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Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents (subtitled A Survey of Two Decades of Anonymous Fame) is a biographical book on The Residents collected and edited by Uncle Willie, the founder of the group's official fan club UWEB. It was published in 1993 by The Cryptic Corporation and was available through the UWEB mail-order catalog.
The book came packaged with a compilation CD containing short mixes of excerpts from the group's major projects, ranging from one to three minutes in length.
History[]
In 1979, the first book on The Residents was published, The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book of The Residents, available through their soon-to-be defunct fan club W.E.I.R.D.. The book was then followed up by a revised edition in 1981, and then The Cryptic Guide to The Residents in 1986. Due to limited numbers, the Cryptic Guide quickly went out of print, and in the October 1990 UWEB newsletter Uncle Willie responded to requests for a reprint by stating that the book was "confusing and misleading".
Uncle Willie also mentioned that he was was overseeing a new book, titled Uncle Willie's Nearly Accurate Guide to The R*******s. A year later, in the October 1991 newsletter, a second reference was made to the book, proposing an estimated release date of Summer 1992. By this point, the book's name was finalised as Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents.
The book was eventually published in January 1993, announced in the final UWEB newsletter. In addition to essays on the group's history, Uncle Willie's guide includes the original "True Story of The Residents" essay by Matt Groening (originally printed in the W.E.I.R.D. book) and excerpts from a Resident's diary from the Mole Show tour. It also includes the only published excerpt from the otherwise unreleased novel adaptation of Mark of the Mole by T.D. Wade.
The discography, compiled with the assistance of Residents collector Kim Andrews, was the most comprehensive one available at the time of the book's release; it lists every variation of every work, including compilations and other works, including Residents material. The last forty pages of the book consist of lists of The Residents' works, categorized and cross-referenced.
Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents was later published in Japan with alternative cover art. The Japanese title of the book translates into English as "The Eyeball That Sees the Dancing Eyeball!".[1]
Contents[]
- Uncle Willie Meets The Residents by Uncle Willie
- Foreword: Twenty Years Adrift in an Eyeball Suit by Sinister Skratcher
- The Residents Biography (of sorts) by Uncle Willie
- The First Ten Years (1972-1982)
- The True Story of The Residents by Matt Groening
- Yet Another True Story by Uncle Willie
- Projects 1972-1982
- Santa Dog (review by Uncle Willie)
- Vileness Fats (letter from "Harve")
- Meet The Residents (review by Cole Gagne)
- Not Available (review by David Willenbrink)
- The Third Reich 'N' Roll (review by Sinister Scratcher)
- Fingerprince (review by Sinister Scratcher)
- Duck Stab (review by David Willenbrink)
- Eskimo (review by Uncle Willie)
- The Commercial Album (review by David Willenbrink)
- The Second Ten Years
- The True Story Continues by Uncle Willie
- Projects 1982-1992
- The Mole Trilogy
- Mark of the Mole (novel excerpt by T.D. Wade)
- The Tunes of Two Cities (review by Cole Gagne)
- The Mole Show (review by Uncle Willie with "Moleshow Diary" by a Resident)
- The Big Bubble (review by Uncle Willie)
- The American Composer Series (review by Nessie Lessons)
- The 13th Anniversary Show (review by Rich Shupe)
- God in Three Persons (review by Sinister Scratcher)
- Cube-E
- The King & Eye (review by Uncle Willie)
- Cube-E: The History of American Music in 3 E-Z Pieces (review by Rich Shupe)
- Freak Show (review by Uncle Willie)
- The Twentieth Year Celebration
- Our Finest Flowers (review by Uncle Willie)
- Twenty Twisted Questions
- The Mole Trilogy
- The Lists (compiled by Uncle Willie and Kim Andrews)
- Odd Bunnies
- Singles
- Video
- Performances
- TV Appearances
- UWEB
- Scoring for Film and Video
- Compilations
- Audio Contributions
- Promotional
- Co-Producers
- The Songs
- What it all means by Uncle Willie
- Information
- Acknowledgments
- Bibliography
- Index
Companion album[]
Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents also came with a companion CD of the same name, featuring short "concentrates", edited and compiled by Uncle Willie, covering the (then) entire twenty year musical output of The Residents.
The tracks are arranged in six sections - "The First Ten Years", "The Second Ten Years", "The Mole Trilogy", "The American Composers Series", "Cube-E" and "The Twentieth Anniversary Celebration". The CD also features three previously unreleased tracks, "Willie's Theme", "The Decade Ends Theme" and "'Finale", all instrumentals from their then-recent project Anganok, later released in its entirety in 2009.
Track listing[]
- Willie's Theme (0:44)
- Santa Dog (3:25)
- Vileness Fats (1:56)
- Meet The Residents (2:43)
- Not Available (2:59)
- The Third Reich 'N' Roll (2:33)
- Fingerprince (2:32)
- Duck Stab (3:07)
- Eskimo (2:51)
- The Commercial Album (3:08)
- The Decade Ends Theme (0:33)
- Willie's Theme II (0:47)
- Mark of the Mole (1:56)
- The Tunes of Two Cities (2:08)
- The Big Bubble (1:00)
- The Mole Show (1:14)
- George & James (1:13)
- Stars & Hank Forever (0:53)
- The 13th Anniversary Show (2:08)
- God In Three Persons (3:00)
- The King & Eye (2:34)
- Cube E: The History Of American Music In 3 E-Z Pieces (2:57)
- Freak Show (2:55)
- Our Finest Flowers (2:49)
- Finale (0:50)
Credits[]
- Compiled & Edited by: Uncle Willie
- Performed by: The Residents
- Produced by: The Cryptic Corporation
- With Guest Stars: Diana Alden, Laurie Amat, Joshua Brody, Tony Janssen & Snakefinger
- Featuring: J. Aaron, Bruce Anderson, Gary Beserkley, Chris Cutler, A. Deckbar, Fred Frith, M. Holmes, Don Jackovich, Tony Logan, R. Paulsen, Phil Perkins, Norman Salant, Mark Salvatore, Tom Timmony, James Whittaker, Wool & Zeibak
Cover Art Gallery[]
See also[]
External links and references[]
- Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents at The Residents Historical
- Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents at Discogs
- Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents at archive.org
- ↑ Post by "Meisekimiu", The Talk of Creatures forum, January 30th 2017