The Residents Radio Special

The Residents Radio Special is a promotional release by The Residents, initially released exclusively to radio stations on cassette and reel-to-reel-tape in August 1977 by The Cryptic Corporation.Liner notes included with initial copies 
The special features an interview between veteran broadcaster Sid Powell and Cryptic spokesperson Jay Clem at RAO Studios in Houston, Texas, which is interspersed with a selection of Residents material which had otherwise only been released in limited numbers, or not at all.
The Residents Radio Special was released to the public in limited numbers on cassette in 1983 by Ralph Records. In 2002, it was reissued, again in a limited edition, on CD by Ralph America, retitled Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special.
==History==
The Residents Radio Special was devised by The Cryptic Corporation to increase airplay for The Residents' recent and upcoming releases,Dave Warden, The Cryptic Guide to The Residents, 1986 and to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Ralph Records.Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special liner notes, 2002 It was recorded between May and July 1977, but features material which dates back to late 1971.
The special features cuts from all of The Residents' non-album appearances up to that point, previews for the group's upcoming Babyfingers EP, and excerpts from their then-unreleased demo tape B.S.. Music from a still unreleased instrumental suite titled "German Slide Music", which originates from the Third Reich 'n Roll era, is also heard during the special. There are also allusions to The Residents' Eskimo project, then intended to be their next album.
The special is hosted by Sid Powell, host of RAO Radio in Houston, Texas. Powell had been introduced to the group's music the year prior by a friend of Jay Clem. And even if he had a more sophisticated music taste than the common folk, he was still taken aback the first time he listened to the band. The Cryptic Corporation, after hearing about this reaction, decided that Sid would be a perfect host for Ralph Records' fifth anniversary radio special. Wanting to play along with the group, Powell acted as antagonist to Cryptic spokesperson Jay Clem, expressing contempt for The Residents and Ralph Records. Clem was forced to defend The Residents from the host's constant mockery, but also explained each track played.
After the session, Powell apparently joined the group in a rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In", where he played an "old bent trumpet", and invited them to partake in a 10th Anniversary special "if they make it that far." Sid Powell passed away in 1988. At the time of his death, he was station manager at KXXZ in Barstow,a station which didn't exist until 1989.R.R. Bowker, Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1996, R.R. Bowker LLC, 1996
== Release ==
=== Promotional and commercial releases ===
The Cryptic Corporation sent three hundred copies of The Residents Radio Special to co-operating radio stations on cassette tape and reel-to-reel."The W.E.I.R.D. Complete Discography & Recording History", The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book of The Residents, 1979 These did not have any artwork, but included a track listing and a small note for each station thanking them for airing the show. 
Shortly after radio stations began receiving copies of the special, bootleg copies began circulating.The Residents Texas Radio Show bootleg at Discogs Perhaps for this reason, Ralph Records released the special on cassette in 1983, initially in a limited edition of one hundred copies with no artwork.
As demand continued to grow, a second pressing of 700-800 copies was released, now with cover artwork. Later, Ralph printed a further thousand copies with blue covers, as well as editions with green and pink covers in unconfirmed numbers. Altogether, Ralph issued around two thousand copies of The Residents Radio Special on cassette.
=== Reissues ===
To celebrate The Residents' 30th Anniversary in 2002, a limited edition CD entitled Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special was released by Ralph America. This release features previously unseen images of Sid Powell with Jay Clem.The images of Sid Powell in the Eat Exuding Oinks! artwork are composites comprising the body of American composer Raymond Scott with the head of another man; the images of Jay Clem are taken from a photo session with Snakefinger. Since The Cryptic Corporation had lost the master tape, they instead used one of the 1977 promotional copies for the new remaster, resulting in lower sound quality. To compensate for this; digitally remastered versions of the songs featured in the special are included as bonus tracks. 
Birdsong and Hayabusa Landings included the four parts of the special with their reissues of The Mole Trilogy, but not as a cohesive unit - each piece was included separately as a bonus track for Mark of the Mole, The Tunes of Two Cities, Intermission, and The Big Bubble.
== Reception ==
=== Retrospective ===
The Residents Radio Special has an average user rating of 4.48/5 on Discogs, 3.67/5 on RateYourMusic, and 3.06/5 on ProgArchives.
