The Residents – Eskimo Deconstructed

LP originally released 1979. It was hailed as the group's best record to date. A concept album, iconic cover, partly exhausting:

The pieces on Eskimo feature home-made instruments and chanting against backdrops of wind-like synthesizer noise and sound effects. The work is programmatic, each piece pairing music with text detailing a corresponding pseudo-ethnographic narrative. While Eskimo is officially maintained to be a true historical document of life in the Arctic, the stories are absurd fictions only loosely based in actual Inuit culture, and the chanting is a combination of gibberish and commercial slogans. (wiki)

The 40th Anniversary 2xLP contains / presents all these elements and sounds as reduced 1-2 minute tracks. Without the arctic wind you hear a lot more electronic things and the acapella versions of the tribal chants. If you like the original this is the perfect trip into the wonderful Inuit fake world of the Residents.

RESIDENTS – ESKIMO DECONSTRUCTED (Cherry Red 2LP) What I love most about the Residents is that they, like no other band before or since, continue to manage to retain their innovative sparkle (for over 50 years!), constantly dangling a conceptual brilliantly red herring in front of our noses – and getting away with it. The Residents are truly unique; perhaps not always in execution, but always in concept. In 1979 the Residents released their masterpiece Eskimo, a 40-odd minute suite based on stories of the Inuit (meaning ‘the people’, ‘Eskimo’ was considered a pejorative term by the Inuit themselves), inhabitants of the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and Alaska, played on ‘authentic’ Inuit instruments. Despite recordings starting in the mid-seventies, many distractions constantly delayed the album until it was finally released in 1979 on Ralph records. Eskimo stands as one of my favourite albums: strange and unearthly beautiful, serious yet somehow also funny, familiar and comforting – all at the same time. It convincingly conjures a solemn and lonely soundtrack of what I (and the Residents) guess the Arctic Circle freezing sounds sound like. Yet at the same time it gives us unconvincing Inuit chants (gibberish and some hardly-conceived commercial messages). Eskimo hands us the truth and the lie at the same time in a very attractive way – the cover, with the Residents in full smoking and the white vinyl (of course) completed the perfect package. Now, 40 years later, the Residents have come up with a unique conceptual sequel: Eskimo Deconstructed. And before I start to get all enthusiastic, I need to voice a few complaints about the recent re-releases of Residents albums: 1. The sound of the first few albums (Meet the Residents, Third Reich and Roll, Fingerprince) is atrocious – compressed to death and 2. The bonus material is not contemporary combining 1971 recordings with live recordings 50 years later. That COULD work, but most of the time it doesn’t. Great idea to put out double CD’s, but when the bonus material feels out of place and the original recordings are brickwalled, I prefer to stick with the original discs. Small rant over. Eskimo Deconstructed is, simply put, a brilliant artistic concept that is musically as inventive - a combination not found often enough. The two albums feature over 70 loops, chants, musical fragments, sound effects and single tracks taken from the original multitracks. This not only allows you to create your own ‘remix’ of Eskimo, but also deconstructs/unwraps the original 1979 album revealing details that are at once familiar. Revealing the layers that became Eskimo, giving these recordings to others free to do with as they please is not only a brave and bold move, it is somehow also a very emotional one. To me, Eskimo Deconstructed therefore also sounds like a musical ‘last will’. Those who fear four sides of bare tracks and sounds of Eskimo are unlistenable can rest assured: this is a very enjoyable musical adventure into uncharted, yet somehow familiar, territory. The cover urges listeners to go out and sample the recordings and create their own masterpiece. By doing so, the Residents stick to their ‘hippy origins’ of the late 60s. Bless them. A bonus CD of ‘Arctic field recordings’ taken from recordings ‘collected by the Residents in the 70s’ has been added, however, they sound more like white noise from a synthesizer. Another conceptual joke by the Joyful Four: presenting the truth unwrapped in the recordings on the vinyl album and a red herring on the CD. Eskimo Deconstructed, as well as the original 1979 Eskimo album, come with the highest recommendation – together, and as standalone releases, they are among the most important ‘experimental’ albums ever!

The vinyl LPs have a great sound but mine came warped, both of them! I can bring them to my local high end audio dealer, he may flatten them with his special machine but this costs 14€ for each disk! Sure, I can return the disks to Cherry Records but chances are, that the replacement disks are warped too.

A really good listen, but like the previous Vinyl from Cherry Red, it comes with scratches from the pressing plant.
This one has scuffs all along the record edges and into the first track on some sides. Makes it crackly from the first play.

Just be aware!

The "I Am a Resident" Release have scuffs all over, but less audible ones, just unsightly. Cherry Red offered to take it back for a refund, but not a replacement as it was "rare, and they are out of stock. There's loads on the net for sale, but I suspect all in the same condition.