THE RESIDENTS RADIO SPECIAL / EAT EXUDING OINKS

I believe this was released to act as a sort of "interview" that radio stations could play in an attempt to promote the Resident's music. A lot of the music on here comes from much earlier and hard to find releases such as their first release, "Santa Dog". These songs are framed by phony interview segments that have a supposed DJ in Houston interviewing their supposed band manager. Fortunately the interview is not a total joke, and does relate a bit of information about the band.

In the early to mid-70s the Residents form of deconstructionist rock was very fresh and innovative, unfortunately I think they lost some key member or members because their music really began to decline in quality as the band moved into the 80s. I actually got to meet a couple of the Residents in the mid-80s, while doing minor construction work at one (or more) of the member's 'residence' in San Francisco. They gave me a bunch of Ralph releases that weren't selling too well at the time. Soon after that the Ralph label folded and the Residents started having a much harder time booking shows because their popularity was dropping. I think their music just quit progressing, fortunately a lot of the music on this release is from their earlier more creative years.

The best cuts include a helium induced take on Zappa's "King Kong" featuring Snakefinger on 78 rpm guitar and an amazing collage of Beatles stuff called "Beyond the Valley". The Beatles collage is even more remarkable considering this was done before people had access to digital samplers. Some of the other earlier cuts are OK and show some Captain Beefheart influence. Unfortunately there is also some material that is either boring or outright annoying. I think the problem with the Residents is the vocals. I can handle shrieks on the sax, Sonny Sharrock sonically destroying a guitar or Sun Ra playing the piano with the back of his hands, but weird vocals just grate on my nerves and I ended up shutting down a couple of songs.

The fact that the Residents stayed anonymous during their career may have peaked curiosity in the early years, but in the long run I think it has hurt them because people like knowing something about the people they are listening to. A couple of these songs are really good, the rest is just worn out Residents shtick.