Commercial Album (1980)
Conceived and recorded when vinyl was still king, I always
thought 20 different songs in as many minutes (before you
had to turn the record over) were just too many for the
mind to concentrate on and the ears to do justice to.
Transfer to CD has only compounded the problem. Having said
that, The Residents have clearly mastered the discipline of
the 60-second format, and there are some perfect miniature
gems to be found here. Brilliant concept. Brilliant ideas.
None of which realised fully in limited time. Frustrating.
Guaranteed to drive you insane, 40 tracks all exactly 1
minute long. You like this track? Tough shit it's just
finished.. damn their eyeballs! An NME review suggested
that The Residents had reached a zero degree in pop. For
them to be able to knock out 40 inventive little tunes in
10 months, yeah, I'd have to agree with that. There was a
video made by Graham Whifler One Minute Movies comprising
of four Commercial Album tunes; Moisture, Simple Song, The
Act Of Being Polite and Perfect Love. A girl once told me
that she heard this album at a party (what kind of party
was that?!) and it made her feel so weird she was
physically sick. I can't give a better recommendation than
that. The ESD CD release also has the bonus babies which
are; Shut Up! Shut Up!, And I Was Alone, Theme For An
American TV Show, We're a Happy Family/Bali Ha'i, The
Sleeper, Boy in Love, Diskomo (Remix), Jailhouse Rock, This
is a Man's Man's Man's World and Hit the Road Jack. See
also the Commercial Single.
Since The Beatles' White Album, I've never heard an album
that's so full of different musical ideas. A must! You'll
be whistling these simple tunes all day long. Nice idea -
and it works. Tons of great ideas, some of which I think
deserved to have been expanded into longer songs!