Where Red Red Meat was a warped collision of mutant Stones riffs, Neil Young's harrowing Tonight's The Night and the same kind of kitchen-sink attitude that went into early Grifters records, Orso (RRM's Brian Deck and Ben Massarelli and Rex's Phil Spirito, plus "the ghost of Bundy K. Brown" and assorted Rex and Meat alumni guesting) is more akin to a motley assemblage of New Orleans players and Appalachian hillbillies given the field-recording treatment by Brian Eno. If that sounds far-fetched, well, you try describing this record. One moment you'll encounter a filmic bit of ambient spookiness (clarinet, synth and distorted vocals swirl through "Farmer Was A Paranoid Man"), while later on you get the distinct impression that the stringed plucks, edges of feedback and kiddie xylophone tings and tongs are supposed to signify an Oriental motif ("Spider's House")-oblique strategies indeed. But though odd, they work, and taking in the whole recording is as fascinating as watching a documentary travelogue of exotic backwaters. Lots of colorful characters, eager to display their wares before the cameras, come out of their huts, and they're charming. Of course, Orso is not all faux-ethnicity. The minimalist banjo-and-guitar waltz, "For Lack of Better Words," does hearken back to RRM roots, sounding for all the world like the Grifters covering the Stones. So with Orso, maybe a hearty "welcome back" is in order alongside the kudos. [Perishable, POB 57-8804, Chicago IL 60657]

-Fred Mills