Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Eat exuding oinks!

This list was tough. I've been putting off doing these guys because it's so damn difficult to come up with my favorite 5. Each album is such a unique creation it's hard to rate. That said, this is what I managed to nail down...

Top 5 The Residents albums

1. Residue DeuxThis compilation of out takes served as my introduction to the eyeballed ones. For a collection of orphaned tracks, it does a fairly good job of introducing a newbie. Before "The Sleeper" was half over, my heart was taken.
2. The Big Bubble Probably one of the most unpopular Residents album out there. You either love it or hate it. This one is like a soundtrack to insanity. Sung completely in gibberish, the raw emotion is unnerving. According to legend, the band was at odds with their label. It shows. Me thinks this whole album was a big old "fuck you." I love it. "Gotta Gotta Get" is one of my favorite songs in the whole world.
3. Stars and Hank Sadly, I only have this on LP, so I don't get to hear it much. One side is Hank William songs, covered in a fairly straight forward manner (Residentially speaking, of course). Side 2 are Sousa songs. The Sousa side is recorded with ambient crowd sounds, so it seems like you're on the sidewalk watching a parade go by. One crazy friggin parade, mind you.
4.Wormwood "Curious Stories from the Bible." Indeed. Probably one of the crowning moments for the Rez, this album takes some of the darkest, most fucked up stories from the Old Testament and puts them to music. Sung from the perspective of the characters. Musically this is the residents at their peak. This was the second album I got, and doomed me to drooling fanhood forever more. "Burn Baby Burn", I love that song!
5. The Warner Brothers Album This is actually part of the Rez's pre-history, and never officially released. I've heard 2 remix versions now (Eyeball sanctioned), but I'm fortunate enough to have a copy of the original, and I love it. Immensely. The unbridled enthusiasm, the raw sound... you can't beat it.
6. Diskomo 2000/Goosebumps Told you I couldn't do 5. When I first heard about The Residents, it was the Goosebumps EP that was described to me. The teller of the tale didn't remember the album title, only that it was scary renditions of nursery songs. I lusted after this, and amassed most of my collection before finally finding it. This is perhaps my most beloved album. It really is kind of creepy.

Well, I could go on and on, but that'll have to do. Thank you Molius for introducing me to Mozilla. Cntrl + Tab makes these lists a whole lot easier!

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