Eskimo (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eskimo
Eskimo cover
Studio album by The Residents
Released 1979
Recorded April 1976-May 1979
Genre Avant-garde
Length 39:21
Label Ralph Records
Producer(s) The Residents
Professional reviews
The Residents chronology
The Residents Radio Special (1979) Eskimo (1979)
 Babyfingers
(1979)


Eskimo is an album by The Residents that was originally supposed to follow 1976's Fingerprince. However, due to many delays and arguments with management, it was not released until 1979. Upon release it was hailed as the group's best record to date.

Rather than actual songs, the pieces are generally made up of sound effects, occasional playing on home-made instruments and gibberish standing in for actual Inuit. The stories were all created by the group and, despite their claims otherwise, is not meant to be a true historical document of life in the Arctic. Rather it culminates in a criticism of how Western culture dealt a deathblow to the religions and tribal customs of Native Americans.

A companion piece, "Diskomo", was released in 1980 as a 12-inch single, featuring a remix of the songs backed by a disco beat. Rumor has it that The Residents released the hilariously discoesque "Diskomo" in order to ridicule their own success with Eskimo, fearing that they became too well known and the Theory of Obscurity was in danger. A follow-up EP Diskomo 2000, featuring the original remix, its b-side ("Goosebump") and several other versions was released in 2000.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "The Walrus Hunt" – 4:01
  2. "Birth" – 4:33
  3. "Arctic Hysteria" – 5:57
  4. "The Angry Angakok" – 5:20
  5. "A Spirit Steals a Child" – 8:44
  6. "The Festival of Death" – 10:26
  • Bonus Tracks (1987 CD release only)
  1. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
  2. Dumbo the Clown (Who Loved Christmas)
  3. Is He Really Bringing Roses? (The Replacement)
  4. Time's Up

[edit] Musicians

[edit] External link

The Residents
Album era (1972-1980)
Meet the Residents (1974) | Not Available (1974, released 1978) | The Third Reich 'n' Roll (1976) | Fingerprince (1976) | Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (1978) | Eskimo (1979) | The Commercial Album (1980)
Performance era (1981-1990)
Mark of the Mole (1981) | The Tunes of Two Cities (1982) | Intermission (1983) | George & James (1984) | Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? (1984) | The Big Bubble (1985) | Stars & Hank Forever (1986) | God in Three Persons (1988} | The King & Eye (1989)
Multimedia era (1991-1996)
Freak Show (1991) | Gingerbread Man (1994) | Bad Day on the Midway (1995) | Have A Bad Day (1997)
Band era (1997-2005)
Wormwood (1998) | Icky Flix (2001) | Demons Dance Alone (2002) | Animal Lover (2005)
Storyteller era (2006-present)
The River of Crime (2006) | Timmy (2006) | Tweedles (2006)
Related articles
Snakefinger | N. Senada | Vileness Fats | Ralph Records
This box: view • talk • edit
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/s/k/Eskimo_%28album%29.html"