The Residents

John

Just barmy! I finally got around to checking these guys (g-eyes?) out and wow are they good/strange/. Anyone ever give them a go? Any particular albums of merit? I bought Third Reich 'n Roll and the Commercial Album. Where to go next?

Undergod

Ah, been wondering about them myself recently. Would you recommend those two albums?

JLemmon

Haven't had the courage yet to buy something, fair play.
Think the first album is supposed to be ok too.

John

Undergod wrote: »

Ah, been wondering about them myself recently. Would you recommend those two albums?

A hesitant yes. While not as strange as I was expecting (I'm a big Nurse With Wound fan, takes a lot to weird me out now) they are still unusual to say the least. The Third Reich 'n Roll is my favourite of the two. I picked up Freak Show and Tweedles, the former is good and haven't listened to the latter yet.

JLemmon wrote: »

Haven't had the courage yet to buy something, fair play.

Go for it, live on the edge!

Swamp Thing

Everything up to "Mark of the Mole" is excellent, especially the 1st record (more jazzy/cut up and strange a la "Third Reich n'Roll") My favourites are The Commerical Album , the 1st record, Third Reich n'Roll and Duck Stab !/Buster and Glen. But really, you can't go wrong, try everything out and you'll find really startling music....not so sure about the later stuff, i.e., mid-80's onward...glut of releases and live shows.

John

Cheers Swamp Thing, what I've heard so far has been really encouraging so I intend to follow your advice.

billsteersnose

Freak show is quite good. They're pretty out there though... Les Claypool from Primus is a big fan of these guys...even their artwork is simular. Check of the cover of Freakshow and then check out the cover of "Animals should not try to act like people".

John

I'm not a big Primus fan, a bit too noodly for my liking but I can definitely see a resemblence in terms of humour.

nlgbbbblth

Fingerprince is my favourite

also check out
Not Available
Duck Stab / Buster And Glen
Eskimo
The Tunes Of Two Cities - comes with The Big Bubble now
George And James
Gingerbread Man
Animal Lover
Our Finest Flowers

best comps are
Residue Deux
Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses [get the four disc version if you can - it's fantastic]
Icky Flix [CD and DVD]

Kettles Of Fish On The Outskirts Of Town is a good live box [Three CDs and DVD]

The Cube E set is pretty cool too. Two live CDs and a DVD from the 1989 tour. Comes with a handkerchief!
Live At The Fillmore is decent.

Later on there's the three volumes of instrumentals - Best Left Unspoken and various other bits like WB: Rmx and The King And Eye: Rmx which I'm not too keen about.

John

Cool, thanks for the suggestions nlgbbbblth. Some of them are getting the reissue treatment on Mute soon so I'll pick them up then.

Léan

Love them! Only really gotten into them recently, don't know why i waited so long to check them out. Great stuff though.

Setun

Love the concept of the commercial album, a friend of mine is a fan of them, haven't actually had a listen yet though.

John

Right, a little update on my Residents adventure. So far I've bought the following:
Meet The Residents
The Third Reich'n'Roll
Both of these are great, I like the collage style compositions. They remind me a lot of Nurse With Wound. Great stuff.

Not Available
Haven't listened to it yet.

The Commercial Album
Great concept (as Daddio has pointed out) and great execution. As a big fan of huge, long songs I didn't know how I was going to do with 40 one minute songs but this album's a hit. I was looking at some of the videos on YouTube and I don't know if I'll bother with the DVD. Has anyone got it? Any good?

Mark Of The Mole & Intermission
Probably my favourite at the moment. I love the story and keep meaning to get Tune of Two Cities to continue the adventure. Too bad they never finished off the Mole Trilogy but maybe they intended to leave it unfinished to annoy people!

The White Single
Cool white 7" that is made to look like an eye. A brilliant cover of James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" on one side and a Residents original on the other. I've spun this one a lot, does anyone know if the songs are on any CDs?

