The Residents

["James J. Lippard" <Lippard@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>]

I finally got around to buying something by the Residents to listen to
last week.  I bought "The Residents Commercial Album" and "George and
James".  My first reaction was that I had wasted my money, but on the
second (and third and fourth) listens I decided I liked it, even if it
is incredibly strange.  I love the lyrics on the Commercial Album
(especially stuff like "Moisture").
   For those of you unfamiliar with these albums, the Commercial Album
is 40 one-minute tracks of very UNcommercial music with bizarre sounds
and lyrics.  The Residents remind me a lot of Barnes & Barnes (Billy
Mumy of "Lost in Space" and Robert Hamer) on this album.
   "George and James" is music by George Gershwin and James Brown,
supposedly the first in a series of at least 16 albums of music by
American composers to be released between 1984 and 2013 or something
like that.  The Gershwin songs are "Rhapsody in Blue", "I Got Rhythm",
and "Summertime".  It's weird, too...  RiB starts out with what sounds
like an air-raid siren.
   The James Brown side is subtitled "Live at the Apollo" and includes
"I Get Crazy", "Think", and "Night Train" ("Are you ready for the night
train?" "yeah!").

   I've heard good things about "Third Reich 'n' Roll" and "Eskimo", are
there any other Residents' albums of note?

   Jim (Lippard at MULTICS.MIT.EDU)

P.S.  to Bill Hsu:  yes, I do like stuff on IODoT, especially
"Uncorrected Personality Traits".