I first heard them 31 years ago , the Duck Stab ep , bought at my local Harmony House record store , an amazing experience to be sure , they have two new releases out today , Ten Little Piggies and The Ughs. It all started here in December of 1972 with the Santa Dog ep (2-45 rpm 7"s) Followed in February '74 by Meet The Residents
I first found out about these guys around the time of the Tired, Poor box set. I don't know what exactly prompted me to buy a 4cd box from a band I knew almost nothing about, but I'm so glad I did! It started me on a strange journey, including 2 or 3 concert appearances and an early attempt at album/video game combination (Freak Show).
I saw them on USA Network's "Night Flight" while I was in high school. I looked into their eye and it was love at first sight. How "Smelly Tongues" was not a major hit still baffles me. I saw them at Lincoln Center in 1989 or '90, but I thought they were a bit past their prime. Once the eyeball was stolen, some of the magic seemed to disappear as well. But "Meet the Residents" was a truly brilliant debut (especially with the original cover, pictured above).
I have never heard them (heard a lot of good stuff about them, though). What would be the best starting point?
I loved the 'Duck Stab and Glen' combo LP. Saw a Lincoln Center show in the late 1980's and liked it. I thought their treatment of Elvis was shabby though...instead of original and inventive they came off as some puny twerps taking pot shots at someone who had about 1 million times their combined talents.
The Huddled Masses 2 disc set is OOP , can be found here : http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000009RP/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used Duck Stab is essential , and can still be found for nice prices (cd & vinyl) http://www.amazon.com/Duck-Stab-Res...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1257308224&sr=1-1 Vinyl from Ralph America Petting Zoo is a compilation that should be easy to find (and cheap)
Thanks for the recos. I'm gonna go with Huddled Masses, Duck Stab, and Meet the Residents (always loved that cover). Now, what is the deal with Third Reich 'N Roll? With that cover art (Dick Clark as a Nazi?) and only 2 long tracks...
I think most people on this forum would really like Third Reich N'Roll if they heard it. Those who weren't offended by it anyways. The two long tracks (17 and 18 minutes long) are really funny pastiches of 60s and early 70s rock music, messed around with in amusing and clever ways. (Stuff like playing Hey Jude and Sympathy for the Devil at the same time, or turning songs like 'Yummy Yummy' into evil machine music, or 'improving' Its My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To by adding an overly sensitive man rambling about how he'd like a chance to cry too over the top of it.) The bonus tracks on the earlier reissue are pretty nifty too. They include a distorto-version of Satisfaction with Snakefinger ripping it up on lead guitar, and a couple of Beatles pastiches, one an 'original' called Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life and the other a 'cover' of Flying. The use of Paul McCartney interview samples alone ("if we haven't done everything we could've done, we tried, we tried!") is brilliant.
WELL, I never though I'd see a Rez-thread here! I have three wonderful statements about why this 'group' is so GREAT! I'll spread them out, so it doesn't look like I'm writing a novel! Of course, I first heard of them from MTV's (of all places) actual healthy rotation of "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World"! Then found a Ralph Records catalouge at my college radio station. Like Zappa's "We're Only In It For The Money" album, I had to find out why they would mar a Beatles album! And then, I was hooked!
STATEMENT 1: In 1989 (yep! "20 years ago today..") I was working at The Wiz in Washington D.C. (just a record store over there) The Restless newsletter announce the release of The Residents new record "The King & Eye". The idea of an album of Elvis 'covers' did not appeal to me, but the previous year, the fan-club UWEB confirmed the 'tour' for the album would be an incredible 'new event' that fans wouldn't want to miss. So, I dragged my future wife up to New York to catch the first show the following January! Instead of just the Elvis songs, they had performed "CUBE-E: The History Of American Music In 3 E-Z Pieces". It was beautiful! Even my wife was impressed! One friend, who had seen "13th Anniversary", and was not impressed by the 'greastest hits' show, called, and was 'kicking himself' for missing CUBE-E. I knew I'd be digging the 'eye-boys' for a long time to come!
