Meet The Residents is the debut studio album by The Residents, released through the group's newly-founded independent record label Ralph Records on April 1st 1974.
Produced in adherence with the "Theory of Phonetic Organization" devised by the mysterious Bavarian avant-garde composer N. Senada, Meet The Residents was Ralph's second release (after the Santa Dog EP in December 1972). The album is notorious for its cover art, a defaced version of the album art from Meet The Beatles!, The Beatles' first American LP released by Capitol Records.
The original pressing of the album (mixed in mono) sold only forty copies in the first year of its release; the master tapes were "reprocessed" by The Residents' management company The Cryptic Corporation in 1977 to create a stereo version, which is almost seven minutes shorter than the original edition, and features an alternate cover art design.
History[]
Background[]
Residents, Uninc., 1972
The group known (then) as Residents, Uninc. had been recording actively and producing tapes since the late 1960s, as well as developing an ambitious film project, Vileness Fats, in their new studio space, "El Ralpho", a former print-works on Sycamore St. in San Francisco.
Despite producing a number of demo tapes during this period (including The W***** B*** Album and B.S.), and a small number of public performances, the group's recordings remained private in nature, until the December 1972 release of their debut EP, Santa Dog, which was pressed in a limited edition and sent in the mail as a "Christmas card" to selected recipients. Santa Dog was also the first release by The Residents' newly created independent record label, Ralph Records.
Around this time, Residents, Uninc. had also begun their first attempts to create an official studio album; a studio jam titled 1-10 (With a Touch of 11) was edited into two side-long suites before being shelved indefinitely, and at least one abandoned "early draft" of an intended debut album is known to remain in The Residents' archives.[1]
Recording[]
The recordings which would eventually comprise Meet The Residents were not intended to become The Residents' debut studio album, but instead originated from a series of loose experimental and improvisational sessions regularly held by the group with various friends on Tuesdays between February and October 1973, as well as hours of further recordings made during breaks in production of Vileness Fats.[2]
The group began assembling Meet The Residents using their four track reel-to-reel tape recorder, which allowed them to gradually record and overdub pairs of stereo tracks on top of each other. This somewhat primitive form of overdubbing would form "a very integral part of the sound" of Meet The Residents.[2] The album was supposedly arranged in accordance with the Theory of Phonetic Organization, conceived by the obscure Bavarian avant-garde composer and music theorist The Mysterious N. Senada. Senada had supposedly appeared on the group's doorstep a couple of years prior, and had since assumed a mentor-like role with the group, appearing with them at their public performances and on their early recordings.
Early collaborators Jim Whitaker and Bob Tangney (previously heard on The W***** B*** Album in 1971) appear again on Meet The Residents; Whitaker accompanied The Residents on piano on "Spotted Pinto Bean", and Tangney performed bass guitar on "Infant Tango". Pamela Zeibak (who had previously appeared on Santa Dog) provided her signature operatic vocals on "Spotted Pinto Bean".
Cover art[]
Original Meet The Beatles! cover art (top) compared with the Porno Graphics parody (bottom)
The Residents wanted to release their first album with a provocative album cover design, to attract attention, invite random purchases in record stores, and make a statement on contemporary music.[2] To this end, the album art, by Homer Flynn of Porno Graphics, is a direct parody of the front cover of Meet The Beatles!, The Beatles' second American studio album, with The Residents' front cover boasting a defaced version of the famous Robert Freeman photograph of the fab four which adorned the original album.[2]
Although the cover art of Meet The Residents clearly mirrors the layout, text and color palette of the American Beatles release, the defaced image of The Beatles was actually derived from the earlier British version of the album, With The Beatles, which featured a higher quality print of the original photograph.[3]
The back cover features a second graphic parodying The Beatles; claimed to be a photograph of the members of The Residents dressed in suits with crawfish and starfish heads which The Cryptic Corporation later claimed were made of "papier mache"[4] (although the image in fact appears to be a photo-montage derived from an early Beatles promotional photo). Under the image, the "members of the group" are named: Paul McCrawfish, John Crawfish, George Crawfish and Ringo Starfish).
The Cryptic Corporation claimed that EMI and Capitol Records complained about the original cover art design and threatened to sue; the labels' complaints were supposedly the reason that the front cover image was replaced with the "crawfish/starfish" image for the 1977 stereo edition, with the original Meet The Beatles! parody relegated to a small image on the back.