Don't Be Cruel
Three Elvis covers. One is on The King & Eye but the other two seem to be only on this single. Much like the James Brown cover, they really make these songs their own. Excellent stuff.

Freak Show
My second favourite at the moment, another great concept album. The music is ****ing brilliant and combination of videos, comic strips and music works really well. I love albums with a lot of thought put into them and this is one such album. Keeping an eye (pun unintended) out for the CD-ROM on ebay to check that out.

Kettles Of Fish On The Outskirts Of Town
I've only watched the DVD so far, good stuff even if there's some overlap with the Cube E box set. Anyone know if there's a complete Mole Show recording available? I'd love to see the whole thing.

Animal Lover
It's hard to believe but another ****ing great album with another weird but cool concept. Of the newer Residents stuff I've heard, this is the most polished. I've pre-ordered the instrumental version of this coming out soon, will re-visit this album when I get that.

Cube-E
Just excellent. The videos are awe-inspiring, really makes the idea of just getting up and plugging in a guitar seem like a waste of time. Too bad the full concert was never filmed. The audio recording makes up for it though, even though you can't see what's going on the music still is captivating. Actually I found watching the action on screen a bit of a distraction, hard to take in the songs when you're looking at a day-glo cowboy in a knife fight!

Tweedles!
This is OK but really not a patch on the other albums. It has its moments but overall it's pretty poor. Hilarious sleeve though. Maybe it'll grow on me but I'll probably spend more time with the other albums.

Best Left Unspoken...Volume Two: High Horses And Other Selections
Best Left Unspoken...Volume Three: For Elsie And Other Selections
I've only listened to these once each. Interesting stuff, especially the track that's a trip to the cinema.

Night Of The Hunters
Haven't listened to this yet.

The Voice Of Midnight
I really enjoyed this, the story may be a bit weak but I liked the moods and the songs. It would be very interesting to see a live show made from this.

nlgbbbblth

John wrote: »

Right, a little update on my Residents adventure. So far I've bought the following:

The White Single
Cool white 7" that is made to look like an eye. A brilliant cover of James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" on one side and a Residents original on the other. I've spun this one a lot, does anyone know if the songs are on any CDs?

glad you're enjoying all that lot!

The White Single - what label is yours on, Ralph or Korova?

It's A Man's Man's Man's World is on the George And James album.

Ralph b-side is Safety Is A Cootie Wootie. This track also appears on the Residue Deux CD - it's in three parts.

Korova b-side is I'll Go Crazy. Also on George And James.

John

I've got the Ralph version with "Safety is a Cootie Wootie".

Your recommendations have been a huge help. I've been keeping an eye out for Fingerprince and the compilations you recommended but have been buying the easier to find stuff first. I'm holding off on buying Eskimo and Duck Stab as Mute are reissuing them in March.

Setun

Where you gettin your records from btw John?
I'd say the DVD is worth a look, it is part of the original album concept after all. I wonder would laser rent it out in their music section??? Hmmm.

nlgbbbblth

John wrote: »

I've got the Ralph version with "Safety is a Cootie Wootie".

Your recommendations have been a huge help. I've been keeping an eye out for Fingerprince and the compilations you recommended but have been buying the easier to find stuff first. I'm holding off on buying Eskimo and Duck Stab as Mute are reissuing them in March.

You're welcome, glad to help.

best places (I think) to buy Residents stuff

www.euroralph.de
and
www.ralphamerica.com

John

Daddio wrote: »

Where you gettin your records from btw John?

I've picked up the Mute albums in Tower Records and the rest is either from the Ralph sites (see nlgbbbblth's post above) or eBay.

Dudess

"Barmy"? "Strange"? John, I don't think I've ever seen you use such terms about ANY band - in conclusion: The Residents must be pretty f***ing weird...

John

Yes they bloody well are!

It takes a lot for me to stop and think: "**** me, what are these guys on?"

Brilliant stuff though.

Dudess

I checked them out on Youtube - holy Christ on his throne!

Interesting stuff though - VERY interesting!