Changes: The Warner Bros. Album

Latest revision as of 09:26, 24 January 2017

The Warner Bros. Album is a demo tape, recorded in 1971 by the group who would later become known as The Residents. It was compiled and sent to Hal Halverstadt, the executive who signed Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band to Warner Bros. Records.

Like their other recordings from between 1967 and 1972, The Warner Bros. Album is not considered by The Residents to be part of their official discography.

Legacy[]

The Warner Bros. Album is perhaps better known for its role in the history of the band than for its contents (which are not considered by The Residents to be at all representative of their later direction).

In hopes of gaining wider exposure, was mailed anonymously to Hal Halverstadt at Warner Bros. Records. The band had hoped that Halverstadt, who had signed Captain Beefheart to the label, would appreciate their earnest experiments and, ideally, offer them a budget and a major label platform.

According to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents, Halverstadt was not overly impressed with the tape (describing it as "okay at best"), but awarded it an "A for Ariginality." The tape was returned, and addressed to "Residents, 20 Sycamore St., San Francisco," giving the group a name idea for their band, first as Residents Uninc., and finally, after the creation of The Cryptic Corporation a few years later, The Residents.

Track listing[]

Strawberry Fields Forever _{(Lennon-McCartney)}
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany
Baby Skeletons & Dogs
Bop Bop (Shoo Bop Bop)
Stuffed Genital
Every Day I Masturbate on A Merican Fag
Oh Mommy, Oh Daddy, Can't You See that it's True?
Baby Skeletons & Dogs (Reprise)
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise)
Love & Peace
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 2)
Black Velvet Original
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 3)
Christmas Morning Foto
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 4)
In the Still of the Night
Maggie's Farm _{(B. Dylan)}
Snot and Feces: Live at the Grunt Festival
Sweet Meat
Oh Yeah Uhh Bop Shoo Bop
Ohm is Where the Art Is
Concerto in R Flat Minor
Gagagapiggaeioupe
Sell American
Love Theme from a Major Motion Picture
Prelude for Accordion, Sousaphone and French Horn
Oh God You're a Pie in the Sky
Short Circuit Comes to Town
Marching Toward AEIOU Blues
In the Still of the Night Again
Oh Mommy, Oh Daddy, Can't You See that it's True Again
Art the White Elephant
Psychedelic and Orgasmic Finale

Availability[]

The The Warner Bros. Album and Baby Sex demo tapes were both broadcast to the public in their entirety on KBOO-FM radio in Portland, Oregon, during a Residents-themed radio festival in 1977. Most versions of these two tapes that are available are home recordings of this broadcast, although higher quality copies from an earlier generation copy have recently become available in a limited series of bootleg CD-Rs.

It is said that these reels were stolen from the band's archives by a former associate and later made available for profit, and as with their other early demo tapes and reels, The Residents and The Cryptic Corporation do not approve of their availability.

Excerpts from The Warner Bros. Album have since become available on the ERA B474 and The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss compilations but otherwise has not officially been released in its entirety other than the aforementioned 1977 broadcast.

Trivia[]