In 2018, former Ralph Records associate Tom Timony explained that the decision to change the cover art design for the 1977 stereo reissue was born more from a desire to generate publicity, than any complaints received from Apple, EMI or Capitol Records - as there was no Internet at the time, there was no simple way for fans to substantiate Cryptic's claims of legal threats received from these companies.[5]
Long-standing rumors have suggested that at least one of The Beatles (variously John Lennon, George Harrison or Ringo Starr) loved the cover of Meet The Residents and had it displayed in his office; however Flynn has denied having ever heard of a response from any of the four Beatles, and noted that the rumor had been wrongly attributed to Meet The Residents altogether - television personality Dick Clark is said to have kept a framed copy of The Residents' third album The Third Reich 'n Roll (on which Clark is depicted in a Nazi uniform) in his office.[3]
Release[]
Ralph Records released Meet The Residents on April Fool's Day, 1974, with the group putting up their own money to master and manufacture the first pressing of 1,050 copies (although "one or two hundred" copies were deemed unusable due to warping).[2] It was the first release to credit the group simply as The Residents - their only previous official release, the 1972 Santa Dog EP, had been credited to a variety of different pseudonyms, such as "Residents, Uninc." and "The Delta Nudes".
At this point in time, Ralph had no means of nationwide (or even local) distribution, and as The Residents had little to no interest in performing live or touring, there was no way of promoting the album or selling it at the group's performances. Initially, like their earlier recordings, copies were simply sent to friends (including early collaborator Roland Sheehan).[2]
With some prodding from friends (including the art collective Ant Farm),[6] The Residents found more unique ways to market the release of Meet The Residents, producing a six minute abbreviated "sampler" which was then pressed onto 4000 8" flexidiscs. The discs were given away for free in Canadian art publication File Magazine and Bay Area student publication Friday two months prior to the album's release, with an advertisement offering copies of the full album for the bargain-basement price of $1.99 USD (on which Ralph claimed to be losing eighty-five cents on each copy). The response, however, was underwhelming,[2] as most of the readers of both magazines assumed (due to the defaced Beatles album art) that the disc was a joke.
Eventually, Rather Ripped Records in Berkeley, California accepted a few copies. The Residents are said to have been so excited by this that they went down to the store to take a photograph of a copy prominently displayed in the racks.[2] The album also gained some airplay from Portland disc jockey William Reinhardt, who became a friend of the group. Reinhardt convinced Portland record store Music Millennium to order twenty copies, which "sat there for almost a year", eventually selling half of them, with a Resident attending the store personally to collect the check.[2][7]
Reissues[]
1977 stereo remix[]
The "crawfish" Beatles, from the Classic Series CD reissue of the album
In 1976, The Residents' newly founded management company The Cryptic Corporation gained the original masters used to create the original monaural version of Meet The Residents from the group. Cryptic engineer Hardy Fox proceeded to "reprocess" the tracks, creating an entirely new stereo mix, and shortening the album by nearly seven minutes in total.
The stereo edition of Meet The Residents was released in 1977, but (ostensibly) due to EMI and Capitol Records' complaints about the album art, the reissue featured the "Crawfish/Starfish" graphic from the original release's back cover on the front, and a smaller black and white print of the original cover art on the back, alongside the album's liner notes.
13th Anniversary picture disc[]
In 1985, Meet The Residents was reissued as a limited edition picture disc, in a "Special 13th Anniversary Edition" of 3500 copies.
This edition features a unique stereo mix of the album which - unlike the 1977 remix - contains all the material from the original mono release.[8] The picture disc features the original Meet The Beatles cover art on one side, with the amended "crawfish" cover art on the other.
Later re-releases[]
Subsequent re-releases of the album have alternated between the stereo remix and a slightly remixed version of the original mono edition (with shorter/alternate fades between some tracks, such as "Smelly Tongues"). The first CD pressing (1988 ESD/Torso "Classic Series" edition) was the first edition to use this alternate mono mix, but subsequent CD editions have reverted to the stereo version. The 1988 "Classic Series" edition also included the Santa Dog EP.
Meet The Residents pREServed[]
CD edition (2018)[]
Meet The Residents pREServed postcard
Meet The Residents was the first album released as part of The Residents' pREServed series of remastered and expanded reissues, alongside The Third Reich 'n Roll in January 2018. A limited number of early copies were shipped with a bonus postcard featuring the original "First One Is Free!" promotional flyer art.
