Commercial Album
Commercial Album (or alternatively The Commercial Album) is the seventh studio album by The Residents, released in the United States on October 29th 1980 by Ralph Records. The first Residents studio album to be licensed for international release, it was released in the United Kingdom by PRE Records, by Missing Link Records and RTC in Australia and New Zealand, by Celluloid in France, and by Charisma Records in Germany.
Another manifestation of The Residents' whimsical relationship with pop music and their interest in music about music, Commercial Album is a collection of forty one-minute long "commercial" songs, conceptually reducing the structure of the average pop song to a short "jingle". It features a number of (initially uncredited) guest appearances from popular new wave artists such as Lene Lovich, Andy Partridge of the band XTC, David Byrne and Brian Eno.
The release of Commercial Album was supported by a 7" EP titled Commercial Single, and a short film, One Minute Movies, which featured four music videos for songs from the album. The Cryptic Corporation also promoted the album by purchasing forty commercial slots on popular San Francisco radio station KFRC-AM, and using them to play each of the album's songs over a three day period.
In the years since its release, the album's concept has inspired a 2004 DVD featuring a total of fifty-eight videos for the album's songs, and a 2024 short story collection by English writer Andrew Hook.
History
Commercial Album was conceived and recorded by The Residents between September 21st and November 8th 1979.[1][Note 1] The album pares down the concept and structure of the average "commercial" pop song, reducing it to a one-minute "jingle". These "jingles" are, in turn, designed to be repeated three times to form a complete pop song. Commercial Album contains forty such sixty-second vignettes, representing The Residents' own "personal top 40".
The group used a number of ideas in the composition of Commercial Album which had cropped up during the recording of Eskimo, but which were not appropriate for that project. The new concept meant that some songs of average length had to be stripped back to their basics for the final release. The longer, original version of "Ups and Downs" can be found on the Residue of The Residents compilation. The first track recorded was "Less Not More" and the last was "Loss of Innocence."
During the recording of Commercial Album, The Residents teamed up with several artists, including their old friend Snakefinger, who not only provided guitar, but also sings on "Ups and Downs". The band also recruited percussionist Chris Cutler, who had worked with them on Eskimo, and guitarist Fred Frith, both of whom were members of Ralph Records stablemates Art Bears.
The liner credits also mention "Special Secret Appearances by ?"; the secret guests included Lene Lovich, who sang "Picnic Boy", Andy Partridge of XTC, who plays and sings on "Margaret Freeman", and Nessie Lessons, the wife of The Residents' engineer Hardy Fox, who appears on several tracks. Many years after the album's release, it was revealed that David Byrne of Talking Heads performed backing vocals on "Suburban Bathers", and producer Brian Eno performed synthesizer on "The Coming of the Crow".
Cover art
The album's cover art, designed by Sammi Selmo and executed by Ralph Records' in-house design wing Porno Graphics, features the faces of then-popular celebrities John Travolta and Barbra Streisand, with an image of four blue-eyed Residents superimposed on top, positioned so that their eyeball masks cover the eyes of Travolta and Streisand.
The back cover art features the album's track listing arranged in a grid, in a manner resembling popular singles charts such as the Billboard Hot 100. The font used on the front cover and at the top of the back cover is Eurostile Extended Black; derivatives of the Eurostile font family are widely available, and have occasionally been used on later reissues and related releases.
Release
Prior to the album's release, The Cryptic Corporation bought forty one-minute commercial slots on KFRC-AM, the most popular top 40 radio station in San Francisco at that time, and used them to broadcast the full contents of Commercial Album over a three day period. A special mono mix of the album was created specifically for this purpose,[2] making it the first Residents album to be mixed in mono since their debut, Meet The Residents, in 1974.
