Homer Flynn, Hardy Fox, & Roland Sheehan-Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor (Unreleased, 1970)

UPDATE: This cover was shown to me by one of my Facebook friends.

For my first Residents review, I reviewed their second demo tape, 1970’s Ballad of Stuffed Trigger. This time, I’m going to review their very first demo tape, also recorded in 1970, entitled Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor. This is basically the holy grail of Residents history, and I wished that the band would release this! However, in a Residents-themed Facebook group, I was told by one of my friends from the group, who was from Germany, that the reason why the Residents refused to release all or part of Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is because it has “no artistic value” and that it just consists of “uninspired fuzting around with musical instruments”. Also, this was not made by the actual Residents, but by some guys who later formed the band. Their names were Homer Flynn, Hardy Fox, and guitarist/organist Roland Sheehan. Upon hearing some of the results, however, I would have to disagree, because out of all the demo recordings I’ve been listening to that have levels and levels of uninspired fiddling around, Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor is what I would say to have the most least amount of uninspired fiddling out of all of them. I’m going to give you a description of the first track out of the two tracks on the whole tape, since that was the only one uploaded by someone on YouTube so far.

“Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor”-A 12-minute suite in several parts, all of which I’m going to give a name, since the movements in the suite doesn’t have any actual titles.

1. “Majestic Introduction”-The whole tape starts off with guitar and keyboards that gradually becomes more and more majestic, perhaps in a classic movie-style manner. Drums also appear. The guitar in this part reminds me of Pink Floyd during their Atom Heart Mother period. No fiddling around in this part. The track ends by being altered with effects to make it sound like a broken radio transmission.
2. “Dialogue & Records”-This has some studio dialogue (that has some microphone feedback at the start) between a couple of the Residents and some girls. In several parts, you hear snippets of old records being played (one of them belonging to the soundtrack for the film Bye Bye, Birdie!), making this movement Plunderphonics-sounding in the process.
3. “Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor”-A really folky piece with lead and background vocals and acoustic guitar, kinda like Bob Dylan but with a more hick voice. More dialogue starts, then comes a reprise, this time in its full form with lyrics. The spoken opening describes how the singer’s “42-year-old baby sister” had a family member killed by soldiers during a battle. It soon becomes psychedelic with distorted bass guitar and Hammond organ.
4. “Freak Out!”-This is a free-form noise improv with distorted bass guitar and Hammond organ. The bass sounds like something from a 70’s or 80’s punk rock song, while the organ has a lot of strange mechanical wonkiness. It ends with a psychedelic chord that leads into a clock ticking with distorted electric guitar and high-pitched organ chords. Some percussive bass chords are played, followed by more organ sounds. A kitschy, NBC Chimes-style guitar melody appears leading to some strange experimental jamming, ending with a vibrating organ cord.

I also listened to a section of the second track of this demo tape (the whole track wasn’t on YouTube, unfortunately), and it is a Hammond organ-filled cover of the classic hymnal “Bringing in the Sheaves”. I absolutely loved the way the Hammond organ sounded, how it is all campy and cheesy.

I didn’t think that the Residents were fiddling around talentlessly with their instruments when they recorded this. Maybe they didn’t want to release anything from this tape because it just consisted of guys who later formed the Residents, meaning that this tape is not really from the Residents.

And, since I’m a musician who releases music online, hopefully I can buy a Hammond organ and a couple other instruments and try to make a clone of this tape, but with different tracks.