'Tunes of Two Cities' continues the trilogy begun with 'Mark of the Mole', but in a much lighter atmosphere. It is less successful. We can feel that they are running out of steam and that there’s a drop in intensity. As if The Residents we’re trying to “muzakified” their bizarre universe. It’s not a bad album but it’s based on gimmicks that forecast their – simplified – creative process ahead. As the guitarist Snakefinger told me when I interviewed him in 1986, The Residents now had emulators and were no longer obliged to make so much effort to produce interesting sounds. From now on, this technological facility mark the work of The Residents and I’ve lost some of my interest in the band. It must be said that there was a lot going on on the music scene in the early 1980s and I had less time to devote to a band that required all the attention to be fully appreciated.© Alain Cliche 2016

The last great Residents album (that I know of). This, Eskimo, Not Available (unextended), Fingerprince, Intermission, and the Satisfaction single... top shelf. Duck Stab, Commercial Album, Meet the Residents, Mark of the Mole, and Third Reich & Roll, almost top shelf. Can't stand any release I've heard since, but I've in no way heard them all. One of the most interesting bursts of dark hilarity, poking rock 'n' roll pomposity in the eye, to come out of the seventies and early eighties. Then...O' inevitable calamity, they took themselves seriously or something worse. Judging from the impression that one guy was singing all the songs afterwards, I suspect half or more of the heads under the skulls and eyeballs went off to skip rope after the Mole Show ambitions and were replaced with heads equally ambitious in the realm of what was left of eye-eyed Rockdom. They were still weird, but dull. Anyone know of any great Residents albums since Tunes of Two Cities? If so, please share... I'd love to hear it. Love the use of the E-Mu on this one. On first listen, back when it was new, I couldn't make out what the hell instruments were being played... things from another world. Love it.

I'd recommend "God In Three Persons", if you haven't checked it out yet. It's a real hidden gem in their late 80's discography. You can find a nice review another user did under the 2LP entry here in Discogs. It needs to be listened in its entirety to be fully appreciated, better if you have the lyrics at hand. An instrumental version of the album was also released, should you not be particularly fond of narrating vocals.

Okay, let's put DuckBuster on the top shelf. I dearly love everything from Satisfaction/Third Reich through Tunes of Two Cities, some a little more than others, but I mean no disrespect to any of them. No, I haven't listened to Census Taker, haven't listened to anything after a couple of disappointments (starting with Big Bubble). Totally agree about Snakefinger's contribution to their best work. I'll give Census Taker a listen. Cheers.

Beyond_John The last great Residents album (that I know of). This, Eskimo, Not Available (unextended), Fingerprince, Intermission, and the Satisfaction single... top shelf. Duck Stab, Commercial Album, Meet the Residents, Mark of the Mole, and Third Reich & Roll, almost top shelf. Can't stand any release I've heard since, but I've in no way heard them all. One of the most interesting bursts of dark hilarity, poking rock 'n' roll pomposity in the eye, to come out of the seventies and early eighties. Then...O' inevitable calamity, they took themselves seriously or something worse. Judging from the impression that one guy was singing all the songs afterwards, I suspect half or more of the heads under the skulls and eyeballs went off to skip rope after the Mole Show ambitions and were replaced with heads equally ambitious in the realm of what was left of eye-eyed Rockdom. They were still weird, but dull. Anyone know of any great Residents albums since Tunes of Two Cities? If so, please share... I'd love to hear it. Love the use of the E-Mu on this one. On first listen, back when it was new, I couldn't make out what the hell instruments were being played... things from another world. Love it. I agree with you but not totally. To me Duckstab/Buster & Glen is top shelf. It is also my favourite album by The Residents. Have you listened to the Census taker? It's GREAT. 13th Anniversary Live in Holland is great too. Actually they gave their best while they worked with Snakefinger. After his death everything started to just sound dull. Sometimes Gingerbread man is an album I like to spin.

One of my absolute favourites of the Residents. The pure essence of their genius. Great strange sounds and melodies, drama vs irony. Mostly instrumental, it's a wide spectrum from faked jazz to absurd march music, from ambient to tribal electronics. Sounds absolutely fresh in 2014.

This album (part two of The Mole Trilogy) was derived from a concept which grew out of the early Mark Of The Mole recording sessions and was then recorded concurrently with the latter half of that of the two conflicting races in the Mole Story, (Moles and Chubs), by offering six examples of each style. Happy Home is an excerpt from the end of Act II of Innisfree, a musical drama conceived by The Residents, which is yet to be completed. (or begun) The Tunes Of Two Cities was the first album ever recorded to feature music produced on a Emulator (from E-mu Systems), a special type of keyboard instrument which digitally samples any sound for later modification and playback. The second was Peter Gabriel.