Amber
Red Rider
Picnic Boy
Shut Up! Shut Up!
When We Were Young
Phantom
Moisture
And I Was Alone
COMMERCIAL SINGLE
45rpm Single
| Amber |
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The Residents took novel approaches to promoting the novel concept of Commercial Album, they bought forty 60-second commercial slots on a local radio station in San Francisco, and released this disc on PRE records in England, labeling it a "single" despite its including eight songs. Two of the songs, "Shut Up! Shut Up!" and "And I Was Alone," were unlisted on the single's sleeve, and did not come from Commercial Album. They had been written and recorded for the LP, but had been pulled when the Residents decided that they were trendy. (The songs, not the Residents.)
RATING: 6
There are exactly two reasons that even the hardcore fans might need Commercial Single. Yes, yes; almost all the Commercial Album tracks are fantastic (I'm not over the moon about "Phantom"), and among the top tier of Residents songs. But if you want those, you mgiht as well just buy the LP and be done with it. No, you buy the single just for the two minutes' worth of new material, so let's talk about that.
Of course, being short songs there's not overly much to say about them! They're both very Residential, so I don't know what they meant when they called these songs "too trendy," unless they meant "too catchy." Because both tracks are catchier than almost anything else with the Eyeball logo on it. "Shut Up! Shut Up!" is a bit of snarling guitar and organ, with way-sped-up voices calling out the title. "And I Was Alone" is an instrumental, a brooding-but-cute riff over a standard pop-music chord sequence. Then it ends.
I like these songs a lot, but not enough to pay the ridiculous amount that Commercial Single is worth these days. I mean, you can get "Shut Up! Shut Up!" on Residue, and "And I Was Alone," is pretty good, but not good enough to hunt obsessively for it like I did.
Oh. Um. Heh-heh.