Yeah same, i only have a few tracks.

There is no starting point.

Just listen to any album , if you don't like it try another , chances are it'll be totally different to the one you just listened to.

Try this about 6 or 7 times , if you still don't like them after that stop bothering.

You could start off with 'Tweedles' from 2006 which is fairly accessible. For The Residents anyhow! I will send you both (Stu and Luke) PM'S.

I can't remember being this curious about one artist for a long time. Tweedles in on the most absorbing albums i've heard in recent months and i just know it'll only get better.

I have the discography on download now :D

Edit: No-one bloody told me it was 4GB did they?

I've just got my hands on Third Reich 'n' Roll and I've gotta say, it's quite a peculiar album. Like a medley of various 60s pop songs just being completely mauled by the band - t'riffic :D

Next stop, Mark Of the Mole...

Third Reich N Roll has to be heard to be believed, it borders on genius.

Definitely. It's a good laugh trying to figure out exactly which songs they're doing - much more obvious at some points than at others.

Here's a video of the opening of the album in case anyone's curious. Apparently they're deconstructing Land Of a Thousand Dances here...

Gotta love The Residents videos .. Third Reich is probably my favourite. :)

Here are some other ones - the last is an "official fanmade", I think (released on a residents DVD .. I think).


Die in Terror




The Act of Being Polite




Both are very short, so give'em a spin. :)

Ok, these guys sound like they'd be right up my alley. I really dig far out sh*t. But seeing as they have an excess of 60 albums, I do not know where to begin. Could you who love this band give me a few pointers? I don't care what would be considered "accessible" to first time listeners. I want to delve right into these lads. If you guys could offer some personal favorites, that'd be great.

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen is my personal favourite.

Lizard Lady may be my favourite song from that album :




Constantinople is a very well known Residents song that is also found on Duck Stab (though not exclusively).




I also liked the album Demons Dance Alone. The song "Caring" is one of my favourites from that one.




So there you go. :)

Petting Zoo is a band compiled 'taster' which would be a good intro for anyone unfamiliar.

I started from the top, chronologically I mean. Meet the Residents is their debut and the only album I knew about beforehand (through Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again book), and I'd recommend it as a starting point. Mark Of the Mole and Third Reich 'n' Roll are the other two I've got, both terrific albums as well.

But, yeah, Jackhammer's idea seems best as a starting point. Might have to hunt that one down myself sometime.

Shameless self promotion alert :D

*GASP*. How dare you accuse me of such pretentiousness! I'm trying to help the poor guy out selflessly!!! :laughing:

ADORE the The Residents! Every single album is completely different from the rest, and they keep releasing more and more. I've got 20 of their albums, but I feel I barely scratched the surface LOL!

I also had the pleasure to see them live a couple of months ago and it was one of the most memorable gigs I've ever been to!

It's the same with me, although I have about 12, so that makes it an even tinier scratch :) I mostly have the albums from the 70's and early 80's. The first one I've heard was Meet The Residents and then Not Available and Eskimo. It's very hard to recommend to someone what to listen first, because they're all very interesting. Although many posters in this thread have pointed out the diversity and big differences between albums, I would say that at the same time The Residents have a very distinct style and aesthetic. I mean, I can always recognize when I'm hearing a Residents 'song' although I am hearing it for the first time.

Lately, I've been listening to those more or less obscure bands/music from their label Ralph Records, namely, Renaldo and the Loaf, Snakefinger (their friend, contributor and very often a member), MX-80 Sound, etc. There are a few Ralph compilations, but I only heard Ralph Records presents Frank Johnson's Favorites (1976-81). From what I've listened to Renaldo and the Loaf and Snakefinger are the closest to The Residents aesthetic and sense of absurdity. They've inspired me to get back to The Residents themselves and try to find all those interesting albums that I haven't heard before.

Definitely a favorite of mine.

I personally believe that the Residents are the closest thing to true Art Rock there may be. Seemingly consistently keeping their creative edge as musicians without the interruption of the commercial market's influence, or falling into the stigma of having to rely on character worship. Visuals AND Music that seem to often push the boundaries of art in music.

I've been listening to them obsessively lately and have made it a goal of mine to try to listen through the entire discography. Personal favorites would definitely be Duck Stab/Buster Glen, God in Three Persons, Not Available, and Wormwood.

I believe their 70s work is definitely the best, and I think very underrated for how ahead of it's time it was. Especially with the usage of early digital instruments(Which, apart form Sun Ra, I know very few who were making such strides in the field of exploiting the technology at the time). Avant garde in the truest sense.

This is most certainly where I belong.

