Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More proof why the Residents are pioneers, not just wack jobs, November 3, 2006
Many listeners got their first taste of the Residents on the "Dr. Demento" radio program back in late 1979 or 1980. The song was "The Laughing Song" and I never forgot how wonderfully bizarre it was.
Louisiana swamp rats who relocated to San Francisco (a good choice, given the musical tolerance the Bay Area has boasted over the years) and created a stir with never revealing their identities and making head size eyeballs famous, the Residents specialized in proto-synth programming that predated Devo and just about every cutting edge artist, with the possible exception of Can, the German experimental legends. While comedy is the main focal point of these twisted genius' work, they also experiment with sounds and textures never before attempted or replicated. In fact, "Eskimo", their biggest selling album, is somewhat serious, a five part soundscape that defies description in print.
For those not quite ready to take the plunge with "Eskimo", "The Commercial Album" is a good starting point as each selection is exactly one minute long, making up forty snippets of amazing hooks, noises, and even the occasional pretty tune. Fans of electronic music like NIN, meet your roots. Reznor could never have created his work without these pioneers. As so often is the case, some of the world's most obscure artists also act as the most influential. Laugh along, but don't forget the new ground that is constantly being broken as you listen to "The Commercial Album". Also, pick up "Duck Stab/Buster & Glen", the other Residents' masterwork.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best Release I've Gotten my Paws On, July 11, 2008
There are plenty of reviews that will tell you why you should or shouldn't buy this album, but it frustrates me that so few reviewers on Amazon mention the actual version of the product at hand. I would think that many if not most of the potential buyers of this disc are already familiar with The Residents, if not this album itself, but what is seldom (if ever) mentioned is that this is a fantastic 'pressing' packaged very handsomely in a CD-sized, glossy hardcover book. I first dicovered that Residents albums were being packaged this way when I recently picked up the two double-album discs comprising the so-called 'Mole Trilogy.' I decided to take a chance on this disc (as well as Duck Stab) and was very happily surprised to see that these, too, had been released in these wonderful packages, with booklets containing artwork and lyrics.
As for the music, what can I say? The "Commercial Album," a 'reaction' of sorts to their own magnum opus "Eskimo," is a late-70s avant garde classic, a kind of satire of a culture of sound bites. There are 40 1-minute tracks (as opposed to the single 40-minute track on "Eskimo") that sound like an alien child's attempt to recreate the experience of having heard Earth music, and in particular, music from TV & radio ads (in my opinion).
Are all the tracks great? No, you have to absorb them more as a collection, but it's still a clever concept album, and some of these tunes will have you laughing at their absurdity (like "The Act of Being Polite"); others may have you pondering the meanings behind their short lyrics for hours to come ("Easter Woman"). A few are actually pretty ("Amber"). If you're looking for originality, you've come to the right place. You may not play this album every day, but it's worth having in your collection, especially this well-packaged edition.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the strangest and most eccentric albums I've ever come across...., March 30, 2008
The Residents are one of the stranger, most obscure bands ever, but whoever has heard of them usually adores them. They have never been identified by name, even today. In the age of dead privacy, they still manage to keep themselves hidden. I have 2 of their albums, God In Three Persons and this one. This is one of the most unique albums that I own (and one of the most unique in rock history). It is comprised of 40 one minute songs, like commercials. Most of them are quite strange, sounding like demented commercials from a nuclear mutated planet light years away. But when you play the songs in shuttle play (the liner notes suggests that you programme your CD player to play each song 3 times), the songs like a pop song. It's quite strange and unique, just like this band. Needless to say, this album never ran up to the top of the charts, but maybe someday, it might, when the world catches up to The Residents.
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