Rarest Residents Record
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PLEASE GO AWAY! This recording was not intended for release. THEY HATE IT!!! |
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Rarest Residents Record is the title of a 78 RPM acetate disc by The Residents, the contents of which are currently unknown.
Previously hung on a wall at Ralph Records' Minna Street warehouse in the mid-1980s,[1] the disc is currently held in the Eyeball Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany.
History
Thought by the current owner to be a National Hollywood Type 2 aluminium-core acetate disc (a type used for home recording in the early 1960s), which plays at 78 RPM.[2] The actual contents of the disc remain unconfirmed, but there appear to be at least three tracks on the visible side of the disc.
Only one copy is known to exist, which was seen displayed on a wall in Ralph Records' Minna Street warehouse in the mid 1980s,[1] and is now owned by Andreas Mathews, owner and operator of the Eyeball Museum in Bremerhaven, Germany, where it is currently held.
Mathews has said that he is unable to play the disc to confirm its contents as he does not have a turntable which will play records at 78 RPM.[3] The disc appears to have a number of visible scuffs and scratches which would likely affect playback, which are probably due to it having been hung on a wall in the Ralph warehouse for an unknown length of time. A second, off-center spindle hole is drilled into the record's label, presumably allowing the listener to play the record in a highly unusual manner (though the results of such an experiment would likely be incomprehensible).
As a 78 RPM record of this size can only contain around three minutes and thirty seconds per side, it stands to reason that the material on the Rarest Residents Record would be no more than 8 minutes long at most (if there is additional material pressed on the second side of the disc).
See also
- "Absurdly Early"
- "The Residents Home Movie"
- 109 Minna Street, San Francisco
- Mystery Box
- Eyeball Museum
- Andreas Mathews
External links and references
- Post by Andreas Mathews in The Residents unofficial Facebook group
- Post by Andreas Mathews in Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Post by Paul Ashby in Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group, February 17th 2021
- ↑ "Labelography of Home Recording Discs" at Phonozoic
- ↑ "I think it's some kind of acetate. You need a record player with 78 RPM for that, but my turntable can't do that. I think you also need a special needle for that too ..." - Andreas Mathews, Ralph Records Facebook group, February 18th 2021