Curiously, this is the most listenable Residents album I've had the opportunity to explore so far. That duck voice in "Constantinople" and many other tracks from this 'double-EP' reminds me of the sorts of surreal antics David Lynch would perform as a musical artist many years later. The result is moody and disturbing, but also evocative, and often endearing (in keeping with Lynch's cinematography). Some of the textures and instrumentations are hypnotic. And many moments are frankly groundbreaking for the time period. It might be a stretch to consider any Residents album as "essential records", yet I respect the 1001 Albums book for trying hard to include the weirdest sort of experimental music that can exist, here rubbing shoulders with blatantly commercial pop artists whose success in the charts is light-years away from the underground fame painstakingly reached by the dadaist outfit (the problem, as always, is to decide which sort of experimental stuff you must select). Ironically, I will say the same thing about the Residents than the thing I've recently said about the Monkees or Britney Spears: a compilation or playlist of the best cuts in their discography is probably more satisfying and dynamic than discrete studio albums. That said, being the underdog that they are because of their niche "artistry", the Residents deserve as many benevolent takes and open-minded assessments as they can garner. Which why I will bump my own grading of this album a notch. This won't save this record for its infamously low global score on this app. But it will be my good deed of the day. 3.5/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums, rounded up to 4. 8.5/10 for more general purposes (5+3.5). Number of albums left to review: 77 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 397 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 230 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 297 (including this one)