Well, it's taken a mention of The Residents to sitr me from fatigue after an afternoon of yard work. I've been a Residents fanatic since around 1972. And for anyone who's never heard it, ESKIMO ( still available on CD ) is one of the top ten concept albums ever made.
Gordon -- Eskimo is also available as a DVD and it's so hypnotic it'll turn your brain to ice.
Since that time, the Residents have done so much it's impossible to list all the albums. But a few standouts are ( in no particular order ): THE KING AND EYE -- which is the story of Elvis, told to little kids like it was a bedtime story, with the most perversely horrendous covers of ELvis's hits. FREAK SHOW -- is just that -- each song is the story or voice of a carnival freak. It was also made into an interactive CD-ROM many years ago. Somewhat primitve looking by today's standards, it was mindblowing at the time. THE MARK OF THE MOLE -- the first in their Mole trilogy about the clash of two cultures. WORMWOOD -- all original songs, each recounting (sort of aria fashion) an episode from the bible, and they chose some of the most violent and/or sexually perverse episodes to relate.
There are a lot more. One of the rarest now is the Residents masquerading as a band called the Combo De Mechanico for a very short album called HIGH HORSES. The concept here is that you are going to drop a tab of acid and ride a bunch of carousels. Each song is just like synthesized carousel music, and each gets more "out there." In headphones, the music literally goes around and around and around in circles inside your head.
For anyone thinking about listening to the Residents for the first time based on these descriptions, BE WARNED. Their music is often incredibly abrasive, thier cover versions of songs are almost always so intentionally ugly that most people can't listen to a complete song (they did an entire album of 1960's cover called THIRD REICH AND ROLL and without exception, each song is so frightening that friends of mine actually ran screaming from the room).
That being said, lately, their past three albums have all been very pleasant to listen to -- almost disappointingly pleasant.
I guess they've mellowed a bit.
Gordon -- Eskimo is also available as a DVD and it's so hypnotic it'll turn your brain to ice.
Since that time, the Residents have done so much it's impossible to list all the albums. But a few standouts are ( in no particular order ): THE KING AND EYE -- which is the story of Elvis, told to little kids like it was a bedtime story, with the most perversely horrendous covers of ELvis's hits. FREAK SHOW -- is just that -- each song is the story or voice of a carnival freak. It was also made into an interactive CD-ROM many years ago. Somewhat primitve looking by today's standards, it was mindblowing at the time. THE MARK OF THE MOLE -- the first in their Mole trilogy about the clash of two cultures. WORMWOOD -- all original songs, each recounting (sort of aria fashion) an episode from the bible, and they chose some of the most violent and/or sexually perverse episodes to relate.
There are a lot more. One of the rarest now is the Residents masquerading as a band called the Combo De Mechanico for a very short album called HIGH HORSES. The concept here is that you are going to drop a tab of acid and ride a bunch of carousels. Each song is just like synthesized carousel music, and each gets more "out there." In headphones, the music literally goes around and around and around in circles inside your head.
For anyone thinking about listening to the Residents for the first time based on these descriptions, BE WARNED. Their music is often incredibly abrasive, thier cover versions of songs are almost always so intentionally ugly that most people can't listen to a complete song (they did an entire album of 1960's cover called THIRD REICH AND ROLL and without exception, each song is so frightening that friends of mine actually ran screaming from the room).
That being said, lately, their past three albums have all been very pleasant to listen to -- almost disappointingly pleasant.
I guess they've mellowed a bit.
