The first documented Residents demo tape was 1969’s Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. However, several reel-to-reel tapes, whose names are not documented, did exist, with only a very few of them being officially released.
According to the official Residents website, in the “Delta Nudes” section, the Residents began recording music “as early as 1956”. I’m not joking. That’s what I’ve actually read on the website! If the Residents made recordings at that point in time, I have two theories of what they might’ve sounded like:
- Like Elvis Presley, but incredibly weird!
- Old-school American folk
The first documented Residents recording was a track called “I Hear Ya Got Religion”. This was when the band was a no-budget folk combo, prior to developing an experimental sound that began in 1969. This track existed in three versions. I believe that the first two versions were recorded in around 1966. I can tell because of the audio quality and the way the acoustic guitar sounded. These two versions also had bleating, Captain Beefheart-style saxophones. NOTE: The same tape also had a short snippet of music and vocals. All three of these recordings were found on a Residents bootleg called 19 Mysterious Tracks. The third version was recorded in around early 1969. This time, it has the same formula as the earlier versions, but this time, it ends with a chaotic, Warner Bros. Album-style freak-out. The third version was first officially released, in an edited form, as an mp3 download from the band’s Buy or Die! website in 1999, before being released on the CD compilation Dot.Com in 2000, which comprised of all the mp3 recordings released on that website. Remember, this was before iTunes. The complete version also sought an official release, first in 2012 on the limited-edition mp3 ERA B474, and again in 2013 on the limited edition CD compilation Delta Nude’s Greatest Hiss.
Next, comes “Moonman”, which was recorded on the day of the first moon landing in July 1969. It is an abstract-sounding space rock piece featuring acoustic guitar, low-watt electric guitar, fiddle, acoustic bass, handclaps, and harmonica. The lyrics were actually a poem written by one of the Residents, sung in a high-pitched redneck voice. The piece is also filled with some ambient sounds coming from the room that the band recorded this in. When Charles Bobuck, one of the members of the band, told on his Codgers blog on the official Residents website that an early version of this tape was an instrumental, but had to be re-recorded. The first instrumental version was never bootlegged. “Moonman” was released on ERA B474 and Delta Nudes’ Greatest Hiss.
And finally, there is a very strange piece called “Blow Bluesy Balloon”. This track was also recorded before the existence of Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. “Blow Bluesy Balloon” was an odd number that predates The Warner Bros. Album, featuring deep electric bass, ceramic-sounding percussion, springy, out-of-tune electric guitar effects, the sound of a latex balloon being filled up, jazzy drums, violin, kazoo (at the end of the track), and nonsensical, out-of-tune vocals. This was also released on the two aforementioned compilations.
That’s pretty much all I know about pre-pre-Residents recordings.
The Crazy Mind of Tré Roland 