Monstrous Intro
Death In Barstow
Melon Collie Lassie
Flight of the Bumble Roach
Walter Westinghouse
BABYFINGERS
EP
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Monstrous Intro |
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Side Three of the original Tourniquet of Roses (well, Side Two, officially...but you knew what I meant). Babyfingers was released in 1977 as a companion piece to Fingerprince, aka the other two Tourniquet sides. The second half of the EP was given over completely to "Walter Westinghouse," a "mini-opera" of dubious meaning (true to Residents form). The song "Death in Barstow" was a tribute to the composer Harry Partch, one of the Residents' chief influences.
"Monstrous Intro" was written and recorded specifically for Babyfingers itself, and was not part of Tourniquet of Roses. When that album-that-never-was was restored on the Fingerprince CD releases, "Monstrous Intro" was not included, effectively rendering the track out-of-print, at least in America. The EuroRalph releases of Fingerprince package the LP and EP as two separate discs, with the EP including "Monstrous Intro."
Babyfingers was originally available with the limited first edition of Fingerprince. It was released separately by Ralph Records in 1979, and given its pink cover art by the Residents' first official fan club, W.E.I.R.D., in 1981.
RATING: 7
Babyfingers is not quite the nutshell version of Fingerprince that some folks make it out to be. It's more the darker, colder, creepier twin, sometimes almost literally: the beginning of "Melon Collie Lassie" sounds like a horror-movie rewrite of "March de la Winni." The EP does still recap the earlier Residents sound, but does much more to foreshadow the sinister music of Duck Stab/Buster & Glen. And it honestly is a little bit uncomfortable to listen to—at least until the non-sequitur-ing of "Walter Westinghouse"—because, well, it's just a spooky-ass record. And that includes "Walter Westinghouse"; it's just that that one is absurd enough to distract you. Lyrically, of course, the Residents are as meaningless as ever on Babyfingers (except for "Death in Barstow"), but the runs of words are strange and intriguing: "Eat exuding oinks upon and bleed decrepit broken bones at caustic spells of Hell!"
Whether or not this was really the third side of Fingerprince, the group of songs here comes off as much more cohesive than its full-length partner. But the songs, as good and as atmospheric as they are, just aren't as good as Fingerprince. They sound much better, though, in the context of Tourniquet of Roses; I suggest that you listen to them that way (and don't sweat the loss of "Monstrous Intro": it's forty seconds long). Still, the somber tone of the EP by itself is a surprise, and the Residents' mastery of it is another (welcome) one.