According to Cryptic treasurer and spokesperson Jay Clem, "the conception, execution and marketing of the LP was intended to be more commercial than anything we've done so far. When it came time to make the choice of a station for the world premiere, we really only had one choice, since KFRC is the top-rated Top 40 station in the market and is a consistent national award-winner. Because the album has 40 cuts we wanted to premiere on a Top 40 station, and we have also pressed 40,000 copies of the album."[3]
Commercial Album was released in the US on October 29th 1980 by Ralph Records, in three variations. The first, limited to 15,000 copies, features an incorrect track listing on the back cover, with tracks 8 - 14 listed in a different order, perhaps a remnant of an earlier track listing. The second US pressing, limited to 20,000 copies, corrected the incorrect track listing. Commercial Album was the first Residents album, after the 1979 compilation Nibbles, to be licensed for international release. In the UK it was released by PRE Records, who also issued the Commercial Single 7" EP, featuring two songs ("Shut Up Shut Up" and "And I Was Alone") which were excluded from the final track listing of the album. In Australia the LP was released by Missing Link Records, who had previously released Nibbles there, and in New Zealand the LP was issued by RTC.
The French pressing was released by Celluloid in January 1981, and contained the same sleeve error as the earlier American pressing, but came with an additional 7" single containing "Shut Up Shut Up" and "And I Was Alone". Later Celluloid pressings, which corrected the incorrect track listing, did not come with the bonus single.
The German edition was released by Charisma Records, and featured an extensive fourteen page biography on The Residents written by Alfred Hilsberg. Both the British and German pressings featured the incorrect track listing on the sleeve. While the UK LP featured the correct track listing on the album's labels, the German pressing has no track listing on the label at all, just "1-20" (20:00) and "21-40" (20:00).
Charisma also released the album on cassette, making this the first Residents album to be publicly released on that format. The track listing on the cassette is correct, but "Suburban Bathers" is misspelt "Suburdan Bathers". The album was also issued on cassette in Australia by 7 Records & Tapes, and in France by Vogue (featuring the same spelling error as the German cassette).
Phonogram and Celluloid Records financed a short film directed by The Residents with Graeme Whifler entitled One Minute Movies, featuring the tracks "Moisture", "The Act of Being Polite", "Perfect Love", and "The Simple Song". The advent of MTV in the years following the release of the film meant that these clips received a great deal of rotation when MTV was first on the air, due in no small part to a lack of available music videos at the time.
Reissues
The LP was reissued for The Residents' 13th Anniversary in 1985. Three years later it would be repressed for the Residents Classic Series, on black vinyl and a special limited green vinyl edition. The LPs were pressed by Ralph Records, while East Side Digital and Torso (in Holland) released an expanded version of the album on CD.
The CD version of the "Classic Series" edition included ten "bonus babies": "Diskomo", "Shut Up Shut Up" and "And I Was Alone" from The Commercial Single, "Theme for an American TV Show", a cover of the Ramones' "We're A Happy Family" from the Miniatures compilation, "The Sleeper", "Boy In Love" and "Jailhouse Rock" from Residue of The Residents, and the later singles "This Is A Man's Man's Man's World" and "Hit The Road Jack".
Ralph sub-label T.E.C. Tones released the album on cassette in the US in 1990. The CD was reissued in 1994 as part of the now rare box set In Memoriam Torso.
Euro Ralph released a newly remastered CD edition of the album in Europe in 1995 in a limited quantity of 5,000 copies. Two years later, this remaster was released in the US by East Side Digital, and in Japan by Bomba Records. The Japanese release of this remaster came with a 16 page booklet.
In 2004, Mute reissued the CD in a deluxe hardbook case with a 24 page booklet, with slightly updated cover art. This version boasts itself as being the "25th Anniversary Repress", despite in fact being released on the albums 24th anniversary. This was the first release to credit Andy Partridge, Lene Lovich and Nessie Lessons as collaborators on the album.
A second remastered version of the album was released by Birdsong/Hayabusa Landings in Japan in 2010, for the album's 30th anniversary. This edition was remastered by Soichiro Nakamura and contained the same bonus tracks as the 1988 Classic Series CD. MVD Audio reissued the CD once again in 2015, in a version largely the same as the earlier pressings.
