NOT AVAILABLE
Not Available was not meant to be released. It was an
attempt to take N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity to its
logical conclusion. Senada maintained that an artist does
his or her best work in isolation, free froms the influence
of an audience. If the artist is modifying his or her ideas
to suit the tastes of the audience the work is being
corrupted.
This album was not to be released until the band
themselves had forgotten completely about its existence, so
that there would be no potential audience to influence its
development. The idea worked well -- the music in Not
Available, a mini-opera made up of four "acts" with an
epilogue, is excellent and very distinctive.
The eventual publication of Not Available came about as
the result of a problem with the band. In 1978,
The Residents were working on Eskimo, a much-touted
major release. However, after a disagreement with The
Cryptic Corporation, the band disappeared to England with
the Eskimo master tapes. Needing something to release, the
Cryptics pulled "some old tapes" off the shelves and
released them as Not Available, complete with ads in the UK
music press announcing "Now It Can Be Sold."
The Residents weren't bothered much by this deviation
from their plan, however, since the 1978 decision by
someone else to release the album couldn't affect the
philosophical conditions under which it was recorded in
1974.