God in Three Persons [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Residents | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: East Side Digital
• ASIN: B00004SYD4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,993 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Main Title from "God in 3 Persons"

2. Hard & Tenderly

3. Devotion?

4. The Thing About Them

5. Their Early Years

6. Loss of Loved One

7. The Touch

8. The Service

9. Confused (By What I Felt Inside)

10. Fine Fat Flies

11. Time

12. Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care

13. Kiss of Flesh

14. Pain and Pleasure

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome (Rock)Opera by the Residents, November 6, 2000

By 

James Lopez (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God in Three Persons (Audio CD)

This is the second Residents album which I have heard, and it's totally awesome! It is like a soundtrack/musical score (complete with the lines and soliloquies) of some avant garde film or musical. For those of you who are not familiar with the Residents' work, this would not really be a good introduction into their twisted world. It is, however, a high-quality release complete with strange electronics, jazzy structures, and sinister, haunting melodies that contribute to the creation and establishment of various moods (most of them rather grim). The main character "Mr. X" is the protagonist of this album, and most of the vocal tracks consist of his drama-like dialogue taking the place of lead singing. The music, which is not exactly in the background, is very often at odds with the comic delivery of Mr.X's dialogue, which makes the album nonetheless more entertaining. The first track is an intro to the album not unlike that of the Rocky Horror Picture Show (although stylistically it is an entirely different delivery). After the intro, the sinister-sounding, piano-dominated "Hard and Tenderly" comes into play; it is, musically, one of the best tracks on the album. The rest of the album proceeds with some great musical tracks and great storytelling/acting (all in sync with a strange plot indeed!). The eleventh track "Time" builds up to the climax of the last three songs on the album with a dark, dangerous mood not unlike that of a "chase scene" from some sinister space-age/sci-fi movie. The conclusion of the album is great, and the listener understands (finally) what the story is about. Although it is a great album, God in Three Persons is not a good starter album to buy from the Residents; a good starter album is The Commercial Album, which leads the listener in to the world of the Residents (although it is still a fairly subtle introduction). However, if you are open-minded and are up for the challenge of a classic Residents album, you should buy this title. A great buy for lovers of great music.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abstract Storytelling, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: God in Three Persons (Audio CD)

In 1988 the Residents embarked on a series on concept albums that explore the emotional world of people with physical deformities. "God in Three Persons" is a triangulated tale of a male and female set of joined twins who have mysterious healing powers, and a man, Mr. X, who befriends and exploits them.

The trio plays out the dynamics between bisexual men and the straight men who love them. The twins are blessed with a godlike compassion for all unfortunate people, including Mr. X. However, now that the twins have 'saved' Mr. X, he now seeks to control and isolate them for his own gratification. To his dismay, Mr. X's sexual encounters with the female twin always include the male twin, ultimately leading to disaster.

The cover art of the CD sums it all up. The cover depicts a snapshot from Mr. X's scrapbook in which he tries to make it look like two women are adoring him rather than the male and female set of twins.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Work That Cuts Itself Off At The Knees, December 22, 2009

By 

Emerson Shiff "oldpunkswebzine" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God in Three Persons (Audio CD)

The best of The Resident's "Storyteller" albums, 1988's God In 3 Persons is spoken word over instrumentals and the occasional female Greek chorus of impending doom. The samples on Amazon don't do the album any favors as it's fairly random words out of context. As a whole it's an amazing experience best for late night with headphones or a great sound system. The story of a drifter and ambiguous Siamese twin faith healers in the deep South, it's a tale that'll draw you in and throw you around for a while. The ending, employing the standard Resident's ploy of tripping themselves up for no good reason, ruined it as a performable piece, a shame because it would have been great live. 1990's Cube-E tour was amazing, so there's that consolation, but the shows after that never held the same magic. The most amazing thing I'd ever seen live was during the Black Barry section of Cube-E. At the end a cloth covered cube comes out and it rises to what seems like 10 feet tall with arms that stretch out about 5 feet to each side. I just found this home video on youtube ([...]) and it doesn't do it justice. Sadly they never filmed the entire show.

"'Stand aside', I told the masses, and with that I made my passage from the lonely to the only side. Openly they smiled to greet me, like they always knew they'd meet me somewhere walking up and down the road. I knew I must
appear as someone far beyond the common come-on, so I could not say my name was Ed. So I said, 'I'm Mr. X who wants to come and who expects to help and guide your efforts to succeed.' They laughed a little bit at me, and
then said, 'Mr. X-Indeed',and hugged me, somehow hard and tenderly."

"Sadly then I knew the answer. All her life she was a dancer, but no one ever played the song she knew."

"Once alone they heard some children shouting that a car had killed one of their pets out in the road ahead. As they approached the fallen body, blood appeared and then they saw a leg that had been torn away somehow. So they kneeled upon the ground and lifted up the leg they found and wedged it gently just below the spot where both
their shoulders joined together. Then the sun, which had been setting, winked and for a moment all was dark. And when the sun returned above them, no one laughed and made fun of them, for the dog was licking at the joint, barking loud and resurrected and causing them to be respected by those who had avoided them before."