God in Three Persons (1988)

This sprawling work is one of their most important and most harrowing. The singing Resident tells the tale, in his best southern drawl, of a Colonel Tom Parker type who becomes involved with siamese twins, who have the power to heal. A story with dark sexual undercurrents and a genuinely shocking climax is reward for patient listening.

The music plays second fiddle at times (thus the release of an instrumental version), but is very nicely done. Their Early Years is a highlight for me, a great little story about the twins' upbringing and the time they gained respect by bringing a dog back to life. The last track on the album, Pain And Pleasure, is another wonderful bittersweet piece. Snakefinger was to have contributed some guitar parts but, alas, it was not to be.

This was another change for The Residents. It's a very mature and thoughtful work with subtle instrumentation; perhaps a bid to be taken seriously, at a time where they were being dismissed by the accursed music press as conceptual jokers.