== Legacy ==
Many details about the background of The Residents Radio Special weren't revealed until its belated CD release in 2002. However, early writings on the subject admitted that the interview between Sid Powell and Jay Clem was a play acted out by members of The Cryptic Corporation,The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book of The Residents, 1979 with Homer Flynn taking the role of Powell.
The special's otherwise unavailable material was gradually released elsewhere: Babyfingers was released twice in 1979 and 1981, and "Kamakazi Lady" appeared on the compilation album Residue of The Residents in 1983. "King Kong" remained exclusive to the Radio Special until 1991, when it was featured on the UWEB compilation Daydream B-Liver.
Extracts from the "German Slide Music" suite heard as background music throughout the special were released on the pREServed CD edition of The Third Reich 'n Roll in 2018; the full suite remains unreleased as of January 2024. 
==Track listing==
===Original promo release (1977)===
====Side A (24:42)====
#Introduction (1:00)
#Death In Barstow (2:05)
#Interview (2:00)
#Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life (4:00)
#Flying (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr) (3:18)
#Tag / Blank Space (0:19)
#Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards) (4:30)
#Interview (1:00)
#Loser ≅ Weed (2:07)
#Interview (1:17)
#Melon Collie Lassie (2:51)
#Tag / Commercial (0:15)
====Side B (23:49) ====
#Interview (1:00)
#Santa Dog (5:30)
##Fire
##Explosion (excerpt)
##Lightning (excerpt)
##Aircraft Damage (excerpt)
#Interview (0:45)
#King Kong (Zappa) (2:00)
#Interview (1:00)
#Kamakazi Lady (1:30)
#Tag / Blank Space (0:30)
#Whoopy Snorp (3:45)
#Interview (2:30)
#Walter Westinghouse (4:54)
#Credits (0:25)
===Limited edition cassette (1983, first pressing)===
====Side A (23:57)====
#Introduction (0:30)
#Death In Barstow (2:05)
#Interview (2:00)
#Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life (4:00)
#Flying (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr) (3:18)
#Tag (0:04)
#Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards) (4:30)
#Interview (1:00)
#Loser ≅ Weed (2:07)
#Interview (1:17)
#Melon Collie Lassie (2:51)
#Tag (0:15)
====Side B (23:34)====
#Interview (1:00)
#Santa Dog (5:30)
##Fire
##Explosion (excerpt)
##Lightning (excerpt)
##Aircraft Damage (excerpt)
#Interview (0:45)
#King Kong (Zappa) (2:00)
#Interview (1:00)
#Kamakazi Lady (1:30)
#Tag (0:15)
#Whoopy Snorp (3:45)
#Interview (2:30)
#Walter Westinghouse (4:54)
#Credits (0:25)
===Limited edition cassette (1983, later pressings) ===
====Side A (23:38)====
#Introduction (0:30)
#Death In Barstow (2:05)
#Interview (2:00)
#Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life (4:00)
# Flying (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr) (3:18)
#Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards) (4:30)
#Interview (1:00)
#Loser ≅ Weed (2:07)
#Interview (1:17)
#Melon Collie Lassie (2:51)
====Side B (23:19)====
#Interview (1:00)
# Santa Dog (5:30)
## Fire
##Explosion (excerpt)
##Lightning (excerpt)
##Aircraft Damage (excerpt)
#Interview (0:45)
#King Kong (Zappa) (2:00)
#Interview (1:00)
#Kamakazi Lady (1:30)
#Whoopy Snorp (3:45)
#Interview (2:30)
#Walter Westinghouse (4:54)
#Credits (0:25)
===Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special (2002)===
#Part 1 (12:30)
##Introduction
##Death In Barstow
##Interview
##Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life
##Flying (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr)
#Part 2 (12:48)
##Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards)
##Interview
##Loser ≅ Weed
##Interview
##Melon Collie Lassie
#Part 3 (13:05)
##Interview (1:00)
##Fire
##Explosion (excerpt)
##Lightning (excerpt)
##Aircraft Damage (excerpt)
##Interview (0:45)
##King Kong (Zappa) (2:00)
##Interview (1:00)
##Kamakazi Lady (1:30)
#Part 4 (13:01)
##Whoopy Snorp
##Interview
##Walter Westinghouse
##Credits
#Monstrous Intro (0:42)
#Death In Barstow (2:06)
#Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life (3:56)
# Flying (3:26)
#King Kong (4:04)
#Whoopy Snorp (3:46)
#Melon Collie Lassie (2:56)
#Kamikazi Lady (1:39)
== Liner notes ==
=== Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special (2002) ===
Just as 2002 is The Residents' 30th anniversary, 1977 was The Residents' 5th anniversary. What better way to celebrate, they thought, than to do a radio special, and what better way to do a radio special than to set up an interview with a person who is belligerent towards the group's musical aspirations.
