release date: 1989
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]
Track highlights: 1. "Blue Suede Shoes" - 2. "The Baby King Part 1" - 3. "Don't Be Cruel" - 5. "All Shook Up" - 9. "Devil in Disguise" - 13. "The Baby King Part 3" - 14. "Little Sister" - 18. "The Baby King Part 4" - 20. "The Baby King Part 5"
A studio album by the American experimental art rock performance band The Residents. The album is made up of Elvis Presley songs, thus the title "The King and Eye" (with 'Eye' as both referring to 'I' and 'eye', with reference to the eye-symbol of The Residents). I believe, I found this on the library as I just wanted to check out the band. My initial thoughts were that it was way too bizarre, but then I somehow got caught by the satire of the stories in between songs titled "The Baby King" (Part 1-5), and then some of the tracks, despite the strangeness, felt interesting. According to wikipedia the album is narrated "Through the perspective of a father telling his children fables about a long dead king and his songs, and a poignant string of narrative interludes - "The Baby King" - the work hints at a darker side of the Elvis mystique and questions the spiritual nature of his reign. The album "incisively portrays Elvis's life and work as a misguided abandonment of innocence in favor of a sad yet comedic Oedipal journey," writes Jim Green". Apparently, this album is the last in a trilogy with each album investigating a specific period of time in American musical history. (link, in Italian)
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
