there at all.

B is pleasant but soporific and far too long. Very odd choice.

you've summed up this tie perfectly, G. nothing more to add other than i will:

ABSTAIN

[hippiedrill]

a A german Expressionist video summoning an alternative future for the plugholed baby in Disraeli Gears. Docked marks for lack of GUITARS, but a nice synth melody and more of a vocal than usually evidenced by these chancers. They always hid their faces because they were ASHAMED 5 / 10

b It was all downhill from Safe as Milk, really. Is this about Texas? The instrumentalinterplay is often pretty, and well-recorded, but fuck, it goes on a bit. What this track needs is a Ritalin suppository. Or an edit. I don't hate his voice - he's a better singer than Eric Covidiot - but it is astonishingly characterless, and if I'm going to listen to this sort of mid-century Americana - and I do, sometimes – I want to hear from authentic children of the Depression, not rich fanboys, no matter how purty they play their 'axes'. 4.5 /10

a

[fange]

Neither artist is really a favourite of mine, but i've heard both these tracks before and like them a bit. A feels fresher today.


A

[~ / % ? *]

This is the California you feared was always there if you dug past the glitter and self mythologizing: obscure and soporific.

The Residents are a great example of phonography that was a by product of rock's great cultural and economic success, lots of obscurity, inane-ness. I use to have more time for this, now I just don't.

Ry is a tough one, this one is tedious, for the sake of the cup he would have been better served by something tighter and shorter, but his rootsy-ness still would have gotten howls, from those he prefer howling and less rootsy-ness.

B

[fearlessfreap]

A is great, this is obvious. Wake me when B is over.

[DarknessFish]

Not really gone deep-diving into The Residents' back-catalogue here, it's as obvious a pick as you could probably find from them. But still, it's a great track, I love the insisent dull throb of the backing, the kinda eastern-pastiche of the main melody, the quietly skronking sax. Who the hell skronks quietly? A noir-tinged horror-short; bloody magnificent. Hellllllloooooooooo

Hmm. I try to be positive in my comments. But this is an abomination. Nasty.

A

[fonz]

I’m giving Ry some love. Residents don’t click with me. Maybe one day.

B

[morgan]

Giving this one a miss, both are tedious and annoying in their own ways. I'm surprised that a talented and experienced musician like cooder can come up with pointless stuff like that.