FINGERPRINCE
UNCLE WILLIE'S HIGHLY OPINIONATED GUIDE TO THE RESIDENTS
Fingerprince was conceived as the world’s first three sided
album (apparently, they weren’t aware of the fact that
Monty Python had already made one; their Matching Tie and
Handkerchief LP of 1973). The Residents never specified
whether it would be a double record with one side blank, or
a single album with two concentric grooves on one side.
They probably toyed with the idea of making it triangular!
However they’d planned to do it, Ralph Records decided the
albums would be uneconomical to manufacture, so
Fingerprince became a conventional two-sided LP. The
leftover songs were relegated to a proposed EP,
Babyfingers. Due to considerable artistic distractions (the
most notable being Eskimo), Babyfingers was not released in
the actual EP format until 1979, but four of its five songs
had appeared on The Residents Radio Special cassette in
1977.
Babyfingers was Fingerprince’s miniature twin, since both
records consisted of several short songs on side one and a
side-long composition on side two.
Fingerprince was an important transitional album for The
Residents. It bridged the gap between their early,
primitive music and virtually all the original compositions
the band would eventually create.
The songs whose importance would become apparent soon were
“You, Yesyesyes,” “Tourniquet of Roses” and the songs
jettisoned to Babyfingers, which point the way towards the
wacky, sinister pop of Duck Stab, Subterranean Modern, etc.
The album includes the long form composition “Six Things to
a Cycle.” It was the first stepping stone on the path
towards Eskimo, Mark of the Mole and their other long form
works.
It even includes a 60 second song (and a 58 second song)
anticipating The Commercial Album.
Less developed in the gestation of The Residents creativity
are a tongue-in-cheek attempt at religious philosophizing
“God Song” and an attempt at narrative on “Walter
Westinghouse” (a Babyfingers track). Both these concepts
would later be fleshed out to epic proportions on God in
Three Persons. At the time Fingerprince was released, the
full possibilities of these concepts were still light years
away in The Residents' creative development.
Fingerprince and The Third Reich ‘N’ Roll were The
Residents' most seminal albums. Fingerprince provided the
blueprints for their future original compositions, while
Third Reich suggested their creative approach to playing
cover versions. Together the two albums planted the seeds
that generated The Residents’ entire universe. Fingerprince
may not be a great album, but it’s a historically important
album for The Residents none the less.
- Sinister Scratcher
Plot Outline for
6 THINGS TO A CYCLE
A BALLET BY
THE
RESIDENTS (1976)
The curtain rises. Predawn blue spills across the sky
silhouetting a jungle of thick vegetation. A fire burns in
the foreground casting shadows upon a ring of strangely
dressed and postured figures. The jungle breathes a
primitive rhythm into the figures who become animated while
watched by large birds who devour them as the sun rises.
The birds form a line dancing from side to side as
multi-colored geometric shapes fall from their mouths. The
shapes grow until the jungle is pushed entirely off the
stage and replaced by pulsating and occasionally flashing
clouds of smoke.
The shapes revolve around a central axis
which grows higher against a smoke-filled backdrop. On top
of the central shape is a figure heavily draped with layers
of bright silk cloth each slowly being lifted by invisible
threads attached to the four corners and pulled tight so
that each cloth slowly becomes a square forming a backdrop
for the dancer. As this happens other figures appear at the
base of the shape and call to the mysterious image. As the
figure is reveled in its true state, the geometric shapes
open offering forth the dream of Utopia.