The Spotify digital version incorrectly lists the album as having been released in 1979; this error is possibly a result of the Mute "25th Anniversary Repress" being issued in 2004.
pREServed CD edition (2019)
Released alongside Eskimo in January 2019, Commercial Album was the seventh installment in The Residents' pREServed series of expanded and remastered editions of their albums. A two-disc set, it contains the additional tracks from The Commercial Single, as well as other songs featured on previous CD reissues of the album.
It also includes a considerable amount of previously unheard material, such as the instrumental outtakes "Kraftwerk" and "Cosmetics for Reality", 1982 live studio rehearsals, new versions of Commercial Album songs recorded by The Residents in 2004 for Commercial DVD, and live versions dating from 1986 to 2015.
A vocal version of "Cosmetics for Reality" was issued on the limited edition Record Store Day vinyl compilation Leftovers Again?! in 2021.
pREServed vinyl edition (2023)
On July 7th 2023, Commercial Album was issued as a double LP edition, as the seventh entry in The Residents' deluxe pREServed vinyl reissue series. The first LP contains the remastered original album, with the previously unreleased "COMS 1-3 RDX Suite" in two parts on the second disc.
An "extremely limited" number of copies sold via the Cherry Red Records website included a bonus white label 7" single titled The Commercial Single Commercials (In Mono), featuring the mono "commercial" mixes of the six album tracks featured on the Commercial Single, with voice-overs from an announcer. A compilation of all forty of the mono "commercial" mixes was at one point considered as an "obscure" vinyl release to be sold via mail order;[2] these ultimately saw release via Psychofon Records as a CD, Commercial Album Radio Ads, which was included with the limited edition of Andrew Hook's 2024 short story collection Commercial Book.
"Classic Series" vinyl edition (2023)
Commercial Album was released as the seventh instalment in Psychofon Records' collector vinyl "Classic Series", in a special pop-up gatefold edition of 200 copies on transparent/rainbow splatter vinyl, in October 2023 via the Psychofon website.
This edition features a gatefold cover with a pop-up design in the center; the package is housed within a green "Classic Series" branded tote bag.
Legacy
In 2004, The Residents expanded upon the concept of the short film One Minute Movies by commissioning independent filmmakers and video artists to create additional videos for each song on Commercial Album; the resulting collection was released on DVD by Mute, titled Commercial DVD, in conjunction with the "25th Anniversary" hardbook CD issued by the label.
On March 15th 2024, Commercial Book, a "genre-hopping" short story collection by English writer Andrew Hook was published by Psychofon Records and the Eyeball Museum. The book contains forty stories, each exactly one thousand words in length and inspired by a track from Commercial Album. The book was "fully endorsed" by The Residents, who are said to have found the stories "delightful".
A limited, hand-numbered "special edition" of the book was also released, with a bonus CD, Commercial Album Radio Ads, featuring the mono "commercial" mixes of the Commercial Album songs which were sent to radio at the time of the album's release. This edition came in special packaging, with a stick of Residents-branded, "Perfect Love flavour" "Commercial Gum" hidden within a "secret compartment" in the package.
Reception
Contemporary
The album's international releases and promotional campaigns were successful, and Commercial Album ultimately proved to be a strong seller. The album's release was widely covered by the New Wave music press, with reviews featured in the July 1980 issue of City Arts Monthly, as well as Keyboard Magazine, Popular Periodical Index, Schwann-1, Record & Tape Guide and Down Beat.[4] Initial reactions were largely positive; in their October 4th issue, Sounds awarded Commercial Album five stars, describing it as "extreme yet charming" and a "giddy cornucopia of styles". While expressing frustrations with the minute-long format, the reviewer also noted that "after a while it becomes plain that these are complete compositions".
Billboard, covering the KFRC radio publicity stunt in November, described the contents of Commercial Album as "somewhat difficult avant-garde instrumental abstractions". Contemporary Keyboard reviewed the album in January 1981, calling it "a masterpiece [...] if you have a strange bone in your body [...] stuffed with moments of genius, and if there are occasional riffs borrowed from previous Residents albums, who's going to complain?" Describing the group's use of synthesizers, it stated "the patches are most often the weird ones that sound kind of nice when you stumble onto them but that you wouldn’t think had any musical use if there weren’t somebody like the Residents to mold them into a new idiom.”
