GINGERBREAD MAN
Album
| The Weaver |
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The industry now calls them "Enhanced CDs," but when the Residents pioneered the technology in 1994, they called Gingerbread Man an "Expanded Album. The Freak Show CD-ROM had been such a phenomenon as a supplement to the music that the group decided to try giving audio and visual elements equal footing on their next project.
Gingerbread Man was an examination of nine tortured characters and the demons who plague them—embodied by the dark figure of the Gingerbread Man. The video program had "Ginger" guiding viewers through each character's surreal nightmares; the viewer could use interactive commands to manipulate the character and his/her landscape (a randomizer was also programmed in to keep viewers from having the same experience twice).
The audio program of the CD was a set of internal monologues set to music, one for each character and a final taunt by their baked-good tormentor. Each piece was a variation on a single haunting theme, which represented Ginger. Todd Rundgren played the parts of the Sold-Out Artist, the Ascetic, and the Aging Musician.
The sung section of the "The Confused Transsexual" took its lyrics from "The Cry of a Crow," from the Prelude to the Teds EP.
The Residents did release an audio-only CD of Gingerbread Man's programmatic music. While the CD-ROM is long out of print, the audio CD is still relatively easy to track down.
RATING: 8
Gingerbread Man isn't popular with Residents fans. I can see why, too: rating it has been like a trampoline. It's been an 8, a 7, a 6, an 8 again, and so on. But at the end of the ride, the music's too good, the characters are too real, and the concept is too solid to argue with.
Forget the visual stuff; it's really cool, but about as timeless as Betamax. (In fact, the music should get extra points for not aging as horribly as the video.) These monologues tell you everything you need to know. A lot of the time I do instinctively want to hear more singing, less ranting, and yet it's the ranting that ends up making it interesting. It might be the melody that makes the Sold-Out Artist's point that "everybody feeds the fat boy," but he has no depth or dimension at all until you hear that gnawing reminder of Ted Williams in the back of his head. And though you may enjoy the Butcher's melody, after the one verse you'll be more interested in finding out who the Hell Buddy is.
And let me concede this: yes, the music is repetitive. Yes, it all comes from the same, mocking "Run, run, fast as you can" melody. THAT'S THE BEST PART. Really! Ginger is the star of the show, demo-ing the fruits of his twisted labor, so of course his theme should dominate the music. Ditto for the "bye-goodbye" endings. Frankly, I'm more impressed that the Residents keep finding new arrangements for that theme; the cello for "The Confused Transsexual" is beautiful, and the waltzing "Ascetic" is a fantastic curveball.
Finally, mention should be made of one thorough masterwork here: "The Old Woman" begins the (Molly Harvey) singing part with the stealthy darkness, musically and lyrically, of suicidal thoughts. The instrumental bridge is a requiem; then, at the rant, the music becomes downright panicky, and the voices argue with themselves crazily (even when they're just echoes). It's fuckin' brilliant.
Overall appraisal: Marvelous music, talk, tacos, and turds.
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