10th Anniversary Radio Special (1982)

In 1982 Ralph Records contacted Penn Jillette, a "nationally known entertainer and announcer". They had a strange proposition for him. He was to be locked in a motel room for six days A package would arrive each morning containing some food and the day's listening material. Penn would thus endure everything Ralph had released, in chronological order. Within this CD then we hear snippets of music, not just by The Residents but also by other then Ralph acts like Yello, Art Bears, Tuxedomoon and so on. The fun is listening to an increasingly bored and desperate Penn hating The Residents more and more before learning to appreciate and love them. He's initially saved by the music of Yello, Renaldo and The Loaf and Snakefinger before coming round to the eye guys. "Eskimo" and the "Commercial Album" in particular upset him to comic effect. At the end, after much suffering, he becomes a complete convert to Ralph Records. This is what makes me suspect that this whole thing is a clever fake. Penn is, after all, something of an actor - he's in that virtual reality sci-fi thing and he has also "been featured on Kojak a couple of times". If it is a fake it's a damn good one, and very amusing to boot. This CD is something that I play only now and again, but for the diehard Rezfan it is an important historical / mythical document.