How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? [Original recording reissued]

Firesign Theatre | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 4, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005T7K4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very funny and very quotable, December 11, 2001

By 

William M. Feagin "music dealer/geek" (Upstate New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? (Audio CD)

On 1969's "How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All?" the Firesigns really began to hit their stride. The content of this, their sophomore effort, is two side-length tracks encompassing stories involving war, changes, murder, and again, Beatles and Dylan references aplenty.
Side One begins with an ad for Ralph Spoilsport Motors, a slick auto salesman who manages to draw our hero, Babe, onto the lot through squealing brakes and honking horns. As Babe checks out his new car, which seems to be loaded with all sorts of amazing features, we hear Ralph in all his incarnations on the radio and the TV (very futuristic car); Babe goes for a spin on the Antelope Freeway, with its close-together mileage markers, sets his climate control, and soon finds himself on an African safari. The antics of those around him ("He's no fun, he fell right over!") culminate with his arrival at The Only Nice Motel in Town and some sort of American history lesson/pageant, at the end of which Babe finds himself inducted into the army and marching off to war. The various twists and turns of this bit have to be heard to be believed.
Side Two is the real classic here, though: "The Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye." It's a parody of hard-boiled murder-mystery tales from classic '40s radio and film noir, as Nick pursues his old girlfriend, Betty Jo Bialaski (but everyone knew her as Nancy) and the little crook Rocky Rococo ("My nostrils flared at the scent of his perfume: Pyramid Patchouli. There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear *that* scent...and I had to find out who he was!") in search of an old tin ring from a Cracker Back jox (you read that right) and Nancy's mysterious husband.
On the whole, very funny and quotable, and much more coherent than "Waiting for the Electrician"...and again, long overdue for remastering.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TIMELESS ! ! !, December 22, 2004

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? (Audio CD)

The Firesign Theatre - - the subversive gods of improvised social satire and sketch humore : closest thing to Monty Python America ever had... with a bit of Lord Buckley and Lenny Bruce thrown in ! - - Oddly enough, when I first listen to their stuff (when I was 18 or so) I found it very '60s (no duhhhhhh...) but for some reason, listening now, their stuff seems surprizingly fresh and contemporary. Actually, WAITING FOR THE ELECTRICIAN OR SOMEONE LIKE HIM is my favorite FIRESIGN album - - but this album is definitely QUINTESSENTIAL MUST HAVE material because of... THE ADVENTURES OF NICK DANGER (!) obviously their most famous bit (and off the wall hillarious to anyone who grew up listening to the old radio detective shows... and even funny to those who didn't !) - - my favorite bit though is LONESOME AMERICAN CHOO CHOO... forget the humor, we're talking mind expanding social consciousness here... ! ! !

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forward Into the Past, June 13, 1998

By 

Tyson D. Rahmeier - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? (Audio CD)

Possibly the most talented and well-read comedy troupes of all time, the Firesign Theatre was the only comedy group whose pricipal medium was record and radio. Thus, their routines don't suffer the limitations of being translated from visual to audial. How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere At All (1969) is a hilarious romp involving a used-car lot ("Ralph Spoilsport Motors"), a time-traveling automobile, a warped lesson in American history, an American president named Schicklgruber (Hitler's original surname), and Nick Danger: third eye (a Sam Spade/film noir satire). It's difficult to describe the album any better than that. This is an album that requires multiple listenings and a large amount knowledge of history and literature (James Joyce is liberally quoted). I had to listen to it four or five times before I caught and/or understood the thing. There is so much to enjoy on many different levels. Unfortunately, it is the sole original Firesign Theatre album available on CD. If you own a turntable, I highly recommend you search out other Firesign albums on vinyl, particularly Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him (1968); Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers (1970); Everything You Know is Wrong (1974); In the Next World, You're on Your Own (1975); and Forward into the Past: A Firesign Anthology (1976). Shoes for Industry!