In 2004, a remix album, WB:RMX, was released by The Cryptic Corporation as a response to the increasing demand for the original tape's release, and the fact that bootleg recordings of the tape were already being circulated on the Internet, defeating the purpose of an official release.
"Sell American" was sampled in the track "Pink," found in the Chicken Scratching with The Residents compilation, sold in 2010 on the Talking Light tour.
A 2011 EYEFUL download of a Talking Light rehearsal included "Baby Skeletons & Dogs", indicating that the song was considered for the tour, but eventually not included in the set list.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:Warner_bros_album.jpg|thumb|306px|Front and back cover of "The Warner Bros. Album".]]'''''The Warner Bros. Album''''' is a demo tape recorded in 1971, before The Residents agreed on a band name. It served as the group's attempt to get signed to a major label (Warner Bros. Records, specifically).
+[[File:Warner_bros_album.jpg|thumb|306px|Front and back cover of "The Warner Bros. Album".]]'''''The Warner Bros. Album''''' is a demo tape, recorded in 1971 by the group who would later become known as [[The Residents]]. It was compiled and sent to [[Hal Halverstadt]], the executive who signed [[Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band]] to [[Warner Bros. Records]].
+Like their other recordings from between 1967 and 1972, ''The Warner Bros. Album'' is not considered by The Residents to be part of their official discography.
-This album, as well as three other proto-albums recorded between 1970 and 1971 (''[[Rusty Coathangers for the Doctor]], [[The Warner Bros. Album]]'' and ''[[Baby Sex]]''), is not considered by The Residents to be part of their legacy, mostly due to its poor quality and lack of any direction or artistic value. Despite this fact, ''The Warner Bros. Album'' and ''Baby Sex'' were broadcast to the public on KBOO-FM radio in Portland, Oregon, during a Residents-themed radio festival in 1977. It is also undeniable that ''The Warner Bros. Album'' is a crucial part of The Residents' history.
 == Legacy ==
+''The Warner Bros. Album ''is perhaps better known for its role in the history of the band than for its contents (which are not considered by The Residents to be at all representative of their later direction).
-In hopes of gaining bigger exposure, the tape was mailed anonymously to Hal Halverstadt, at Warner Bros. Records, who had worked with Captain Beefheart, to which the group held great admiration.
+In hopes of gaining wider exposure,  was mailed anonymously to Hal Halverstadt at Warner Bros. Records. The band had hoped that Halverstadt, who had signed Captain Beefheart to the label, would appreciate their earnest experiments and, ideally, offer them a budget and a major label platform.
-According to ''Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents,'' Halverstadt was not overly impressed with the tape (describing it as "okay at best"), but awarded it an "A for Ariginality." The tape was returned, and addressed to "Residents, 20 Sycamore St., San Francisco," giving the group a name idea for their band, which first presented itself as "Residents Uninc,." and a few years later as "The Residents."
+According to ''[[Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents]],'' Halverstadt was not overly impressed with the tape (describing it as "okay at best"), but awarded it an "A for Ariginality." The tape was returned, and addressed to "Residents, [[20 Sycamore St]]., San Francisco," giving the group a name idea for their band, first as [[The Delta Nudes|Residents Uninc.]], and finally, after the creation of [[The Cryptic Corporation]] a few years later, The Residents.
 ==Track listing==
@@ Line 12: / Line 14: @@
 # The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany
 # Baby Skeletons & Dogs
-# Bop Bop (Shoobop Bop)
+# Bop Bop (Shoo Bop Bop)
 # Stuffed Genital
 # Every Day I Masturbate on A Merican Fag
 # Oh Mommy, Oh Daddy, Can't You See that it's True?
-# Baby Skeletons & Dogs (reprise)
+# Baby Skeletons & Dogs (Reprise)
-# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (reprise)
+# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise)
 # Love & Peace
-# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (reprise)
+# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 2)
 # Black Velvet Original
-# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (reprise)
+# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 3)
 # Christmas Morning Foto
-# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (reprise)
+# The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany (Reprise 4)
 # In the Still of the Night
 # Maggie's Farm <sub>(B. Dylan)</sub>
 # Snot and Feces: Live at the Grunt Festival
 # Sweet Meat
-# Oh Yeah Uhh Bop Shoobop
+# Oh Yeah Uhh Bop Shoo Bop
-# Ohm is Where the Art is
+# Ohm is Where the Art Is
 # Concerto in R Flat Minor
 # Gagagapiggaeioupe
@@ Line 39: / Line 41: @@
 # Marching Toward AEIOU Blues
 # In the Still of the Night Again
-# (unknown title)
 # Oh Mommy, Oh Daddy, Can't You See that it's True Again
 # Art the White Elephant
 # Psychedelic and Orgasmic Finale
+== Availability ==
+The ''The Warner Bros. Album'' and ''[[Baby Sex]]'' demo tapes were both broadcast to the public in their entirety on KBOO-FM radio in Portland, Oregon, during a Residents-themed radio festival in 1977. Most versions of these two tapes that are available are home recordings of this broadcast, although higher quality copies from an earlier generation copy have recently become available in a limited series of bootleg CD-Rs.
+It is said that these reels were stolen from the band's archives by a former associate and later made available for profit, and as with their other early demo tapes and reels, The Residents and The Cryptic Corporation do not approve of their availability.
+Excerpts from ''The Warner Bros. Album'' have since become available on the [[ERA B474]] and [[The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss]] compilations but otherwise has not officially been released in its entirety other than the aforementioned 1977 broadcast.
 == Trivia ==
-* In 2004, a remix album of the entire tape, '''''WB:RMX,''''' was released by The Cryptic Corporation as a response to the increasing demand for the original tape's release, and the fact that bootleg recordings of the tape were already being circulated on the Internet, defeating the purpose of an official release.
+* In 2004, a remix album, ''[[WB:RMX]]''',''''' was released by The Cryptic Corporation as a response to the increasing demand for the original tape's release, and the fact that bootleg recordings of the tape were already being circulated on the Internet, defeating the purpose of an official release.
-* It is possible that "Sell American" was sampled in the track "Pink," found in the '''''Chicken Scratching with The Residents''''' compilation, sold in the 2010 Talking Light tour. Arguably, it could have been a WB:RMX outtake.
+* "Sell American" was sampled in the track "Pink," found in the ''[[Chicken Scratching with The Residents]]'' compilation, sold in 2010 on the [[Talking Light]] tour.
+* A 2011 [[EYEFUL]] download of a [[Talking Light]] rehearsal included "Baby Skeletons & Dogs", indicating that the song was considered for the tour, but eventually not included in the set list.
 == See also ==
-* '''''ERA B4-74'''''
+* [[ERA B4-74|ERA B474]]
-* '''''The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss'''''
+* [[The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss]]
 <nowiki/>[[Category:Early Residents (1969-71)]]