The Commercial Album
| Commercial Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Residents | ||||
| Released | October 1980 | |||
| Recorded | September 1979-October 1980 | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde, noise rock, experimental rock | |||
| Length | 42:12 | |||
| Label |
Ralph (original US release) Pre Records (original UK release) Charisma Records (original European release) East Side Digital (CD reissue) |
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| Producer | The Residents | |||
| The Residents chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |
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Commercial Album is an album released by The Residents in 1980. It is commonly considered a follow-up of Duck Stab/Buster & Glen. The album pares down the concept and structure of the average commercial pop song and reduces it to a one-minute redux. It contains a compilation of 40 such sixty-second vignettes. The album used several session musicians, including Chris Cutler, Snakefinger (who sings lead on many tracks) and Fred Frith as well as two anonymous guest vocalists, Lene Lovich ("Picnic Boy") and Andy Partridge ("Margaret Freeman").
The faces on the album cover are John Travolta and Barbra Streisand. The backside of the original LP labels listed the length as "1:00" after each of the 40 song titles. The first edition sleeve listed the tracks in the wrong order.
The liner notes state that songs should be repeated three times in a row to form a "pop song". The Residents purchased 40 one-minute advertising slots on San Francisco's most popular Top-40 radio station at the time, KFRC, such that the station played each track of their album over three days. This prompted an editorial in Billboard magazine questioning whether the act was art or advertising.
All tracks written by The Residents except where noted
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