here's an unforgettable tv appearance they did with conway twitty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=PK5qKhPBnlA
STATEMENT 2: April 22, 1999: ( a little over 10 years ago?? Jezz, I'm old) If someone had told my back in '89, that I'd have a chance to see The Residents here, in VEGAS! I would've told them they're CRAZY! But, sure enough, here they were, bringing the "Wormwood" show to my new 'home-town'!!! Wearing my UWEB shirt proudly, I went (with the wife) to the House Of Blues to see 'em. Of, course, not many people at the show knew it was gonna be a showcase for some of the strangest parts of The Bible! So, when one kid asked if they were anything like COIL, I replied, "Uhhhhh, wellll..." Sitting, my wife and I noticed a couple of rather old ladies, sitting a couple of rows in front of us. We assumed that, since we WERE in Vegas, that these ladies must've had husbands who were 'high-rollers', who had gotten them free seats. So, when "Mr Skull" came on stage, screaming and laughing, they made a 'bee-line' for the exit! We looked at each other, and smiled!
STATEMENT 3: You know, when you think of how much time and energy The Residents spent on their 'art', it boggles the mind that not only are they still relatively unknown, but also the fact that they've invested themselves in technology that would force them to 'kill' their own PROJECTS!! When they were working on "Vileness Fats", back in the '70's, they were using old 'black-and-white', 'reel-to-reel' VIDEO TAPE! For all the beautiful back-drops they made for the movie, the equipment they were recording it on was already dead by the mid- 70's! Oddly enough, this happened to them AGAIN in the '90's! After already making two REALLY COOL CD-ROM's, (boy, I really wish I could see "Freak Show" & "Bad Day" on DVD) the whole concept of the CD-ROM totally evaporated on them! A third 'concept' CD-ROM was totally abandoned. And, yet, instead of brooding about it, THEY MOVED ON! It's a testiment to their greatness, that they could just 'drop' an idea they spend a year or two on, and work on something else! It takes a special set of 'balls' to just keep moving. I may not have always loved EVERYTHING they've done, but I know, in another year, they'll have something new for me to chew on! And, that makes them GREAT!!
My favorite album is Eskimo. Weirdness at its best! I saw them twice. Once was the Wormwood tour and while the show looked really cool, the music wasn't that great in my opinion. Then I saw the Demons Dance Alone tour and both the show and the music were excellent.
the first thing i ever heard by them was the radio special before it got officially released. we had no idea what they were about. ( some things never change ) i saw them in the mid 80's in new york. quite an experience.
Yeah, but to see him die, screaming "LOVE ME!", while Beatle-samples were KILLING HIM! How cool was that?
Had a friend in college who was into them, and this coincided with Les Claypool's public announcement of their greatness in interviews. I heard some of their 80's stuff and forgot about them until they released the Icky Flix DVD. My friend's uncle was a fan, and made sure we saw them at the Berklee Performing Arts Center for that tour. Not having any previous experience with the band, my mind was properly blown by their performance. It was so bizarre and wonderful that we found ourselves laughing out loud in a room full of fans who were quite sober about the experience.
TTRNR is brilliant, funny, scary etc but for me their masterpiece is the cowboy section of Cube-E. It defies description but its so moving and surreal. They did the opening song "From the Plains to Mexico" on Night Music (as mentioned earlier): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZhTx99Ie8 My favorite individual song by the band is their cover of Hank Williams' "Kaw-Liga" - essentially a combination of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" and the original tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkFYCbMTA20&feature=related Also have to put big votes in for their more recent works Demon's Dance Alone and The Bunny Boy. Both of those albums have so much to recommend and fit more into their melodic phase than their stranger things. In fact Demons is like a bizarre Brian Wilson album. Gorgeous. Lastly, I'm relieved to have an official thread on the band but this earlier thread has some goodies as well: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=155246
Been a Rez fan for some 13 years, but haven't had a chance to see them live yet (I live too far away from it all). I have pretty much everything they've put out and I can say the one album you want to buy first is Duck Stab. If you don't like that, don't bother trying to seek out anything else. It is their most accessible release by far. If you do like it, try to find: Not Available Eskimo Commercial Album Cube-E God in Three Persons Freak Show (my personal favourite) Demons Dance Alone Nowadays they are putting a lot of energy into their Robot Selling Device which has pretty much everything they've released in mp3 form, as well as sometimes that you can't get on cd or vinyl (or cassette for that matter). Cheap way to sample some of their more obscure releases.
Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life is a work of genius (in conception) and technical brilliance, considering was made over 30 years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BXGsCNue1k