VOTD 12/25/2022

 The Residents: Santa Dog 50th Anniversary Collection (Secret Records) purchased through mail order

Fifty years ago this week, a hippie art collective from San Mateo, CA released a double 7" titled Santa Dog. A spurious band name was given to each side (The Singing Lawnchairs, for example). There is mention inside the cover of Residents, Uninc, the movie Vileness Fats,  Ralph Records, and the graphics division Porno/Graphics. (The latter would have multiple spellings over the years.)

The story leading up to the record, the name The Residents, whatever happened to their feature length film, is better documented elsewhere. I will mentioned a few parts of the story here. The four titles on the sides were named from an insurance brochure: "Fire" (AKA "Santa Dog"), "Explosion", "Lightning", and "Aircraft Damage". It was a surrealist exercise in found materials,  "Santa Dog" itself is an anagram of God/Satan. That said, I once saw the polaroid of a dachshund dressed in a Santa suit when I visited Ralph Records in 1986. The record was not generally made for commercial sale. The band tried to send a copy to Richard Nixon at the White House, to be stamped "rejected" and returned.

I was, in and some respects remain, a fanatical fan. But definitely to a point. The band's early music, from Santa Dog through Commercial Album is some of my favorite music. Even within that time period there are ups and downs. I admire Eskimo more than I enjoy it; it is an interesting production to say the least. Duck Stab!, on the other hand, I consider to be a desert island disc. No doubt much of my continued interest in the first decade of the band's existence has to do with me discovering them in high school. I was really looking for something different, and they and the Ralph Records roster at the time delivered.

Commercial Album was followed by Mark of the Mole, a record I like but definitely don't love. I think it partially has to do with my personal disliking of programmatic nature of it and Eskimo, the storytelling through sound.

After Mark, as The Residents entered into their early digital period, I found myself decreasingly interested in what they were doing. I rather enjoyed the Intermission  EP, the first record to significantly be produced on the Emulator sampling keyboard. And while I found things to enjoy about the subsequent several records, it all honestly became less and less interesting to my ears more-or-less with each release. 

I hate to blame the tools, but the ease of production using sampling technology drained much of the charm of the early recordings. I liked the sometimes primitive, rough-hewn quality of the music and production. The cleanliness of the more recent albums makes me long for the determinately out of tune piano that was so prevalent on Fingerprince and Not Available. 

I'm writing my take on things, without apology. I like what I like. But I am willing to question even my own opinions on The Residents' music for most of the past four decades. Am I judging the music based on something I want to hear, rather than what is presented to me?

Nonetheless, listening to this collection that spans the band's earliest to nearly their most recent recordings, reminds me of their highs and lows. Again, just to my ears if nobody else's, but I know I am not alone in my strong preference for the early recordings. 

I admire their determination, I'm happy some version of the group still exists, despite the retirement and  passing of Hardy Fox. The recent pREServed series of reissues has turned up a few good moments, but largely the unreleased material hasn't been essential. I guess I'll have to be satisfied to continue to revisit this band's 1970s work. But, oh what a time, what a time.