Rarest Residents Record
Rarest Residents Record is the title of a 10" 78 RPM acetate disc by The Residents, which was cut as a joke by Ralph Records' (then) label owner Tom Timony in the mid-1980s. Although the specific contents of the record are currently unconfirmed, the disc is said to contain "five minutes of Eskimo".[1]
Originally displayed in Timony's office at The Cryptic Corporation's Folsom Street headquarters,[1] and later hung on a wall at Ralph Records' Minna Street warehouse in the mid-1980s,[2] the so-called Rarest Residents Record is currently held in the Eyeball Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany.
History
Cut "for a joke" by Tom Timony, then owner of Ralph Records, and intended simply as "crap to hang on the wall",[1] the Rarest Residents Record is known to have been displayed in Timony's office at The Residents' Folsom Street headquarters,[1] and on a wall in Ralph's Minna Street warehouse in the mid-1980s.[2] It is now owned by Andreas Mathews, owner and operator of the Eyeball Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany, where it is currently held.
Thought by Mathews to be a National Hollywood Type 2 aluminium-core acetate disc (a type used for home recording in the early 1960s) which plays at 78 RPM,[3] the specific contents of the Rarest Residents Record remain unconfirmed, although Timony has said that it contains "five minutes of Eskimo".[1]
Mathews has said that he is currently unable to play the disc to confirm its contents, as he does not have a turntable which will play records at 78 RPM.[4] The disc appears to have a number of visible scuffs and scratches which would likely affect playback. A second, off-center spindle hole is drilled into the record's label, presumably allowing the listener to play the record in a highly unusual manner (though the results of such an experiment would likely be incomprehensible).
See also
- Tom Timony
- Eskimo
- 566 Folsom Street, San Francisco
- 109 Minna Street, San Francisco
- Mystery Box
- Eyeball Museum
- Andreas Mathews
External links and references
- Post by Andreas Mathews in The Residents unofficial Facebook group
- Post by Andreas Mathews in Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "I did have 5 minutes of Eskimo on a 10” 78rpm on my office wall at 566 Folsom St... I cut it for a joke it was not real just crap to hang on the wall I just wrote rarest record on the sleeve." Tom Timony, in an email to a Mysterious Spanish Lady, ca. June 2026
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Post by Paul Ashby in Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group, February 17th 2021
- ↑ "Labelography of Home Recording Discs" at Phonozoic
- ↑ "I think it's some kind of acetate. You need a record player with 78 RPM for that, but my turntable can't do that. I think you also need a special needle for that too ..." - Andreas Mathews, Ralph Records Facebook group, February 18th 2021