A close friend of Ralph Records spokesman, Jay Clem, worked at Houston's RAO Studios and had had a discussion with the main guy at RAO, Sid Powell, regarding the group's innovative music. Sid liked to think of himself as an open-minded lover of the arts and was always interested in proving it. When confronted with The Residents in 1976 he was taken aback to such a degree that when the group heard about it they insisted Jay set up an arrangement with Sid Powell to host their fifth anniversary radio special.
The interview was successfully taped and if anything, Sid proved to be more up to the task than anyone expected. The man adopted an interviewing personality that was pure Texas redneck, while underneath he seemed as sophisticated as he purported himself to be. He played along beautifully, and ultimately, after tapes stop rolling, picked up an old bent trumpet and joined the band in a decidedly crooked rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
He even invited them to come back for their 10th anniversary, "if they make it that far." They did make it that far, and much further, but never met Sid again. They did save a photo of him from the Broadcast Views obituary column when he died in 1988. What caught their attention in the column was that, when he died, he was station manager at KXXZ in... Barstow.
The radio special was duplicated on 1/4 inch reel-to-reel tapes and sent to a dozen or more college radio stations in 1977. Later, cassette copies were made available to the public. This recording is copied from one of those 25 year old cassettes as none of the original recordings could be found. Because of this, the recording is full of warble and distortions. Most of the music from the special has been duplicated in a higher quality digital form at the end of the special to compensate for this lack of quality in the original.
== Credits ==
====== Eat Exuding Oinks! Ralph Records' 1977 Radio Special (2002) ======
* Original Radio Special recorded at RAO Studios in Houston, Texas in 1977
* Produced by Sid Powell and The Cryptic Corporation.
* Original recording engineer: Freeman Harrogate
* Photography by PornoGraphics
* Package design by Dren McDonald
== Recording dates ==
* "Introduction" May-July, 1977
*"Death In Barstow" From Babyfingers, recorded 1974-1976.
*"Interview 1" May-July, 1977
*"Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life" From The Beatles Play The Residents and The Residents Play The Beatles, March-May, 1977
*"Flying" From The Beatles Play The Residents and The Residents Play The Beatles, March-May, 1977
*"Tag / Blank Space" May-July, 1977
*"Satisfaction" January-June, 1976
*"Interview 2" May-July, 1977
*"Loser ≅ Weed" January, 1976
*"Interview 3" May-July, 1977
*"Melon Collie Lassie" From Babyfingers, recorded 1974-1976.
*"Tag / Commercial" May-July, 1977
*"Interview 4" May-July, 1977
*"Santa Dog" December, 1972
*"Interview 5" May-July, 1977
*"King Kong" From the B.S. demo tape, completed December 1971.
*"Interview 6" May-July, 1977
*Kamakazi Lady From the B.S. demo tape, completed December 1971.
*"Tag / Blank Space" May-July, 1977
*"Whoopy Snorp" Completed December 1975.
*"Interview 7" May-July, 1977
*"Walter Westinghouse" From Babyfingers, recorded 1974-1976.
*"Credits" May-July, 1977
==Release history ==
Year	Label 	Format	Length
1977	Ralph Records	Cass 	48:31
1983	Ralph Records	Cass 	47:31
1983	Ralph Records	Cass 	46:57
2002	Ralph America	CD 	51:24 (without bonus tracks)
==See also==
*Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special!
*Ralph Radio Special
*Jay Clem
*Sid Powell
*RAO Studios
== Notes ==
== External links and references ==
*The Residents Radio Special at The Residents Historical
*The Residents Radio Special at Discogs
*The Residents Radio Special at ProgArchives
* The Residents Radio Special on Wikipedia
Category:The Residents Radio Special
Category:Radio specials
Category:Ralph radio specials
Category:Babyfingers
Category:Out Of Print Releases
Category:Compilations
Category:Releases with no credited collaborators
Category:1977
Category:1983
Category:Promotional albums
Category:Rare Releases