The Healer and the Archer (subtitled A Fable of Love and Loss) is a spoken word piece by The Residents, which was first released as a single-sided 12" single in an extremely limited edition of 25,[1] on January 15th 2020 via Astres D'Or.
Each copy was numbered, and included unique art by long-time Residents collaborator and mixed-media artist Leigh Barbier. It has quickly become one of the most desirable Residents collectors items;[1] only ten copies were sold at the time of release.
The spoken word piece was later released digitally by Astres D'Or on June 18th 2020.
History[]
The Healer and the Archer was announced by The Residents in late 2019. It is a spoken word piece, described as "a fable of love and loss", the group's first stand-alone spoken word piece (aside from the 2006 serial drama The River of Crime).
The announcement was curiously accompanied by a promotional image featuring a distorted 1975 photograph of "Captain Doc" of The Cryptic Corporation, Homer Flynn, from the Ant Farm event "Media Burn", where he appeared as a Secret Service agent (alongside Hardy Fox) flanking a John F. Kennedy impersonator.
Release[]
The Healer and the Archer was released on a single-sided LP by Astres D'Or on January 15th 2020, in a limited pressing of 25 copies, each featuring unique artwork (two tableaus with a painting and a collage) by Leigh Barbier,[1][2] a long-time collaborator of the group. Only 10 of the 25 copies were sold.
On June 18th 2020 the piece was reissued as a digital single through Astres D'Or's Bandcamp page, allowing the project to be heard by the broader public for the first time.
Synopsis[]
Sweet like the smell of honeysuckle in the summer sun… sweet like the taste of rock candy crushed between the teeth… sweet like the touch of a baby’s skin beneath your fingertips. Yes, the Archer’s life was sweet. Never was the aim of his arrow more true, his sense of direction more succinct, his adoration more complete, but… something was missing. An empty spot existing just outside his line of sight, unspoken, intangible and roaming the edges of his essence. Like an itch that wasn’t there, with no specific connection to his otherwise well ordered life, it lingered… always present but never quite real.
Legacy[]
Leigh Barbier artwork included with a copy of The Healer and the Archer sold on eBay in January 2023
Due to its extremely limited nature, The Healer and the Archer quickly became one of the scarcest and most desirable Residents items on the collectors market, with each of the ten copies sold including a unique artwork by Leigh Barbier.[1]
A Dutch collector listed copy #17 for sale on eBay on January 4th 2023, including the original artwork by Barbier depicting a man with arrows in a target on his chest; the opening bidding price was 1,300 EUR, however the copy (which is apparently unplayed) could be purchased outright for 2,000 EUR.[2]
Track listing[]
- The Healer and the Archer (15:35)
See also[]
- Media Burn
- Astres D'Or
External links and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole, Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopedia, pg. 123, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Healer and the Archer on eBay, January 3rd 2023