The pREServed edition of Meet The Residents includes both the mono and stereo versions of the album, as well as Santa Dog, and a number of previously unheard "outtakes and ephemera" from the same time period, including alternate takes/mixes of tracks later featured on the finished album, excerpts from the previously unheard demo 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) (later released in full in on the Record Store Day vinyl compilation Warning: Uninc. in 2022) and selections from the group's Tuesday jam session tapes.
Certain tracks, like "Consuelo's Return," "Spotted Pinto Queen", and "Poisoned Popcorn," have been speculated to be recordings made circa 2018 specifically for this edition of the album, although this has been unconfirmed; the set also features tracks which appear to originate from an aborted attempt to produce a new version of the album circa 2013 ("Boots Again").
Vinyl edition (2023)[]
A three LP reissue of Meet The Residents was released January 13th 2023 through Cherry Red Records/MVD Audio/New Ralph Too, as the first entry in a long-planned pREServed vinyl sub-series. The vinyl edition features both the pREServed remasters of both the mono and stereo mixes of the album, and a selection of outtakes on a third disc, including previously unheard outtakes which were not included on the CD edition.
Notable among the previously unheard material is "The Ralph Records Guided Tour", an audio tour of the Ralph Records headquarters by Hardy Fox, which was only recently re-discovered in The Cryptic Corporation archive. Early copies purchased direct from the Cherry Red website include a bonus, single-sided white label 7" containing the Meet The Residents Sampler (previously issued only once, on a flexidisc included with File Magazine in 1974).
"Classic Series" collectors' vinyl edition (2023)[]
A special collectors' vinyl "Classic Series" edition of Meet The Residents was released January 29th 2023 by Psychofon Records; this edition was limited to 200 copies on orange and black "starburst" vinyl, housed in a die-cut, fold-open cover inside an orange "Classic Series" branded tote bag, with one of four Beatle masks included as a bonus item.
This release was the first in an ongoing "Classic Series" of special collectors' Residents vinyl reissues from Psychofon, which is planned to run alongside the pREServed expanded vinyl reissue series "throughout 2023 and beyond".
Reception[]
Contemporary[]
In spite of its arresting album art, Meet The Residents was not a success - The Residents estimate that aside from family and friends, only forty people bought the album of their own free will in the first year after its release.
One review of the album, supposedly written in April 1974, by a record collector and diarist later known as "Grandpa Gio", suggests that with their second release, Ralph Records were "testing the audience" by releasing such an uncommercial project following the relatively accessible Santa Dog EP, and despite noting the continuous A-side suite's "first-time effect that cannot be repeated" where "each song... assumes its own identity and becomes recognizable", and the "more traditional structures" heard on the rest of the album, concluded that "The Residents are not Ivory & The Braineaters by any stretch of the imagination".[9]
Retrospective[]
Although Meet The Residents was largely ignored at the time of its release, it has since garnered critical acclaim.
In a favorable review of the 1977 stereo remix of the album, Jon Savage of Sounds found Meet The Residents incomprehensible at first, but more enjoyable after multiple listens.[10] Stage magician Penn Jillette listened to the album "a couple times" on the first day of his six day Ralph Records marathon in March 1982, admitting that he hadn't "really got a handle" on the concepts outlined in the liner notes.[11]
English musician and author Julian Cope said of Meet The Residents: "just as DJ's would play the best minute and a half or so the latest garage, soul or pop hits before fading it out into another great single before the listener gets bored, The Residents weld together a collage of the most annoyingly catchy riffs and tunes leaving the listener initially confused and later hooked."[12]
In a mostly positive review, freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle described the album as "a big stew of oddness"... "with no real goal in sight", and found it difficult to characterize the album's genre: "It's definitely "experimental" but so many parts actually sound like music that you're almost tempted to call it nouveau classical."[13]
David Cleary of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars, calling The Residents "true avant-garde crazies... [their] work of this time really sounds like nothing else that exists."[14] Nils Bernstein of eMusic also gave it 4 stars, saying its "brilliance lies in collaging less avant-garde elements like vaudeville, early rock ‘n’ roll, world music and snippets of pop culture in 'songs' that were as disorienting as the barrage of media and consumerism they subtly critiqued".[15]
Track listing[]
All tracks composed by The Residents unless otherwise noted.
