Search - Renaldo & Loaf :: Struve & Sneff

A Rare Gem

Music Fan | New Mexico | 12/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Renaldo And The Loaf's first recording, 1979's "Renaldo & The Loaf Play's Struve & Sneff" is a lo-fi landscapial journey into the minds of these two Portsmouth braniacs. Struve and Sneff are Renaldo and The Loaf's imaginary alter egos, just like Renaldo & The Loaf are alter ego's of Brain Poole and David Jansenn. Around Christmas of 1979, Brian Poole and David Jansenn decided to record a new type of music. Around this particular time, the group members had been listening to alot of avant-garde works by Henry Cow, Harry Partch, The Art Bears, and of course...The Residents. Supposedley influenced mainly by The Residents "Six Things To A Cycle", this recording is an extreme journey, that sounds like the taking of LSD without using LSD. While one of the members of Renaldo & The Loaf was on holiday in San Francisco, he dropped a copy of this tape off at 444 Grove Street, the nefarious headquarters for The Residents, and Ralph Records. Hardy Fox heard the tape and immediately signed the group and released several records of Renaldo And The Loaf until Ralph Records was sold to T.E.C. Tones in 1987. The Record opens with "Meaning Of W.I.E.R.D.", the concept of this song is that the band members would look up a random word in the dictionary for each letter in the word "Weird", and create sentences, for example: Walk Energetically In Rubber Dungarees. or 'Worship Each Insect Rehearse Devoutly'. The Next track is an exercise in lo-fi tape manipulation, making the vocals sound alien-like at times.

Throughout the entire album the singer (renaldo malpractice or Brian Poole) sounds a little like a 1960's pop singer and then at times like a cartoon. The next track is "Absence" a slower paced track with some fuzzy guitar, some bells, some new wave sounding bass and of course, tape tricks. The Next song is "120 Before 0", which carries an almost rock type stance, guitar, drums, bass, and vocals. the next song is "Of Bad Teeth" which is like an evil kids song encouraging you to keep good care of your teeth. up next is "My Favorite Things", which is simply indescribable, lots of kazoo. next is "Metro Stomp" which is made up of hitting things with sticks and a fuzz tone guitar (or so it seems). next is "Scottish Shuffle", which is a beautiful composition, much in the style of The Art Bears, it has an almost mainstream sound at times. Next up is a bizzarre track "Fluoarescent Showboat To Tangier", lots of gurgly sounding vocal effects, sounds that sound like sneezing, bubbles popping, and fingernails scraping, and bells and guitar. The next one is "BrittlePeople" which is almost as interesting sounding as the previous track. lots of tape effects made to sync with the stuff that does not have an effect on top of it. Next is "Dying Inside" which is mainly composed of tape manipulations, back masking and other effects. Next is "Kymbolton Gnome Song", a slower fuzzier version than the version found on 'Songs For Swinging Larvae'. Now it is the "Bathroom Song" with a catchy riff and cool lyrics, this is the same version as found on 'Songs For Swinging Larvae'. As you can see this recording as of this writing (12.23.07) is extremely rare. Hopefully one day these recordings will be rereleased. They are incredible documents of what you can do with a guitar, an amp, a bass, some drums, a tape machine, and your mom's kitchenware. Highly suggested album."