Talk:Meet The Residents

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Notes From Ralph

"At the time, it was a naïve thing to do when they started. But the group was important, and they wanted one image for the group. They didn't want four faces for the group. They wanted one image that would represent the group. [...] It's removing that personal identity and emphasizing the music and the music's oneness, not that it's made up of four different people, but that it's just the music."

- Hardy Fox, JJJ Interview, 1982

Cosmichobo1 _(Admin) (talk) 15:59, February 02 2023

"Subtitled The First Album by North Louisiana's Phenomenal Pop Combo, Meet the Residents was released on April 1st, 1974, with a striking cover -- a defaced version of the cover of Meet the Beatles, the Beatles' first album from Capitol Records.

The album had been recorded as a break from the huge Vileness Fats project. Like the band's first release, the 1972 single Santa Dog, this album was produced at home, creating sounds with tape effects and instruments -- which the band still didn't really know how to play. The Residents were not using synthesizers yet. Meet the Residents is more organized than Santa Dog, though, and demonstrated a little more skill with the instruments. The album was fairly close to the traditional album format: a series of songs, some segueing into the next.

The Residents put a lot of attention into the packaging as well as the music, though the defaced Beatles cover upset Capitol Records greatly. John Lennon proudly displayed his own copy at home. The cover also became the favorite piece of evidence for the old "The Beatles are the Residents" theory.

In addition to the infamous cover art, the record included liner notes on N. Senada's Theory of Phonetic Organization and a promotion for the Vileness Fats film. 1050 disks were made, though 200 had to be scrapped. These barely sold, so the band made 4000 seven-minute 7" flexy-disk samplers which were included in an issue of the February '74 issue of the Canadian art magazine, File, along with a blurb advertising the album at $1.99 per copy. It still didn't sell -- people thought it was a joke. An ad in the May 17, 1974 issue of Friday, a college magazine from San Francisco, offered a free sample, but even so The Residents only sold 40 copies of Meet the Residents in the first year of its release.

Later, as the band became better known, sales of this first album started to pick up. In 1977, The Residents re-worked the tapes, cutting about seven minutes from the playtime, and released a new version. This release had a new cover, to keep Capitol happy, which depicted four figures with non-human heads: three with prawn-heads, the fourth with a starfish. These were identified as George, John, and Paul Crawfish and Ringo Starfish."

- Meet The Residents at The Residents Historical

ImaginaryJacques _(Admin) 💀 (talk) 10:41, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

"Meet The Residents, of course, is a Beatles crossover, so... it always goes for high money because Beatles collectors want that, and you know, the 7" inch... that they did, The Beatles Play The Residents and The Residents Play The Beatles... they're always the two sort of high-end things as far as their collectibles go."

"You want the truth or you want a bunch of crap [about Capitol Records threatening a lawsuit over the cover art for Meet The Residents]? [...] Alright, the truth is... it was just like, 'well, we can say this', because there was no Internet or anything, and like, say, 'oh, The Beatles are going to beat us up if we put any of their imagery our on our record', but in actuality, you know... It makes for a great story here, you know, forty-five years later... Well, yeah, more-or-less [it was a PR stunt]. The answer is yes."

- Tom Timony, "Ep 137: Ralph Records with Tom Timony", The Vinyl Guide, September 10th 2018

ImaginaryJacques _(Admin) 💀 (talk) 16:48, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

Notes on the 3xLP

Meet The Residents Alternate Concentrate (15:22)

Boots - So we start off with a pretty regular sounding version of Boots - and by regular I mean like the album version, which morphs into an RDX or Rough Mix, version, with the lead vocals removing and the clicking and brass instruments becoming more prominent. It lasts 1:15

Numb Erone - This is the ‘live’ / "Number 1" version which we also can hear on Greatest Hiss and the MTR preserved CD. It ends with some tape experimentation cut from either previously released version, then Hardy speaking into the microphone to criticise his own work. “Unfortunately it didn’t turn out as good as I’d hoped it would. But it’s not quite together. But… it’s okay.” This version lasts 3:41 which is a full minute longer than the version found on the CD, which cuts the intro and fades out before the tape experimentation part starts.

The version found on Greatess Hiss also fades out at that same point as the MTR CD, but has a longer intro than either version, with some incomprehensible studio chatter preluding it. The version on 'hiss' also cuts much of the silence following from the warmup, making for a tighter listening experience.