Original mono version (1974)[]
Side A (22:58)[]
- Boots (Hazelwood) (1:30)
- Numb Erone (1:23)
- Guylum Bardot (1:22)
- Breath and Length (1:45)
- Consuelo's Departure (1:55)
- Smelly Tongues (1:35)
- Rest Aria (5:07)
- Skratz (1:44)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (6:37)
Side B (21:19)[]
- Infant Tango (6:01)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:12)
- N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues) (10:06)
Edited stereo remix (1977)[]
Side A (20:06)[]
- Boots (Hazelwood) (0:54)
- Numb Erone (1:07)
- Guylum Bardot (1:19)
- Breath and Length (1:44)
- Consuelo's Departure (0:59)
- Smelly Tongues (1:44)
- Rest Aria (5:09)
- Skratz (1:43)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (5:27)
Side B (17:57)[]
- Infant Tango (5:28)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:13)
- N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues) (7:16)
"Classic Series" CD reissue (1988)[]
- Boots (Hazelwood) (1:39)
- Numb Erone (1:06)
- Guylum Bardot (1:20)
- Breath and Length (1:45)
- Consuelo's Departure (1:55)
- Smelly Tongues (1:35)
- Rest Aria (5:41)
- Skratz (1:18)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (6:37)
- Infant Tango (6:01)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:12)
- N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues) (9:41)
- Fire (1:45)
- Lightning (2:18)
- Explosion (3:20)
- Aircraft Damage (3:53)
pREServed CD edition (2018)[]
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1[]
Meet The Residents 1974 mono mix + Santa Dog EP + outtakes and ephemera
- Boots (Hazelwood) (1:26)
- Numb Erone (1:21)
- Guylum Bardot (1:23)
- Breath and Length (1:45)
- Consuelo's Departure (1:47)
- Smelly Tongues (1:51)
- Rest Aria (5:29)
- Skratz (1:49)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (6:46)
- Infant Tango (6:06)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:13)
- N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues) (10:20)
- Fire (1:47)
- Explosion (3:22)
- Lightning (2:21)
- Aircraft Damage (3:57)
- Tuesday #1 / Guylum Bardot Version (2:25) (*)
- Boots Again (Hazelwood) (2:03) (*)
- Numb Erone / Inka (2:54) (*)
- Tuesday #2 / Smelly Tongues Version (2:07) (*)
- Consuela's Return (2:23) (*)
- Breadth and Length Version (2:04) (*)
- Numb Erone 'Live' (2:19) (*)
- Spotted Pinto Bean / Tuesday #5 (1:59) (*)
- 7733 Variations (1:18) (*)
Disc 2[]
Meet The Residents 1977 stereo mix + outtakes and ephemera
- Boots (Hazelwood) (0:50)
- Numb Erone (1:08)
- Guylum Bardot (1:20)
- Breath and Length (1:41)
- Consuelo's Departure (0:58)
- Smelly Tongues (1:45)
- Rest Aria (5:14)
- Skratz (1:42)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (5:31)
- Infant Tango (5:26)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:06)
- N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues) (7:49)
- Overlay At High Speed (0:43) (*)
- Spotted Pinto Queen (2:59) (*)
- Inka Don't Dry (3:08) (*)
- Tuesday #3 (1:04) (*)
- Quick Brain Tuesday (0:45) (*)
- Poisoned Popcorn (2:45) (*)
- N-Er-Gee Crisis Outro (0:55) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 1 (5:09) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 4 (4:00) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 5 (1:37) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 6 (3:29) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 7 (1:53) (*)
- 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) Pt. 8 (2:33) (*)
pREServed vinyl edition (2023)[]
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1 - Meet The Residents 1974 mono mix[]
Side A[]
- Boots (Hazelwood) (1:26)
- Numb Erone (1:21)
- Guylum Bardot (1:23)
- Breath and Length (1:45)
- Consuelo's Departure (1:47)
- Smelly Tongues (1:51)
- Rest Aria (5:29)
- Skratz (1:49)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (6:46)
Side B[]
- Infant Tango (6:06)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:13)
- N-ER-GEE (10:20)
Disc 2 - Meet The Residents 1977 stereo mix[]
