Fingerprince (1977)
The first taste of the Residents' 'sound', taking the
experiments of previous 6 years and forging them into
something vaguely familiar. A few weak songs let this down
slightly, but not enough to stop it being a great listen.
Where MtR and 3R'n'R are both albums of two sides,
Fingerprince is an album of three. The third side,
Babyfingers, contains the very popular Walter Westinghouse
— always a delight to hear and scratch your head over. On
the face of it, less weird than its predecessors (and a
little less frantic/frenetic) but still 'strange'. Not
immediately compelling, I found, but it pays off repeat
listenings.
The third side of (what would have been) the "Tourniquet Of
Roses" album was released three years later, as the
Babyfingers EP. The first side of Fingerprince is taken up
with short and snappy tracks, like the exotic You
Yesyesyes, which has some wonderful slide guitar playing by
Snakefinger. The second side of the album is taken up by a
single track, Six Things To A Cycle, an instrumental score
to a non-existent ballet. Lashings of primitive percussion,
vibes, and xylophones give way to a haunting passage.
Strange and beautiful.