Commercial Album

by The Residents

Commercial Album cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: October 1980
  • Label: Ralph
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 1:43:03
  • Community rating: 4.04/5 from 8 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Comprised entirely of 40 songs that each last exactly one minute, The Residents designed 'Commercial Album' as a darkly brilliant satire of the one-minute pop jingle. The record is a profoundly surreal, highly cryptic, and wonderfully abstract exploration of minimal synth and avant-pop, functioning as a hilarious, ominous critique of consumer culture.

Genres

Descriptors: avant-garde, satirical, conceptual, short-form, bizarre

Tracklist

  1. Easter Woman (1:03)
  2. Perfect Love (1:03)
  3. Picnic Boy (1:02)
  4. End of Home (1:02)
  5. Amber (1:02)
  6. Japanese Watercolor (1:02)
  7. Secrets (1:03)
  8. Die In Terror (1:02)
  9. Red Rider (1:02)
  10. My Second Wife (1:02)
  11. Floyd (1:02)
  12. Suburban Bathers (1:02)
  13. Dimples and Toes (1:03)
  14. The Nameless Souls (1:03)
  15. Love Leaks Out (1:02)
  16. Act of Being Polite (1:03)
  17. Medicine Man (1:02)
  18. Tragic Bells (1:02)
  19. Loss of Innocence (1:02)
  20. The Simple Song (1:03)
  21. Ups and Down (1:03)
  22. Possessions (1:03)
  23. Give It To Someone Else (1:02)
  24. Phantom (1:03)
  25. Less Not More (1:02)
  26. My Work Is So Behind (1:02)
  27. Birds in the Trees (1:02)
  28. Handful of Desire (1:03)
  29. Moisture (1:03)
  30. Love Is... (1:03)
  31. Troubled Man (1:02)
  32. La La (1:02)
  33. Loneliness (1:03)
  34. Nice Old Man (1:03)
  35. The Talk of Creatures (1:02)
  36. Fingertips (1:02)
  37. In Between Dreams (1:02)
  38. Margaret Freeman (1:02)
  39. The Coming of the Crow (1:03)
  40. When We Were Young (1:08)
  41. Shut Up, Shut Up (1:02)
  42. And I Was Alone (1:03)
  43. Electronic Elaborate Waste (1:02)
  44. Kraftwerk (1:02)
  45. Cosmetics For Reality (1:05)
  46. Rosco's Righteous Rodent (1:01)
  47. Pretty Baby (1:04)
  48. Tuxedos (1:08)
  49. No Longer Unused (1:03)
  50. Instant Hostility (3:03)
  51. Elevator Lady (2:37)
  52. We're A Happy Family (1:10)
  53. Shut Shut (Residue Version) (1:11)
  54. And I Was Alone (Alternate) (1:03)
  55. Ups and Downs (Residue Version) (3:06)
  56. Boy In Love (2:55)
  57. Die In Terror (1982 Rehearsal) (1:28)
  58. Give It To Someone Else (1982 Rehearsal) (0:53)
  59. Love Leaks Out (1982 Rehearsal) (1:08)
  60. The Talk of Creatures (1982 Rehearsal) (1:04)
  61. Easter Woman (Live 1986) (2:30)
  62. Amber (Live 1986) (1:45)
  63. Red Rider (Live 1986) (1:31)
  64. Die In Terror (Live 1986) (1:25)
  65. The Coming of Crow (Live 1986) (1:45)
  66. Moisture (Icky Flix Version) (1:05)
  67. Act of Being Polite (Icky Flix Version) (1:02)
  68. Perfect Love (Icky Flix Version) (1:06)
  69. Simple Song (Icky Flix Version) (1:04)
  70. Red Rider (Commercial DVD Version) (1:08)
  71. Moisture (Commercial DVD Version) (1:09)
  72. Commercial Album Suite (Live 2005) (5:48)
  73. Give It To Someone Else (Live 2013) (3:04)
  74. Easter Woman (Live 2015) (2:33)
  75. My Second Wife (Live 2015) (2:27)
  76. Loss of Innocence (Live 2015) (2:18)

Credits

  • The Residents - primary artist, written-by, producer
  • Pore No Graphics - cover [design], art direction
  • Chris Cutler - featuring [special appearances], guest performer
  • Don Jackovich - featuring [special appearances]
  • Mud's Sis - featuring [special appearances]
  • Sandy Sandwich - featuring [special appearances]
  • Snakefinger - featuring [special appearances]
  • Lene Lovich - featuring [special secret appearances, uncredited]
  • Fred Frith - guest [extra-hard working guest musician], guest guitar
  • Jack Hunt - lacquer cut by

More from The Residents: full discography