Side C[]
- Boots (Hazelwood) (0:50)
- Numb Erone (1:08)
- Guylum Bardot (1:20)
- Breath and Length (1:41)
- Consuelo's Departure (0:58)
- Smelly Tongues (1:45)
- Rest Aria (5:14)
- Skratz (1:42)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (5:31)
Side D[]
- Infant Tango (5:26)
- Seasoned Greetings (5:06)
- N-ER-GEE (7:49)
Disc 3[]
Side E[]
- Meet The Residents Alternate Concentrate (15:22)
- Boots (1:11)
- Numb Erone 'Live' (3:33)
- Guylum Bardot Version (2:21)
- Breadth and Length Version (1:54)
- Smelly Tongues Version (1:35)
- Russain Love Song (0:14)
- Skratz (Instrumental) (1:36)
- Spotted Pinto Bean Version (0:41)
- N-Er-Gee Crisis Outro (1:37)
- Sokurha (1:15)
- Quick Brain Tuesday (0:46)
- 7733 Variations (1:50)
- More Forgotten Tuesdays (1:22) (*)
- Overlay at Regular Speed (1:27)
Side F[]
- Numb Erone (3:01)
- Inka (2:16)
- Tuesday #1 (Unlisted) (0:29)
- Horny Song / Tuesday 4J / Even More Forgotten Tuesdays (4:14) (*)
- Tuesday #3 (0:58)
- Inka Again (0:14)
- George's Horn (0:25) (*)
- The Ralph Records Guided Tour (8:23) (*)
Credits[]
Original release (1974)[]
- All selections composed and arranged by the Residents and published by Pale Pachyderm Publishing (BMI) except Boots by Lee Hazelwood (ASCAP).
- Nobody But Me by Human Beinz used courtesy of Capitol Records.
- Wool - vocal on Smelly Tongues, Ruth Essex - vocal on Breath And Length, James Whitaker - piano, Pamela Wieking - vocal, Philip Freihofner - oboe on Spotted Pinto Bean, James Aaron - bass and guitar, Bobby Tagney - bass on Infant Tango.
- All other instrumentation by Residents, Uninc.
- Cover design by Porno/Graphics based on a photograph by Robert Freeman.
- Special thanks to the Beatles, Apple Corp. Ltd. and Capitol Records for their invaluable assistance.
- Produced by Residents, Uninc., © 1974
Stereo remix (1977)[]
- All selections composed and arranged by the Residents and published by Pale Pachyderm Publishing (BMI) except BOOTS by Lee Hazelwood (ASCAP).
- NOBODY BUT ME by Human Beinz used courtesy of Capitol Records.
- Special thanks to Wool, R. Essex, J. Whitaker, Zeibak, P. Freihofner, J. Aaron, B. Tangey.
- Cover design by Pore No Graphics.
- Reprocessing by The Crypt, San Francisco; Sonic Arts, Inc., San Francisco; Recording Specialists, Inc., Santa Clara.
- This record was originally produced by Residents, Uninc., and released on Ralph Records in 1974, with a different cover.
- Produced by The Cryptic Corporation.
- Copyright 1977, The Cryptic Corporation.
- Ralph Records, 444 Grove Street, San Francisco, Ca. 94102 RR0677
Liner notes[]
Original release (1974)[]
The Residents in "papier-mache" crayfish/starfish heads
The Residents not only collected other peoples tapes, but gained widespread notoriety for their unusual recordings. The underground network carried their reputation across the oceans where it finally hit the ears of the then unknown Englishman, "Snakefinger" Lithman. Packing a few clothes, he flew directly to San Mateo, California where the Residents then had their sound studios, in hopes of studying tapes of early Cajun music the Residents were alleged to have recorded while in college in Louisiana. Snakefinger had also brought an acquaintance that he had met in the woods of Bavaria while on an expedition there for Britain. That friend was none other than The Mysterious N. Senada who had developed a complex musical system based upon phonetics.
For six months Snakefinger, N. Senada (who spoke very little English), and The Residents worked together recording and listening to tapes. A few lucky people were even able to catch impromptu performances by The Mysterious N. Senada and Snakefinger at several of San Francisco's folk and jazz clubs.
The Residents negotiated with Warner Bros. Records executive Hal Halverstadt over the rights to the Snakefinger/N. Senada/Residents tapes, but Warner Bros. hit by a slump in record sales, decided the audience appeal was too limited and at the last minute withdrew their offer.
