Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!dont-send-mail-to-path-lines
From: jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.EDU (Jeff Burka)
Subject: Re: The Residents
Message-ID: <9104201714.AA05665@EDDIE.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU
Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington
References: <423@schoenfinkel.CS.UWindsor.Ca>
Date: 20 Apr 91 17:14:49 GMT
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Petro writes

>They're music is mostly experimental electronic and computer generated stuff
>that you'll either love or hate depending on the song. They claim it's because
>they have no musical training and it was the easiest type of music to make.

The type of music depends a lot on the album, though it all classifies
as experimental.  For instance, the _Duckstab_ CD contains a bunch of tracks
from an EP (can't recall the name of it) of Residents-style nursery rhymes
(including "Old MacDonald" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star") on which 
all of the "instruments" were purchased at Toys R Us. 

>They have quite afew albums.

(a bit of an understatement; I believe they have released more than 20 
albums since their first release "Meet The Residents" in '72 (I think))

>My three favourites are:
>The Commercial Album --- about 40 1 min. songs (fav:Moisture)

This album features lots of guest artists, many of whom aren't credited.
The only one I can think of off hand is Andy Partridge of XTC.

>...Play John Philip Sousza & Hank Willaims --- just what it says (fav:
>                                               Kawliga - uses baseline
>                                               from Billie Jean)

This is actually "American Composers Volume II:  Stars and Hank Forever."
There is also a Volume I, "George and James" with George Gershwin tunes on
one side and James Brown on the other.


>I can't remember the record label they're on off the top of my head. Try
>Ryco for some.

A bunch of their stuff is on Ryco.  Sometime before _The King and Eye_
they were signed to Enigma, which also released their latest (and my
personal favorite) album, _Cube-E, Live in Holland (the history of American
Music in three e-z pieces)_.

I got to see The Residents perform Cube-E last November in Chicago.  It
was beyond words, but the best I can do is "performance-art-from-hell".
The album details the history of american music, starting with cowboy-folky
stuff (I don't want to classify it as country/western, 'cause it wasn't
really c/w as we know it now), moving to soul/blues, and then into Elvis,
who is eventually killed by the British Invasion.  It's an incredible
piece. 

_Cube-E_ includes quite a few Elvis covers, much as they appear on _The King
and Eye_.  I personally find that _The King and Eye_ gets a bit tedious,
just because there are so bloody many covers.  

Anyway...

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka                |"I've lost my way through this world of |
|jburka@silver.ucs.indiana.edu   | profanities/I thrive on the wind and   |
|jburka@amber.ucs.indiana.edu    | the rain and the cold."  --Happy Rhodes|