Commercial Album (1980)

Conceived and recorded when vinyl was still king, I always thought 20 different songs in as many minutes (before you had to turn the record over) were just too many for the mind to concentrate on and the ears to do justice to. Transfer to CD has only compounded the problem. Having said that, The Residents have clearly mastered the discipline of the 60-second format, and there are some perfect miniature gems to be found here. Brilliant concept. Brilliant ideas. None of which realised fully in limited time. Frustrating.

Guaranteed to drive you insane, 40 tracks all exactly 1 minute long. You like this track? Tough shit it's just finished.. damn their eyeballs! An NME review suggested that The Residents had reached a zero degree in pop. For them to be able to knock out 40 inventive little tunes in 10 months, yeah, I'd have to agree with that. There was a video made by Graham Whifler One Minute Movies comprising of four Commercial Album tunes; Moisture, Simple Song, The Act Of Being Polite and Perfect Love. A girl once told me that she heard this album at a party (what kind of party was that?!) and it made her feel so weird she was physically sick. I can't give a better recommendation than that. The ESD CD release also has the bonus babies which are; Shut Up! Shut Up!, And I Was Alone, Theme For An American TV Show, We're a Happy Family/Bali Ha'i, The Sleeper, Boy in Love, Diskomo (Remix), Jailhouse Rock, This is a Man's Man's Man's World and Hit the Road Jack. See also the Commercial Single.

Since The Beatles' White Album, I've never heard an album that's so full of different musical ideas. A must! You'll be whistling these simple tunes all day long. Nice idea - and it works. Tons of great ideas, some of which I think deserved to have been expanded into longer songs!