From wiki: Fingerprince is the third studio album by American art rock group the Residents, released in 1977. It was allegedly intended to be a three-sided record titled Tourniquet of Roses, but due to financial difficulties in fulfilling such a project, the record was instead cut down to a regular two-sided album.
So Fingerprince - one of the albums from their original ‘golden era’ that I don’t really revisit all that often and everytime I play it I remember why - side 1 is just not that great. Very under developed half ideas that sort of plod by for a minute or two then stop and then the next song comes on with very little cohesion or energy at all - kind of like the opposite of ‘Meet The Residents’ in that regard where every song was full of energy and ideas and flowed seamlessly into one another. Side B on the other hand is fantastic - plnety of fully fleshed ideas and hooks and a lot of variety and they all flow seamlessly into one another. From Torniquet of Roses onward this album becomes very interesting with 2 great longform sonngs ‘Walter Westinghouse’ with its great use of minimal synths aand ‘Six Things to a Cycle’ which was originally written to be a ballet is just a great instrumental with the odd chantable hook thrown in for good measure and it all wraps up with a really pretty borderline grandiose version of the opener ‘You Yesyesyes’ An album of 2 halves for me if you cut out tracks 2 -6 you’d have a great album but with those in place it’s probably a 7 from yer Duck. Still interesting though as you can hear the transition to both ‘Duck Stab’ and ‘Not Avaliable’ clearly on this album and those records are both classics IMHO
7
Fav tracks: You Yesyesyes, Torniquet of Roses, Walter Westinghouse, Six Things to a Cycle, You Yesyesyes Again
I agree with this. I was struggling with it a bit until Tourniquet of Roses, which on a first listen was definitely my favourite track. If you add on a load of distortion and some Gibbytronix to the vocal on Walter Westinghouse and you’d have a fair approximation of Butthole Surfers. Definitely a better second half but still feels like they’re trying to keep the listener at arm’s length although not to the same degree as Third Reich N Roll
Definitely way more approachable, hookier and better produced than the first 2 - theyll rarely fully embrace the listener with open arms (i dont think this actually happens for another 25 years)- though it does happen from time to time! Equally once they embrace the listener theyll usually deicde to roundhouse kick them to a safe distance the following album.
Metal Meat and Bone is probably their poppiest album? Actually im not sure but its up there. Either that or Demons Dance Alone (<3 love that albun) or Animal Lover
That style starts appearing in the 90s
The 70s/80s is the really wild ride for good and bad
Their next 5 or 6 albums are so different from each other
There is an album run im absaloutely dreading so you got that to look forward to yall think the first 3 albums were hardwork?
Third Reich n Roll! I don’t think I’ve listened to this for about 16 years.
Well… it’s a trip. Kind of manages to be more ‘get-your-head-round-it-able’ and more atonal and nightmarish than the debut. Which is some feat. I think the a-side is the more enjoyable side for me - more dense and noisy. The b-side is a bit more haunting and understated - and like a bad acid trip. It’s kind of easier to see the talent behind it than the debut. Like, you, get the sense they actually know what they’re doing. It doesn’t seem as random and experimental as the first rec.
Lots of music theory going on in Third Reich n Roll - the moment you hit the album ‘Not Avaliable’ the veil is off completely and you’re like OH SO U DO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.I read the bands biography and still have no idea if they actually learned on the fly or knew what they were doing the whole time. I know Snakefinger was always considered a great musician on a technichal level but he didn’t become a member until ‘Fingerprince’.
Snakefinger was called Snakefinger as his fingers resembled snakes whilst playing the Sax
It sounds like they were actively composing music and recording films 24/7 in a warehouse for like 7 years straight so it’s very possible they just learned on the fly - but also outside of the core members know one really knows who collaborated with them. Apparently David Byrne and Brian Eno were on ‘The Commercial Album’ but I have no idea how true that is either. I know that the current line up is basically the singining resident and his magic band - but there has to be more collaborators right? Surely the only explanation for how prolific they were/are and how they hop from one sound to another so often.
Don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure! And judging by Discogs there’s about a million different iterations and versions with different tracklistings etc. Wish I’d known what constituted the OG so that could’ve been my first experience but oh well!
I dig it. My favourite so far. Quirky weird little original tunes with lots of ideas and good moments. They seem to have a better idea of when to keep things concise and when to let things breathe a bit. My favourite track on first pass is probably Boo Who. And like what’s already been mentioned - the influence on some of my favourite bands is more and more obvious. Some of the electronic/synthy sounds also sound very ahead of their time for '77.
Not Available is the fourth studio album by American art rock group the Residents, recorded in 1974. The album was allegedly meant to only be released once its creators completely forgot about its existence (adhering to their “Theory of Obscurity,” in which an artist’s purest work is created without an audience) - however, due to ongoing delays in the release of Eskimo , Not Available was released to supply the demand for new Residents material, given their unexpected critical and commercial success following the release of the Duck Stab EP. - WIKIPEDIA
Not Avaliable - I love it - musicially I just find it so easy to listen to and the constant shifting very good at holding my attention. Any suspicions of musical amateurism is long gone by this album which is both very bizzare and difficult but also approachable and melodic. Find the whole ‘radio play’ vibe kind of interesting although one thing I hold against this album ‘Edweenas’ voice is a bit much and distracting. One of my fav records - just nothing quite else like it
yall think the first 3 albums were hardwork?
