Collectors' Box series

Partial contents of a Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box

The **Collectors' Box series** was a proposed series of limited and collectible editions of albums by The Residents, housed in wooden boxes and featuring various novel extras (such as prints by various artists and hand-puppets).

Originally conceived by the group's graphic designer Homer Flynn in 1977 and intended to include the albums *The Third Reich 'n Roll*, *Tourniquet of Roses*, and *Eskimo*, the series had a troubled production, meaning that only *The Third Reich 'n Roll* was released as intended (after a number of delays) in 1980. Despite the abandonment of the series shortly after this, The Residents occasionally revisited the idea over the years, resulting in limited edition test pressings of *Eskimo* in 1986 and *Tourniquet of Roses* in 2013.

The Collectors' Box series was effectively completed in late 2020 and early 2021 by noted collector Jannis Tsakalis, who created (with the group's permission) an edition of 15 *Tourniquet of Roses* box sets, and a made-to-order run of fur-covered wooden boxes intended to house the 1986 *Eskimo* test pressings.

## History

Following the release of The Residents' 1977 album *Fingerprince*, Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation conceived a series of collectible box set editions of three of The Residents' albums, to be housed in wooden boxes and including novel extras including art prints created by various artists.

Flynn initially intended to release sets based on their third album *The Third Reich n Roll*, their then-unreleased "three-sided" album *Tourniquet of Roses* (including *Fingerprince*), and the then-unfinished *Eskimo*. *The Third Reich 'n Roll* was the first box set to be produced; 200 wooden boxes were hand-crafted, silk-screened with the album art, and contained in a bag made of a piece of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installation *Running Fence*. The boxes contained a red-black-and-white marble colored vinyl pressing of the album and included two signed and numbered lithographs.

Around 1980, following a trip to the emergency room brought on by a headache induced by a rubber band he was using to keep his hair out of his eyes while spraying the wooden boxes with black car enamel, Flynn decided to abandon the Collectors' Box series. However, by this time Ralph Records had already received thirteen pre-orders of the *Third Reich* set, and had to fulfill that demand.

Fifty copies of the *Third Reich* collectors' box were produced, but 20 of these had to be rejected and stored in the Cryptic Archives due to misprints. Five correctly printed copies were kept as artist proofs. After the pre-orders had been fulfilled, the remaining twelve copies were auctioned to members of the W.E.I.R.D. fan club.

The *Tourniquet of Roses* box set was announced in the 1977 Radio Special, and was described as featuring the *Fingerprince* LP, with the EP *Babyfingers* (the originally intended "third side" of the album) included on a separate disc, approximating the original *Tourniquet of Roses* concept at a time before the "third side" had been appended to any reissues of the album. This set, and the *Eskimo* collectors' box, were both abandoned in the early 1980s shortly after the troubled and delayed release of the *Third Reich* box sets.

In 1986, the *Eskimo* collectors' box entered production, but was quickly abandoned again. The set would have included the album on two single-sided white LPs, with the silent B-sides of each LP covered in white fur. Test pressings of the single-sided LPs were sold through Ralph mail order later in 1986.

In 2003, The Residents authorized a group of Australian fans to manufacture a semi-official edition of this set, even providing original unused wooden boxes from the *Third Reich 'n Roll* set for the purpose. Three copies of the 2003 *Eskimo* set were released, featuring white fur on the labels of one side of each LP, with fur covering the entirety of the silent B-sides as originally intended.

The Residents briefly decided to revisit the *Tourniquet of Roses* box set concept in 2013. A few test pressings were made, but this edition went no further due to a lack of interest from vinyl pressing plants.

## Release

   The *Tourniquet* collectors' box was finally produced in December 2020 by collector and fan Jannis Tsakalis, in an extremely limited edition of 15 copies (with 14 being available for sale, and one being added to The Residents' archives), for $650 each. The box contained *Fingerprince* on a transparent yellow LP, with *Babyfingers* on a single-sided 12" picture disc, as well as a silk-screened *Tourniquet of Roses* t-shirt and two hand-puppets. The box sets sold out within a day of becoming available. A second run was released in March 2021, with the individual elements of the set also being sold separately by Jannis.

Following the sale of the *Tourniquet of Roses* box, in January 2021 Tsakalis began taking orders for a run of fur-covered wooden boxes, designed specifically to house the 1986 *Eskimo* test pressing discs, thereby effectively completing the *Eskimo* collector box sets for anyone who has these discs and chooses to order one. Each box contains three hand-puppets and a copy of the original notification letter from the cancellation of the *Eskimo* collectors' box. The boxes are not being produced in any set number, instead being made to order.

## See also

* *The Third Reich 'n Roll*
* *Fingerprince*
* *Eskimo*

## External links and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "News Machine" at The Residents' official website
2. ↑ The Third Reich 'n Roll Collectors Box at Discogs
3. ↑ Eskimo 1986 test pressing at Discogs
4. ↑ "The Eskimo Box" at Discogs
5. ↑ Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box at Discogs
6. ↑ Post by Jannis Tsakalis in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, February 4th 2021
7. ↑ Post by Jannis Tsakalis in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, February 1st 2021

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"Let's Twist Again" · "Land of a Thousand Dances" · "Hanky Panky" · "A Horse With No Name" · "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)" · "The Letter" · "Psychotic Reaction" · "Little Girl" · "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" · "Talk Talk" · "I Want Candy" · "To Sir With Love" · "Telstar" · "Wipe Out" · "Heroes and Villains"
**Side B:** **"Hitler Was a Vegetarian"**
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**Side B**
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**Side B:**
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