Pollex Christi
POLLEX CHRISTI
Special Release
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Pollex Christi |
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Nigel ("N.") Senada, assuming he exists, was one of the Residents' earliest friends-and-collaborators. He was a Bavarian composer and music theorist, the man who formulated the Theory of Obscurity and the Theory of Phonetic Organization that the group so often name-checks.
In 1937, N. Senada premiered his masterpiece, Pollex Christi ("Big Toe of Christ"), which audiences and critics both refused to take seriously; he had stolen pieces of Beethoven's 5th and Orff's Carmina Burana, among others, without even bothering to disguise or alter them at all. Senada defended his work by insisting that a composer's job was simply to "build the house," even if he hadn't made the individual bricks. All the same, Senada's musical career was crippled forever. His work did influence the Residents, however: he worked with them on their pre-Santa Dog work, then disappeared, only to re-surface during the recording of Eskimo (which he inspired in the first place). In 1993, he died at the age of 86.
For what would have been N. Senada's 90th birthday (and the 60th anniversary of its premiere), the Residents performed the first-ever recording of Pollex Christi. Senada had left large holes in the piece so that the performers could insert music, becoming composers themselves. The Residents obliged by plugging in pieces such as the theme from Star Trek. This recording became the first RalphAmerica exclusive release (catalog number RA 001), distributed in two editions of 400 before disappearing forever. An abridged version of the piece came out on the Residents Roosevelt 2.0 set in 2001; in the meantime, copies of the original CD pressings regularly sell on eBay for upwards of $200.
RATING: 6
Know ye first that I am reviewing the abridged version, unless someone can get me an original copy for less than $25 (including shipping). Now then!
Pollex Christi is roundly, and spectacularly, not terrible.
I don't believe in N. Senada, I'll state right off the bat, so I'll consider this firstly a Residents compositions and secondly a melody. It's beautifully, and I mean beautifully, performed. In fact, I think it's the first non-Bach time I've ever heard the organ (this performance being mostly organ) used for the purpose that its inventor had in mind: to campture the fullness of the entire orchestra. The Residents do that, with the help of either three-to-four organs or great, sweeping production. Also, they have great drums on Pollex Christi. I'm ninety percent certain that they're drum-machine, but who cares? They're a great effect, and in Beethoven and Orff you can suddenly hear rhythmic intensities that the composers downplayed in their days.
But I have to be fair. Even if there was a Nigel Senada who premiered Pollex Christi in 1937 (and no historical record of him exists, except in Residents-related material), this thing is still little more than a medley. And, while the Residents do it with an extremely imaginative and fitting texture, the arrangement (except the drums) is pretty stock. I can't even find anything original or even unusual in the harmonies, which is one of the Residents' specialties. And the closest to Residential humor is their slipping in Alexander Courage's Star Trek theme.
Would YOU pay $187.50 for what I've just described? Well, yesterday on eBay, somebody did. Go figure.