Teddy
I Tried to Cry
The Cry of a Crow
Struggle
PRELUDE TO THE TEDS
EP
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Prelude to the Teds was the August 1993 issue from the Hello Recording Club: a members-only-monthly CD line run by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants.
The Teds was a film treatment (still unproduced) the Residents had been working on. When Flansburgh asked for a Hello submission, the group finished these four songs.
Hello Recording Club folded in 1996, making an incredibly rare Residents CD virtually a ghost. The following year, however, the Residents decided that the EP was either obscure enough or good enough (or both) to include in the "Roosvelt" section of their CD box set, Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses.
RATING: 7
I wish this had come out instead of "Where Are Your Dogs? Show Us Your Ugly!" for Santa Dog '92. Teds is every bit the stylistic journal entry that "Santa Dog" is supposed to be, and '92 wasn't. It's got the Residents' gift for ominous, melodic songs and complicated synthesizer arrangements. But...what is it about?
Anyone?
I don't know either. But it's great listening, I'll tell you that. What's more, it packs an incredible amount of musical ideas into four short songs, in such a way that it's almost an Intermission for the 90s (though not really as good as Intermission). The highlight is "The Cry of a Crow," a thunderstorm of a song driven by its tribal rhythm; at the head of that vamp, they chant (like in an old jungle-native movie), "SOME SAY!" It comes out sounding like "SOB SOB!" Like a cry. The cry of a crow, perhaps?
The others are excellent, too. Has anyone else noticed that "Teddy" is built on the riff from "Think" by James Brown? "I Tried to Cry" is a little sad, and quite pretty, and on some odd days you might even call it "subtle." Maybe. Then at the tail end is "Struggle," a moody bit of incidental music (with those great vibes again) and some lyrical recitation over top (what is it about?????). All very dense, very cool electronic arrangements, I tell you!
Geez, this is a good one. I think it cancels out the disappointment of Santa Dog '92 the same way that Our Finest Flowers canceled Freak Show. Yes indeed, I do like me some Prelude to the Teds.
But damn it, WHAT IS IT ABOUT?!?