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From the Vault...
02/10/2019
#1659 |
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info
The Residents
"Commercial Album"
© Cryptic/MVD Audio Records
Year of Release: 1980
Rating:
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track listing
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Easter Woman
Perfect Love
Picnic Boy
End Of Home
Amber
Japanese Watercolor
Secrets
Die In Terror
Red Rider
My Second Wife
Floyd
Suburban Bathers
Dimples And Toes
The Nameless Souls
Love Leaks Out
The Act Of Being Polite
Medicine Man
Tragic Bells
Loss Of Innocence
Simple Song
Ups And Downs
Possessions
Give It To Someone Else
Phantom
Less Not More
My Work Is So Behind
Birds In The Trees
Handful Of Desire
Moisture
Love Is
La La
Loneliness
Nice Old Man
THe Talk Of Creatures
Fingertips
In Between Dreams
Margaret Freeman
The Coming Of The Crow
When We Were Young
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WSVNRadio Archives
The Residents related sites:
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The Residents
"Commercial Album"
Yes, The Residents have arrived.... The Residents have been recording since 1974. Avant Garde music -- in other words, Strange music. Demented
music. Unique music. Different music. Got it?
Their Commercial Album was released in 1980. The concept and structure of the average commercial pop song, reducing it to one minute in length
each. There are a total of 40 tracks, 40 sixty-second vignettes. This is not an album of advertising commercials, as the word "commerical" may relate.
The liner notes state that each song should be repeated three times, to form a "pop song." Remember, each track is only one minute in length. For some,
one minute just maybe enough, and only one minute to listen. However, If you really want to play each track three times consecutively, you just may have
to edit the songs (in mp3 format), and remove the 2-3 seconds of silence at the end of each track. But you have to admit, this is very unique music.
And as each sixty-second track is being heard, the album does get better, taken in stride in how the Residents are. Of course, there are far tracks better
than others, as the 40 sixty-second tracks are being heard. Billboard Magazine prompted an editorial on this album, asking whether the Residents
were art, or for advertising. But,
when you are featured on National Public Radio (NPR), you have done
something right -- The Residents have been around for over 40 years, and for uniqueness, the band has done something right, whether we want to recognize
them for their talent... or not.
In recognizing their talent, it is hard to exactly know who the members were/are. The band never listed their names, nor did we never see any of
the band members' faces on their albums. The Residents were represented as wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails. This would become their trademark.
Unique music, and unique dress attire, The Residents have arrived. No, you will not hear their music on popular/regular radio formats. They are considered
a cult favorite; their music heard most likely on underground radio formats. And now in the 21st Century, with the Internet, radio stations on the internet
are more likely to include The Residents' music (and just about any other kind of music genre out there) on Internet Radio stations.
On the Commerical Album, there are some musicians credited: Chris Cutler, Snakefinger (who appeared on many of the Residents' albums, until
his death in 1987), Fred Frith, and annoynymous artists such as Lene Lovich, and Andy Partridge. Brian Eno was thought to have appeared, but was never
really confirmed. The album cover showed faces of John Travolta and Barbra Streisand in cartoon form, with the famous Residents' eyeballs with top hats
and tails. Their famous eyeballs and tophats were in place of Travolta's and Streisand's own eyeballs.
This is an album of experiment. Some of it sounds like off-Classical "End Of Home," "Phantom"; (P.D.Q. Bach'ish, in a more demented way) .
Some of it sounds just strange "Perfect Love," "Amber," "My Work Is So Behind", or bizarre "Japanese Watercolor," "Secrets"; (too many to
mention). If the band Kraftwerk got together with The Residents, would they come up with ? Maybe. Horror Soundtrack music -
"Nice Old Man," "In Between Dreams" The last track, is quite decent - "When We Were Young." This is an album you would to experience for
yourself, just as any of their albums. I don't know, but maybe, if you listen to this album in the dark, it just might be scary. Is this album bad?
Not at all, but it is not for everyone. The Residents are a force to reckon with, and you would have to listen to their music with an open mind.
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Cryptic/MVD Audio Records
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