Residents - Cube-E Live In Holland - Cassette

In 1990, the Residents took their grand examination of rock & roll on the road, touring the world with the Cube E tour. The first half found the group reciting cowboy poems to a soundtrack influenced more by Copland and Orff than country & western, then followed with a group of blues, field hollers, and warped jazz that represented the African-American experience. By intermission, the two had combined into rock music, which in the second half was disseminated by an aging Elvis impersonator tearing through Presley covers (essentially a live version of their 1989 album The King and Eye). The staging, costumes, lights, and general performance were not to be missed, and earned justifiable rave reviews. The tour document, an intelligent 70-minute compression of the 90-plus minute show (gone are most of the between song chats with two ventriloquist dummies in the Elvis section, as well as some of the songs) suffers from rather tinny and normalized sound, from what was a very dynamic performance. There are some better versions of the live Elvis material scattered on various CDs (Stranger Than Supper and the out of print Daydream B-Liver), but if this is the version listeners have to keep, then so be it. "Black Barry" is one of the group's best compositions, and it's here in its entirety: that should be enough to recommend it.

Track Listing
1. From The Plains To Mexico
2. Theme From Buckaroo Blues, The
3. Stampede, The
4. Trail Dance, The
5. Bury Me Not
6. Cowboy Waltz
7. Saddle Sores
8. Theme From Buckaroo Blues, The (Reprise)
9. Gospel Truth, The
10. Shortnin' Bread
11. Black Barry
12. Fourty-Four
13. Engine 44
14. New Orleans
15. Voodoo Queen
16. What Am I Gonna Do
17. Organism
18. Ober
19. Baby King I, The
20. Don't Be Cruel
21. Devil In Disguise
22. Burning Love
23. Teddy Bear
24. Love Me Tender
25. Baby King II, The
26. Hound Dog / Out