Thread by @RtRadke

The Residents Complete Discography Binge Listen!
I’ve always been more intrigued by the conceptual idea of this enigmatic band than by their actual music. I feel like avant-garde music this bizarre and influential deserves a deep dive to fully appreciate. Here we go.

Meet The Residents (1974)
This album sounds like it was made by a group of music obsessed weirdos, recording their magnum opus with cheap gear in a leaky basement. The only problem? Nobody in the band can play their instrument. Primitive & sophisticated, rewards repeat listens.

I’m going to be listening to the pREServed versions of all their albums, which are remastered deluxe reissues. The pREServed version of Meet the Residents includes the Santa Dog EP and 1977 stereo mix (in my opinion far superior) along w/ misc archival tracks.

The Third Reich ‘n Roll (1976)
Perhaps the weirdest cover album ever produced, popular tunes like “Land of A Thousand Dances”, “Papas Got A Brand New Bag”, “Hey Jude” & more are mangled just shy of being unrecognizable & mashed up into a soup for your ear holes.

Fingerprince (1977)
There’s a quality to this music I can’t quite put my finger on. Like if you stayed up too late playing classic video games and then had a dream you were trapped in the game. Or a sense of déjà vu unearthing a repressed childhood memory of a scary toy.

Not Available (1978)
So far this is the most musical album, supposedly recorded years earlier and originally not planned for release (I guess they changed their minds). Moments evoke the intimate grandeur of Clint Mansell film scores, at least until the weird “singing” starts.

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978)
With no overarching concept to tie it together, this batch of weird little ditties is hard grasp onto despite being more polished than prior albums. Primus covered three of these songs, so they stand out on first listen. Will revisit this one.

Eskimo (1979)
A highly conceptual album, featuring a lot of wind and bits of tribal percussion & weird chanting. A satirical take on inaccurate depictions of indigenous peoples. Decent ambient music, sparse and bizarre. The Residents debut their signature eyeball masks.

The Commercial Album (1980)
According to The Residents, a pop song is just three reputations of a verse and chorus. Trim the fat and you can fit 40 pop tunes on one LP. I like to imagine an alternate reality where The Residents got as much radio airplay as The Beatles. Good fun.

Mark of the Mole (1981)
Exploring similar sparse sonic territory as Eskimo, this album tells the story of a race of mole people… yadda yadda yadda. The Residents aren’t great instrumentalists and I found the compositions on this one less engaging and sometimes grating.

The Tune of Two Cities (1982)
Part two of the “Mole Trilogy” alternates between the avant-garde tribal chants of the Moles and the weirdly upbeat jazzy tunes of the Chubs. A more interesting listen due to the stylistic variety.

Intermission (1982)
Recorded to be played from tape as the intro, intermission & outro music for the Mark of the Mole live show. I actually enjoyed this one more than the actual album. I think it’s the women’s choral voices that win me over.

Title In Limbo, Feat. Renaldo And The Loaf (1983)
I don’t know who these guys are or what this album is supposed to be about, but I kind of like this one. Hard to put my finger on why.

Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? (1984)/The Census Taker (1985)
Some good, creepy film scores that sound like an 80s video game fever dream where you wander around an abandoned, infinite grocery store where all the food is in generic white packaging.