The Commercial Album [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Residents

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 23, 1997)
• Original Release Date: September 23, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: East Side Digital
• ASIN: B000000PMA
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,936 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Easter Woman

2. Perfect Love

3. Picnic Boy

4. End of Home

5. Amber

6. Japanese Watercolor

7. Secrets

8. Die in Terror

9. Red Rider

10. My Second Wife

11. Floyd

12. Suburban Bathers

13. Dimples and Toes

14. Nameless Souls

15. Love Leaks Out

16. Act of Being Polite

17. Medicine Man

18. Tragic Bells

19. Loss of Innocence

20. Simple Song

See all 40 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Cut out the fat and a pop song is only one minute long", May 24, 1999

By	ptitchitza (Leiden, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

As stated in the liner notes: "POINT ONE: Pop music is mostly a repetition of two types of musical and lyrical phrases: the verse and the chorus. POINT TWO: These elements repeat an average of three times in a "top-40" radio hit. POINT THREE: Cut out the fat and a pop song is only one minute long. POINT FOUR: One minute is also the length of most commercials, and therefore, their corresponding jingles. POINT FIVE: Jingles are the music of America. CONCLUSION: This compact disc is terrific in shuffle play. To convert the jingles to pop music, program each song to repeat three times."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uneven and intriguing, February 8, 2000

By	Jeremy York "-beanish-" (Bothell, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Especially in their early days, the Residents did a lot of satire and commentary on popular music, while setting out their own unique sound as an alternative to the pop they love to hate.

Rather than being a set of twisted Residents "pop" songs distilled down to a minute, this album sounds more to me like many little sketches of songs. Only a few of the best of them are really ready to end after a minute. Most of the other good ones leave you wondering where it would have gone given more time. There are also a number of songs on here that aren't that exciting or interesting.

In the 90's release "Our Finest Flowers", the Residents did a twisted retrospective of their own work. Lyrics, melodies, characters and sounds from their long career were all put into the blender, and out came a very tasty and interesting mix of music. On that cd, you'll hear many melodies and lyrics which were lifted and mutated from the Commerical Album. Which says to me, they saw a lot of unrealized promise in these short song sketches.

Bottom line, a very important album for a serious Residents fan, but not a great departure point.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Defines the 80's, March 28, 1999

By	NO GURU ([e-mail]) (Chepachet, RI) - See all my reviews

This album was originally released in 1980 and it is the best album of that decade, as it satirically typifies the shady border between art and commerce which was the crux of that time. We have 40 one minute songs covering a range of dark subjects (Death of children. . .Mental illness in loved ones. . .Inner thoughts of serial killers. . .etc) all set to deliciously loopy, childlike melodies. In a warped kind of way, it chronicles the transition in popular music from angry punk to hyperkinetic, polyrhythmic new wave. Heavy on electronic keyboards, think of it as Commercial jingles from some Dostoyevskian Underground.