How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All? [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Firesign Theatre

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 4, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005T7K4
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #54,037 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ralph Spoilsport Mantrum

2. Zeno's Evil

3. Land of the Pharoahs

4. Vacancy- No Vacancy

5. Lonesome American Choo-Choo Don' Wan' Stop Here Any Mo'

6. Babes in Khaki

7. TV or Not TV

8. Further Adventures of Nick Danger

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Firesign Theatre, How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?

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)

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 "10 years reviewing on Amazon... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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... ! ! !

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multi-layered hillarity, October 9, 2003

By	Teresa Heinrich (Morgan Hill, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Like sophisticated radio comedy with layers of dialogue piled on top of each other, you can listen to this album many times and hear jokes you missed previously. Very funny, very fast, good use of vocal impressions. Intelligent comedy, and unlike what the previous writer said, this is not dated. "Nick Danger, Third Eye" parodies detective films noir like "The Maltese Falcon". This album is heaven for the trivia hound.