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#Post#: 513--------------------------------------------------
SANTA DOG '72 (Project of the Week for 18th of December)
By: Meisekimiu Date: December 18, 2017, 11:00 am
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Ho! Ho! Ho! In the beginning, there was... SANTA DOG! And
perfection ends when life begins.
(Please keep discussion mainly to Santa Dog '72... we'll have
plenty of time to discuss the other dogs later)
#Post#: 515--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (18th of December): SANTA DOG (1972)
By: goatie Date: December 18, 2017, 9:00 pm
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The first Meet The Residents CD had the original Santa Dog as
bonus tracks, and that's how I first heard it (other than the
short samples of each Dog on RzWeb). This was among my first
batch of Rz albums, and I distinctly remember liking Santa Dog
more than the album. (I suppose I still do, but back then I
know my feelings on Meet were "well, I like that piano piece in
the middle but not much else." These days I like a few more
songs.)
I suppose I was struck most by the sharp contrast in musical
ability. Santa Dog is so much more competent, and knowing it
was from a year or two earlier made me think they had taken a
step backwards (this was way before I learned that much of Santa
Dog is sampled, so of course the musicianship is better). I had
also heard about some mysterious four unreleased albums, and I
figured that's what Meet was: a compilation of the best(?) bits
from those, because they had to get an album out and they had
nothing. But I digress, let's talk some dogs...
"Fire" is pure and lovely, and nobody can take that away (not
even if you retool it to be a theme song for a Comedy Central
cartoon). Surfy goodness that's sure to please everybody. Fun
fact: I was in a high school play and they wanted cast members
to get on the PA system in the morning to advertise it over the
course of a week, so I wrote new lyrics to "Fire" and sang it
with two friends for the whole school. We weren't asked back.
"Explosion" and "Lightning" have had their names swapped on
different releases, so I honestly don't know which is which.
But I like them both, with the one with groovy organ to
percussion to "when everyone lives in the future" edging out as
my preferred track. It's very often randomly playing in my head
(that and "Smokebeams" from Tunes of Two Cities seem to be my
default internal soundtrack).
And as for "Aircraft Damage" - this is our first real taste of
how The Residents love to play with the sounds and rhythm of
language. This really appealed to me at the time, and while
it's probably not responsible for my degree in Linguistics, The
Residents and I were definitely kindred spirits, just separated
by a quarter century of time. Oh, if only I'd known you way
back when... I'd have been running your website for over 20
years now. Yikes.
#Post#: 517--------------------------------------------------
Re: PROJECT OF THE WEEK (18th of December): SANTA DOG (1972)
By: moleshow Date: December 25, 2017, 3:37 pm
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for a while, i refused to get through the entirety of Santa Dog-
im not sure why. i would get through Fire, and think "yeah thats
enough of that".
that being said, there is some really fun and beautiful stuff
that happens on the other tracks. i think in skipping them,
stuff like Our Finest Flowers made a whole lot less sense. like,
Kick A Cat? why would i do that? wheres that from?
it's interesting to see how a lot of the musical techniques used
are consistently present in their later works, too.
unfortunately, Santa Dog really doesn't hold any amazing
personal meaning for me. but maybe someday it will.
#Post#: 519--------------------------------------------------
Re: SANTA DOG '72 (Project of the Week for 18th of December)
By: Meisekimiu Date: December 25, 2017, 10:41 pm
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I really dig the original Santa Dog. It's just a quick bit of
early Rz goodness. My favorite part is the "when everyone lives
in the future, the present is au revoir" part. Something about
the way everything sounds in that part just sort of sums up what
I like in music. I don't actually listen to Santa Dog that much
though... I try to keep at least Santa Dog '72 exclusively a
Christmas track.
Random note. I actually just listened to Santa Dog the other day
after waking up hungover from a fun Christmas party and... boy
was it irritating in that state! Is that what Santa Dog sounds
like to people who have "normal" taste in music?!
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