The Resident's: Reflections on 9/11

"The CD booklet contains the section "The Residents Have Left The Building", which at first might be taken to indicate that none of the original members are still in the band. It does state that "a few" of those involved are "the flesh and blood residue of our mythical heroes, maintaining appearances for mostly sentimental reasons. But can any of these shadowy sidemen truthfully call themselves THE RESIDENTS? No more than you or I, but if no one claims to be a RESIDENT, doesn't that mean everyone is a potential RESIDENT?" -- Wikipedia

Demons Dance Alone is a concept album based on the reflections on 9/11, yet that's never mentioned in the lyrics. This album is also the closest to mainstream sound that The Residents have ever produced, which makes this one of the more accessible albums if you've never heard them - it's also one of my favorites. 

I thought I'd point out that because this album is more mainstream than usual, it seems to indicate that it was important to The Residents that people heard and understood what they had to say. That's a departure from how their albums have usually been constructed.

"The Residents have used metaphors and painfully revealing language to describe thoughts and emotions that have become increasingly ambiguous after September 11. The hopelessness we felt of watching innocent people die (Ghost Child). Children beg us to move them away from the reality of the event (Make Me Moo). Men remember their lust of a newly lost unrequited lover (Betty's Body). Victims that cannot get away from their fate, even when screaming "leave me alone" (The Beekeepers Daughter). A man realizes that he has been diminished by his own actions (Demons Dance Alone).

"This album tears open wounds that we thought were healing and, as the last song makes known to us: "only Demons dance alone" - and we damn ourselves to that fate if we ever think we can forget about what had happened and how it affected us." -- Amazon review

It appears there are a couple of versions released on cd. 

The Residents: Demons Dance Alone (2002)

part 1

part 2

Life Would Be Wonderful

Mickey Macaroni

Betty's Body

Make Me Moo

Caring

The Weatherman

My Brother Paul

BeeKeeper's Daughter

The Car Thief

Ghost Child

Tortured in the Orchard

Honey Bear

Wolverines

Neediness

Demons Dance Alone

Life Would Be Wonderful