Animal Lover
| Animal Lover | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Residents | ||||
| Released | April 5, 2005 | |||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock | |||
| Length | 58:46 | |||
| Label | Mute/EMI | |||
| The Residents chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| PopMatters | (6/10) |
Animal Lover is an album, released in 2005 by The Residents.
It portrays human life through the eyes of different animals. In the CD booklet, the lyrics to a song are preceded by a story from an animal's point of view. For example, "On the way (To Oklahoma)" begins with a story, from the animal's viewpoint, about a man obsessed with tigers. On the next page, the lyrics are shown, giving the listener the details behind the story. On this particular track, the man goes insane, thinks he's a tiger, and kills a dog. The story precedes the song itself, but also tells us what happened to the man.
However, not all tracks contain stories. "Dreaming of an Anthill (Teeming)", "Ingrid's Oily Tongue", and "Mr. Bee's Bumble" are instrumental tracks. There aren't any stories to these songs in the booklet, perhaps to allow the listener to discern the story him/herself.
The album uses darker and more serious styles of instrumentals and lyrics. Examples of this are the tracks Olive and Gray and Burn my Bones and the bonus CD ...Imaginary Jack in some parts.
The album also contains a bonus CD, generally called "...Imaginary Jack". According to the Cryptic Corporation, it really is one long track, divided to six parts to the enjoyment of the listener. The full title is actually the entire text written on the disc:
"I stood at my window staring at an arcing streetlight.
A sudden wind made me pull my shoulders to my ears.
I pissed into the dark.
It smelled like canned tuna.
My swollen lip throbbed.
I could still taste the blood.
My eyes rolled back looking for memories.
I stopped.
I was changing details in my mind, remembering only what I wanted it to be, not what it was.
I had only a short time to do what had to be done, after that it would all be forever absorbed by my imaginary Jack."
The tracks on the bonus CD combine elements from tracks from the original CD with elements from then-unreleased material. For example, the instrumental versions of "My Window" and "The Monkey Man" were sampled on track 2, as well as lyrics from unreleased material and modulated lyrics from "Burn My Bones" and "The Monkey Man".
A CD containing a series of lush instrumental organizations was released in January 2008. It was limited to 1000 copies and sold very quickly.
The unusual noises with which "Burn My Bones" open are a sample from the instrumental version of "Two Lips", albeit a thoroughly dismantled version.
The song 'My Window' was used as the encore song for The Resident's 'The Bunny Boy' tour.
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Wikipedia