Snakefinger returned to England to become a rock and roll star, and The Mysterious N. Senada, well he just disappeared one day. The Residents have ventured to guess that he has probably gone to the arctic regions. He believes some musical link is hidden among the Eskimos of the frozen north.
The music on this album is not that of Snakefinger or of The Mysterious N. Senada. The Residents have taken the basic ideas of the phonetic organization but have applied the theories to a more Western style of music. The translation does not always hold intact, though there is more than enough example of this staggering new music style.
The instruments used on this record have been tuned to approximate Western culture harmonies and artistic freedom is assumed for the right to substitute normal instruments where necessary.
Listen closely to the record. Let the strangeness wear off through a couple of plays. Soon you too will whistle the merry tunes and wonder along with The Residents who that old man N. Senada really was.
Stereo remix (1977)[]
Meet The Residents was originally released in 1974, on the Ralph Records label. The tapes were monaural recordings on home equipment and suffered further fidelity loss in the mastering and pressing stages. In 1976, The Cryptic Corporation came into legal possession of The Residents' recordings, and began working on how to restore these original tapes to studio quality. Using the master tape as a directive, the album was disassembled, reprocessed, and reconstructed into this true stereophonic version. No re-recording was employed. The artists who appear on this recording have personally approved this as an authorized realization of the original LP.
Epilogue from 1997 East Side Digital CD[]
Meet the Residents was released in 1973. The Residents did sign a short-lived contract ten years later with Warner Bros. Snakefinger became a [renowned] solo artist until his untimely death in 1987. The Mysterious N. Senada died in 1993 at the age of 86.
Euro Ralph 2003 LP[]
FINALLY! THE STORY CAN BE SOLD...
Late in 1973, just as The Residents were nearing completion of Meet the Residents, the group's longtime friend and mentor, The Mysterious N. Senada, decided that that unknown quartet no longer needed his guidance. Free to continue his lifelong obsession with the exploration of musical forms, the oddly engaging old man apparently decided that it was time to finally begin his first-hand examination of the music of the Arctic Eskimos.
As it happened, The Residents were just completing a photo session for the new album when Mr. Senada stopped by their studio to say goodbye. The group had painstakingly created masks in the shapes of three giant crawfish heads and one large starfish, and then proceeded, while wearing these outlandish headpieces, to carefully restage poses from one of The Beatles' early photo sessions. Quite pleased with their work, they asked N. if he would mind dropping the film off at a photo lab as he was leaving town. Eager to please, the old gentleman grunted what appeared to be a positive response and left. The film, along with the Mysterious N. Senada, disappeared.
Bewildered and frustrated, The Residents felt they no longer had the time or emotional resources to recreate the photo session. Desperate to fill the blank space on the album's back cover, a member of the group, using white-out and an ink pen, actually drew the fishy heads directly on the back photo of a Meet the Beatles album as the cover was waiting to go to press.
The Mysterious N. Senada never returned and, to this day, his disappearance is, of course, a mystery. He did send tapes of his Arctic explorations back to his friends, The Residents -- tapes that became the inspiration for their epic album, Eskimo. But what has never been mentioned was the roll of film, found near the bottom of a box full of strange tape recordings, along with a cryptic note that said, "MAFUSME! HATU, GRINK, CALATTO!!!"
The Residents could only assume it meant, "Sorry."
pREServed CD edition (2018)[]
"On Meet The Residents" by Harvey Sox[]
The Residents, from the crayfish/starfish photo shoot, 1974?
The cover takes a biting slap at the Beatles, with the original Capitol Records' Meet The Beatles jacket exactly reproduced with appropriate tongue-in-cheek changes like fangs, crossed eyes, drooling tongue, etc. Capitol Records, alerted to the possible breach of copyright, has threatened to "take action" if Ralph Records should press a second edition of Meet The Residents.
The parodies, however, are not simply confined to some type of humorous duplication. Illustrations seem the best way to explain their unusual characteristics. One cut aptly named "Infant Tango" (no doubt a pun on the notorious disease) is a shuck & jive soul number featuring Chinese instrumentation (properly wah-wahed) and electronically altered jazz saxophone. Does that explain it? Well, how about "Spotted Pinto Bean"? I would say Sun Ra with opera and honky-tonk after-hours piano during a thunderstorm backed by a Motown horn section. Is that any clearer? Maybe you have to hear it to understand.