Me too! But I agree, Eskimo is by far the best album, then Duck Stab, then Commercial Album, then Not Available. But I also love Animal Lover

I'm yet to have an epiphany-inducing listen with Eskimo, but I'm sure it's coming. I've tried to give the perfect conditions to it, too (I've read that the liner notes say you should listen to it at night, calm state of mind, with a warm blanket in headphones). Doubt it'll dethrone Third Reich N' Roll for me, but it's still damn good, and an easy second for now.

I've had the Eskimo epiphany...

And it still hasn't dethroned Third Reich...

I'm going to be seeing the Residents on the 30th with Primus XD in Oakland. The only thing I can think of is to possibly expect Skinny Constantinople and other than that... expect anything. Only been knowing about the Residents for a year or so. I put off going through their works but I've been going through a good bit lately. Many gems in there. Some very nice avant-scapes and some ear-curdling sounds. Diggin it still though.

Lucky mother****er...

x2

it's amazing that Les is still doing these New Years shows.....i went four years in a row in the late 90s....and every show topped the one before....just an absolute great time....have fun!

I'm unsure about them playing with Primus tbh........

it kind of makes sense....both are very adamant Bay Area icons....Primus's live show is unbelievably psychedelic....and in a really good way....i've seen residents once but the show consisted of only the Wormwood album....and the residents themselves (the eyeballs) did nothing more than be the background band to the people performing the stories....but it was still what i would call a "psychedelic" experience......

Oakland, CA – 12/30/10 – The Fox Theater – PRIMUS, THE RESIDENTS

Who
PRIMUS, THE RESIDENTS
When
Thursday, December 30, 2010
8:00pm - 21+
Where
The Fox Theater (map)
1807 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA

The fear of them losing their edge opening for a more popular arguably more commercial band?

I personally don't see it as that big of a deal since it's very obvious Les Claypool is a massive Residents fanboy. I mean A) He stole his entire vocal style from Walter Westinghouse. B) He gives continual obviously respectful homages including covers. I mean, It's not like they're doing unplugged or anything(assuming unplugged is even around anymore).

I really don't see this as a sign of The Residents being watered down, personally. Unless there's a side of this I'm not getting.

freakshow vinyl picture disc lp?
 

i was just wondering has anyone in here ever seen or heard of the residents freakshow vinyl lp picture disc?

i have a scan of the comic that came with it....although i don't think i have a copy of the music

not i

would anyone be interested in buying a residents freakshow vynil lp picture record?

Gave the Residents a bit of a listen. Just Meet the Residents and Commercial Album, and neither really gripped me. Definitely odd but any inherent genius they might have has been lost on me, at least so far. I might give Meet the Residents another chance but I don't really know where to go as far as other albums go.

While the music hasn't clicked with me yet I have to say, the group itself I find very interesting. Interesting enough that I'm willing to put in some more time to see if I can't enjoy them more!

Try Duck Stab/Buster Glen. It's very digestible, yet by far one of their best works.

Give it a few listens, then, if you like, return to Commercial Album(which is very similar, but way more difficult for a starting listener seeing as it's 40 one minute songs). If that pleases you, Not Available is a good place to go.

2nded

i'm a newbie to the Residents pretty much as well, though i had Commercial Album for ages but couldn't really get into it

RYKODISC put out a two CD compilation of Residents music in the mid 80's called 'Heaven' and 'Hell'
A good sampling of their music up to that point in time, and anyone not familiar with them might want to check it out as an introduction to the band.

And after seeing them perform live, three times during three different tours, eye have to say "they are the most visually interesting band eye have ever seen."
Definitely worth the price of admission!

Picture disk, no, but years ago I had the Freak Show CD-ROM. It was a fairly silly interactive tour through a carnival freak show with the music embedded throughout the journey.

In an act of purging, I sold the disk on eBay, but did keep a copy of the CD. However, given it was written for Windows 3.1, the last time I tried to play it, I didn't get very far before failure.

Fair to say, perhaps they were a bit ahead of their time with the interactive computer release...

One of my favorite songs by The Residents. I didn't know "bathtub heroin" existed till this song, thanks to the insightful youtube comments (god bless residents fans). It's one of those songs that gives me the chills.



Also, being that meeting James Brown was one of the most important things that have ever happened to them. I find them incredibly modest, and they have the ability to take popular songs and make them their own without trying too hard to parody them.

I remember when I found out that Primus didn't write Hello Skinny, that it was a Residents cover. It was my introduction to Residents...

Then a few years later, about a year ago, I saw the Residents open for Primus and it was spectacular. They were so much fun to see. The lights and the costumes and the playing and the smoke all whirled together to make awesome.

Did anyone get the new album Ozark? I thought it was pretty fair, pretty good. I really like a handful of tracks off of it and its a pretty long album...