Snakefinger

A collection of B-sides, live tracks, and outtakes assembled by the Residents for their deceased friend Philip Lithman, this CD demonstrates the rather schizophrenic career of a talented guitarist who was finally coming out from the shadow of his more famous friends when felled by a heart attack. In reverse chronological order, you hear a man melding British art rock concerns (Robert Fripp-esque approaches to scales and song structure) with Left Coast, Bay Area weirdness, with varying degrees of emphasis and success. Listeners who equate Lithman as the fifth Resident with a human face will be surprised to hear a straightforward Elmore James cover ("It Hurts Me, Too"), a stab at 10CC-style romanticism ("Hidden Treasure"), and mellow rock ("MaryAnn"). The Residents sum up his tenure with them with an eight-minute sound collage, and there's even a track from his stint with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, sounding for all the world like the Doobie Brothers. For some, this proves that the man wasn't as weird as he? -- or the Residents? -- hoped he would be; for others it shows that the Residents gave him the creative freedom to think beyond a commercial recording career and was in the process of carving out his own niche. Fascinating, rare, but not entirely essential. ~ Ted Mills, All Music Guide