Guylum Bardot - the same as heard on the ‘Tuesday #1 / Guylum Bardot Version’ track. This version lasts 2:27, which, ignoring the Tuesday intro, is about 40 seconds longer Than the version heard on the CD.

The version found on the 3xLP is the longest version, but the CD version makes some significant cuts to improve the structure - it retains the spoken intro, but removes the first 3 bars of the actual performance, which are admittedly more sloppy than the rest of the take. It then cuts most of the bridge, as well as the first bar of the outro.

Breathe & Length - Pretty much identical to the 'Breath & Length Version' track found on the CD, except for the CD featuring a short warmup cut from the LP version - betcha didn’t think that the CD would have longer versions huh?

Smelly Tongues - Same version heard on the CD, except here the last 10 seconds of the intro are cut out and the fade out is longer.

Rest Aria - seemingly the same recording as from the Russian Love Song track, featured on Not Available preserved, but this is the end of that recording - an end that is completely unheard on the original release, as it fades out much earlier. Sadly it only lasts 15 seconds

Skratz - This is a complete instrumental version of Skratz.

Spotted Pinto Bean - This is the same as the version on the CD, except with studio chatter at the start and the end.

NERGEE - this is the same recording as ‘NERGEE crisis Outro’ heard on the CD, except with 40 seconds of a sloppy intro.

Sokura (1:15)

The same as the Delta Nudes and MTR CD versions, minus the intro and outro added to those releases respectively.

Quick Brain Tuesday (0:46)

This is the same as the versions featured on both The Delta Nudes and MTR CD. The version on Greatest Hiss is a stereo mix, which neither MTR versions are.

7733 Variations (1:50)

This is about a minute longer than the CD version, but that’s not where the oddities stop. 7733 is built upon two segments, a slow part and a fast part. The version on the CD starts with the slow part then abruptly shifts to the fast part, but the version on the LP starts with the fast part, and then plays the slow part after a gap as if they were two different tracks. The fast bit on the LP features about 25 seconds at the start which are cut from the CD version, presumably to make the shift that much more abbrasive, The slow part has about 7 seconds more at the end on the LP version.

More Forgotten Tuesdays (1:22)

Completely new stuff. Tape cuts at 0:16 and 0:47

Overlay at Regular Speed (1:27)

The obvious difference here is that Overlay on the CD is played at high speed, and this version is at regular speed. I slowed down the CD version to compare. This version doesn’t fade in like the high speed version, and doesn’t feature as many vocal overdubs. The version on the CD has a high pitched voice even when slowed down.

Comparing to “Overday” from the Delta Nudes comp, it’s a completely different beast. The version on The Delta Nudes comps seems to be a concentrate of various outtakes from these sessions, starting with “Tuesday #1”, going into “Inka,” then “George’s Horn”, then ” “Sokurah,” which crossfades into “Overlay.” This version of Overlay seems to have a more wide instrumentation to it.

Numb Erone (3:01)

This version features a minute long intro cut from the CD version.

Inka (2:16)

This version has a minute long Outro cut from the CD.

Tuesday #1 (0:29)

Identical to the version on the CD. Unlisted.

“Horny Song / Tuesday 4J / Even More Forgotten Tuesdays” (4:14)

These are meant to be different tracks but I don’t know how you’d divide these without massive conjecture. I guess the horny song is the one with the horns from 0:00-2:13, which were later sampled in “Nobody Nos.” 2:14-2:40 is a jazzy thing, then 2:40-3:31 is all scatting, 3:31-3:51 is chord organ / accordion playing, then 3:51-4:14 is more scatting, including a rough version of “Smelly Tongues.”

“Tuesday #3” (0:58)

Identical to CD version.

“Inka Again” (0:14)

This is just more of Inka. Sounds like the same recording.

“George’ Horn” (0:25)

This was first heard at 0:35-0:58 of the Delta Nudes’ track “Overday,” it’s a different mix here but the recording and cut is the same.

“The Ralph Records Guided Tour.” (8:23)

This is Hardy Fox narrating a slide show of some sort. At 2:29 you can hear the Outro to “Aircraft Damage.” At 8:02 you can hear “Quick Brain Tuesday” again.

Cosmichobo1 _(Admin) (talk) 13:25, June 21 2023‎