Many listeners have compared Meet The Residents to some of the strange European releases which have recently been filtering more and more into the American music scene. However, The Residents are so totally American in the sources from which they draw, that the result is more pop-artish than, say, the heavy handed Germans or cutesie English. I mean, who else even thought to wonder how Stockhausen would do "These Boots Are Made For Walking"?
The Residents' Meet The Residents is not everyone's cup of tea. In fact, for most it is more a cup of bitters, but for that small minority for whom this record was made, it must be near heaven.Release history[]
| Year | Label | Format | Region | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Ralph Records | LP | US | Mono version |
| 1977 | Stereo version, alternate cover art | |||
| 1979 | ||||
| 1985 | Stereo version, 13th Anniversary picture disc | |||
| 1988 | Mono version | |||
| East Side Digital | CD | "Classic Series" edition, mono version | ||
| Torso | NL | "Classic Series" edition, mono version | ||
| LP | Mono version | |||
| 1990 | T.E.C. Tones | Cass | US | |
| 1997 | East Side Digital | CD | Stereo version | |
| Bomba Records | JPN | |||
| 1998 | Euro Ralph | EU | ||
| 2003 | LP | Mono version | ||
| 2005 | CD | RUS | Stereo version | |
| 2009 | Birdsong & Hayabusa Landings | JPN | Mono version | |
| 2011 | MVD Audio | US | ||
| Ralph Records & MVD Audio | LP | |||
| 2018 | New Ralph Too, MVD Audio & Cherry Red | 2xCD | EU & US | pREServed CD edition, mono and stereo versions with bonus tracks |
| 2021 | Modern Harmonic | LP | USA | Mono version, green vinyl |
| 2023 | New Ralph Too, MVD Audio & Cherry Red | 3xLP | UK, EU & US | pREServed vinyl edition, mono and stereo versions with bonus tracks |
| Psychofon Records | LP | EU | "Classic Series" vinyl collectors' edition of 200 copies; orange and black starburst vinyl with fold-out cover and one of four Beatle masks |
See also[]
- Santa Dog
- Meet The Residents Sampler
- 1-10 (With A Touch Of 11)
- Tuesday tapes
- N. Senada
- Theory of Phonetic Organization
Buy Or Die![]
- Meet The Residents CD at MVDShop (US)
- Meet The Residents vinyl at MVDShop (US)
- Meet The Residents pREServed CD edition at MVDShop (US)
- Meet The Residents pREServed CD edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
- Meet The Residents pREServed vinyl edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
Listen online[]
Resources[]
External links and references[]
- Meet The Residents at The Residents Historical
- Meet The Residents at RZweb
- Meet The Residents at Discogs
- ↑ Warning: Uninc. - Live and Experimental Recordings 1971-1972 liner notes, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Cherry Red Books, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Homer Flynn (interviewed by Nate Goyer), "Ep 401: Homer Flynn pREServes The Residents", The Vinyl Guide, June 19th 2023
- ↑ Evidence of Residents Volume 1, 2004
- ↑ Tom Timony, The Vinyl Guide Episode 137, September 10th 2018
- ↑ Matt Groening, "The True Story of The Residents", 1979
- ↑ Ian Shirley, "The Dawn Of Residentkind...", Meet The Residents pREServed edition liner notes, 2018
- ↑ Dave Warden, The Cryptic Guide to The Residents, 1986
- ↑ Grandpa Gio, "Do Not Forget My Face, My Friend (Meet The Residents)", Grandpa Gio and The Residents, April 10th 1974
- ↑ Jon Savage, Sounds, December 31st 1977
- ↑ "Okay, uh... you guys are gonna wanna get your money's worth, don't you?..., I've listened to this Meet The Residents thing a couple times, and there's some sort of, uh, N. Senada, and there's some sort of, uh, uh, phonetics that we're talking about here, and I haven't really got a handle on it, but I'll keep working on it." Penn Jillette, "Day One", Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special!, 1982
- ↑ Julian Cope, "Unsung Reviews: Meet The Residents", Head Heritage, July 2nd 2000
- ↑ Mark Prindle, "Meet The Residents", Mark's Record Reviews, ca. 1996-2001
- ↑ Meet The Residents at AllMusic
- ↑ Nils Bernstein, "Meet The Residents", eMusic, April 5th 2011
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Meet The Residents (1974) Side A |
