The Residents, Not Available (side A)

If we believe the Residents' official history, Not Available is one of their earliest recordings, dating from 1974. It was definitely released in 1978, and it's an early example of the group's conceptual works from either year. The story is not easy to follow, but the track structures obviously follow a narrative flow without resembling songs. The instruments blur organic and synthetic, with obvious use of organ sidecar/drum-machines and some sort of cheap string synthesizer. The vocals even sound synthetic, so it can be hard to tell how things were made. The sound is clear enough to convey the group's ideas, but there's little low-end impact. The iconic cover art is primitive but instantly recognizable.