There is no greater joy a fan can partake in, other than enjoying the work of his or her favorite artists, than telling others about the things they love. It's why I started this column and why I couldn't wait to feature my favorite album by one of my favorite bands.

When people ask me for advice on what music they should be listening to (as they inevitably do) I always make a point of mentioning The Residents. That The Residents have been making music and films for well over thirty years now yet have gone unnoticed by most is a testament to their continued commitment to the genius of relatively obscurity. Their albums are not impossible to find by any means, heck Amoeba often has a decent supply on hand at any given moment. It's just that you are likely only to hear them on the most adventurous of radio stations and during the oddest of hours. But that's okay and it's part of the reason I love the band so much.

When so many others that I grew up admiring have soled out in the name of exposure or, heavens, making a living, it's comforting to know that three decades into this thing The Residents show no signs of caving in, giving up or conforming in any way. From their first official releases in the early seventies, "Santa Dog" and "Meet the Residents," complete with a cheeky take off on the Capitol Records cover for "Meet the Beatles" (that's "With the Beatles" for you Brits, but you already knew that didn't you) The Residents represented and accomplished more than the typical American band of the time yet were as American as apple pie or rock and roll for that matter. With every recording they innovated and pushed the limits of song writing, recording and storytelling, culminating in their 1979 magnum opus, "Eskimo."

I can't say enough abut this album. The Residents' "Eskimo" is a towering, dark triumph of the imagination. A work unparalleled by any other suite, symphony, or composition before or after it. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the album was released at the height of the so called concept album era in rock. Pink Floyd kicked off the trend in '73 with their trip to the "Dark Side of the Moon" and the torch continued to be handed off throughout the decade with everyone from Genesis to King Crimson and even commercial jingle writer Jeff Wayne contributing works to the genre but I'm getting ahead of myself.

It's difficult to say just how an album like "Eskimo" came about because The Residents have maintained a level of secrecy as to their writing and recording process to a degree that everything they do is mystery shrouded in enigma and fans of the band wouldn't have it any other way.

What we are left with then as listeners is the album itself and all its myriad parts and components to digest and dissect. For some that may seek out the album for the first time because of this column such an analysis might be impossible at first for the plain and simple fact the all of the songs on the album are sung in a completely foreign language created by The Residents themselves. The liner notes found within the jacket provide a road map of the narrative found within but come no closer to deciphering the meaning found within the grooves, it's all in the music.

Although I've heard the album dozens of times, I am still at a lost to describe it. "Eskimo" is more an experience than anything else. One that deserves, and will not doubt grab, the listener's full, undivided attention and take you on a journey you're not likely to forget. One of the ways it does this is by creating and completely immersing the listener in a unique, wholly original world. I doubt The Residents traveled to any remote frost covered region to record their album nor did they have to. "Eskimo" is an album of ideas, the chief of which being the inuit culture and people. It's about setting a mood, creating a tone and allowing the listener to participate by filling in the blanks leaving us to experience rather than simply hear.

Aside from the non traditional vocals, the instruments heard on the album are no less grounded in the hallowed halls of a "Rock-a-Hula Baby." The music is primitive, primal, at times frightening. There's a certain tension that is resulted by listening to the album and I think that's mostly because it's very difficult to tell what instruments, if any, were used in it's making. I've heard rumors that everything from an axe to a cardboard box and tin foil were used to create the sounds heard on the album and I wouldn't doubt it for a second. It's to the eternal credit of the album's creators that such ideas recede into the background when listening and their creation left to stand at the forefront.

"Eskimo" is at once the deconstruction of the album form as well as the creation of an entirely new form at once. Although it won't likely appear on a list of the greatest albums time compiled by a mainstream publication, for me it ranks behind only "Dark Side of the Moon" and a certain record by a British songwriter, perhaps just as mysterious as The Residents in her own way, as one of the great works of the twentieth century. It is as important to the evolution of the song as Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was in bringing Jazz into the concert hall. The Residents' "Eskimo" is many things to many people and because of this it stands forever as a masterpiece filled with discoveries for first time listeners and long time fans alike.

- By JOE CORTEZ