[noisereductions]

Alls I have is PETTING ZOO, the pseudo-best of compilation. It's OK, but The Residents seem to me like an album band, not a song band. What are good albums to start with (and why)?

[atsonicpark]

Duckstab/Buster and Glen has all their best songs on it.

Title in Limbo is too perfect for words... with Snakefinger and prominent Renaldo and the Loaf appearances.

The Warner Brothers album and Third Reich N Roll are both insane slabs of awesome.

Pretty much any of their early stuff is worth getting... actually, now that I think about it, I really like almost anything by them. I actually own just about everything they've done.

But I'd get duckstab/buster and glen next...

[atsonicpark]

Also, you may want to read these:

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=20195
http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=384

and of course...

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/showthread.php?t=18757

[noisereductions]

Thanks, man. Guess I shoulda searched. But y'know what? I'm OK with the lazy boarder that I am.

[atsonicpark]

Haha.. oh well.

When it comes to the Residents, there's really no point in NOT having tons of threads about them...

[noisereductions]

I was hoping eMusic would have THIRD REICH, but to no avail. Though they do have DUCKSTAB and a ton of other ones. The "american composers" series of albums sound awesome.

[atsonicpark]

they're pretty fucking crazy!

http://www.markprindle.com/residents.htm is a really good read

[fugazifan]

i really like Meet the residents. especially songs 2-5 which are basically one long song. amazing.
not available is also fantastic. especially song #2...

[SuperCreep]

Start with all their early stuff in this order:

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen
The Commercial Albume
The Third Reich 'n' Roll
Meet the Residents
Not Available
Eskimo
Fingerprince

Their work between The Commercial Album and Demons Dance Alone ranges from "eh" to "pretty fucking awful" (ignore AMG's five-star rating for God in Three Persons...it's really garbage), but you should definitely pick up the album atsonicpark suggested (Title in Limbo with Renaldo & the Loaf) since it's exceptionally good from that period.

As far as their recent output goes, they've been having a major resurgence in quality. You should definitely pick up Demons Dance Alone (a 9/11 concept album, but it's far from cheesey), Animal Lover, and Tweedles.

They have a new album coming up in September called The Bunny Boy, which Mark Prindle told me is VERY good. So yeah, look out for that one.

Whew. I said too much!

[atsonicpark]

Yeah, what he said

[Everyneurotic]

just avoid river of crimes.

[atsonicpark]

Yeah, it's a definitely a bit too ridiculous.

As far as their "show tune" era albums or whatever, I really like Wormwood. It's a bunch of songs about stories from the Bible.

[atsonicpark]

I mean, just read this tracklisting and imagine these as Residents songs:

1. "In the Beginning" - (2:57) is about the creation of the Earth and is entirely instrumental.
2. "Fire Fall" - (3:34) is about Lot escaping from Sodom and watching his wife turn to salt.
3. "They Are The Meat" - (2:40) is about Ezekiel's visions whilst he is forced to eat only bread and sleep on his side.
4. "Melancholy Clumps" - (1:48) is about Noah building the Ark.
5. "How To Get A Head" - (4:05) tells us the tale of Salome requesting the head of John the Baptist.
6. "Cain And Abel" - (3:34) tells us the story of the jealous Cain killing his brother.
7. "Mr. Misery" - (2:19) is about Jeremiah and his suffering.
8. "Tent Peg In the Temple" - (2:54) is about the killing of Sisera.
9. "God's Magic Finger" - (2:41) is about the story of King Belshazzar.
10. "Spilling The Seed" - (2:44) is about the story of Onan.
11. "Dinah and the Unclean Skin" - (2:52) is about the story of Dinah.
12. "Bathsheba Bathes" - (2:52) is about King David and Bathsheba.
13. "Bridegroom of Blood" - (4:57) is about Moses being attacked by God and the wife of Moses intervening by performing circumcision on their baby.
14. "Hanging by His Hair" - (2:33) tells us the story of Absalom and his death.
15. "The Seven Ugly Cows" - (2:34) is about Joseph and his visions.
16. "Burn Baby Burn" - (2:59) tells us the story of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter.
17. "KILL HIM!" - (2:39) is the story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son and gives us an insight into his possible thoughts.
18. "I Hate Heaven" - (2:50) is based on the Song of Solomon.
19. "Judas Saves" - (3:55) is told from the point of view of Judas Iscariot. This song proposes that Judas's betrayal of Jesus was necessary so that people could have their sins forgiven. It also proposes that Judas had been told by God to do so.
20. "Revelation" - (5:38) is an instrumental about the passages Revelations of John 4-22.

[atsonicpark]

Taken at a convention I went to in Florida:

 

[SuperCreep]

Does anyone know how they are live lately? They're coming around here in a month or so. I haven't heard good things from my one friend who told me about them. I just CAN'T imagine them being a poor live act, though. Even if they are, something tells me I should go see them anyway. I mean, that's the kinda shit you wanna tell yr grandkids about.

[Dead-Air]

Wormwood is definitely my favorite of the newer albums. Eskimo is probably my favorite older album, though Third Reich 'n Roll is of course a classic. Of the cover albums, George & James rules, mostly for the JB tunes.

[atsonicpark]

SuperCreep, judging by youtube videos and their DVD's, they seem impossibly unreal live. It's more of a "theater" type show, they're dancing around and stuff with lights and fog and videos and stuff (obviously they'd probably have a hard time playing their instruments for every song live) but I dunno. Obviously, the old shows with Snakefinger guesting would've been unreal, but these seem cool. Not sure about what their recent performances would be like. But hey I'm sure it's worth going to.

[noisereductions]

Thanks for the input, dudes. Now you've got me all excited to explore them further.