Trouser Press reviewed the album in their February 1981 issue, describing it as "positively smooth in comparison to their earlier work" and "absolutely listenable", and stating that the album "does nothing to vitiate their most experimental, exasperating qualities, but it will open the door to a new audience". Sounds briefly covered the album again in their September 1981 review of Mark of the Mole, where it was called "another blow in the face of expectation" in a similar vein to Fingerprince and Eskimo. Time Out, in their issue dated October 2nd 1981, briefly mentions that the "slick" Commercial Album "teetered on the verge of backlash".
It is said that The Residents felt that Commercial Album had been met with a relatively indifferent response from the music press, in comparison to the enthusiastic acclaim their earlier records had garnered. This, as well as some tensions within the group, led The Residents into a "period of frustration" that ultimately gave rise to the genesis of their ambitious Mole Trilogy project in the following year.[5]
Retrospective
Since its release, Commercial Album has continued to be well-regarded by fans of The Residents, and is often regarded as one of their most essential works. As of September 2025, Commercial Album has an average user rating of 4.5/5 on AllMusic,[6] 3.55/5 on RateYourMusic,[7] and 4.51/5 on Discogs.
Freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle was lukewarm in his assessment of Commercial Album, describing The Residents' style as "off-kilter" and "slightly annoying", and noting that while "some of the songs are catchy [...] none of them really develop much."[8] In his review for AllMusic, Rick Anderson praised Commercial Album as "not only weird in that special way that only Residents albums are", but also "surprisingly musically satisfying". While noting that "a few" of the album's tracks "feel like throwaways", Anderson singled out "Japanese Watercolor", "Picnic Boy" and "Troubled Man" as "particularly impressive", and concluded that the album would be "a great introduction to the Residents for anyone who hasn't yet been exposed to the band's unique brand of whimsy".[6]
Commercial Album received "strong support" in both of the "Favorite Top 10" surveys published by former Residents.com webmaster Big Brother, with three of seven respondents including it in their top ten in the 2007 survey,[9] and five of ten respondents choosing it in the 2009 survey.[10]
Track listing
All tracks composed by The Residents unless otherwise noted.
Original release (1980)
Side A (20:59)
- Easter Woman (1:03)
- Perfect Love (1:03)
- Picnic Boy (1:01)
- End of Home (1:04)
- Amber (1:02)
- Japanese Watercolor (1:02)
- Secrets (1:03)
- Die in Terror (1:03)
- Red Rider (1:02)
- My Second Wife (1:02)
- Floyd (1:03)
- Suburban Bathers (1:04)
- Dimples and Toes (1:03)
- The Nameless Souls (1:04)
- Love Leaks Out (1:04)
- Act of Being Polite (1:03)
- Medicine Man (1:04)
- Tragic Bells (1:03)
- Loss of Innocence (1:04)
- The Simple Song (1:02)
Side B (21:12)
- Ups and Downs (1:04)
- Possessions (1:03)
- Give It to Someone Else (1:03)
- Phantom (1:04)
- Less Not More (1:03)
- My Work Is So Behind (1:04)
- Birds in the Trees (1:04)
- Handful of Desire (1:04)
- Moisture (1:04)
- Love Is... (1:03)
- Troubled Man (1:04)
- La La (1:04)
- Loneliness (1:04)
- Nice Old Man (1:04)
- The Talk of Creatures (1:04)
- Fingertips (1:04)
- In Between Dreams (1:03)
- Margaret Freeman (1:03)
- The Coming of the Crow (1:04)
- When We Were Young (1:02)
"Classic Series" CD reissue (1988)
- Easter Woman (1:06)
- Perfect Love (1:05)
- Picnic Boy (1:03)
- End of Home (1:06)
- Amber (1:04)
- Japanese Watercolor (1:04)
- Secrets (1:05)
- Die in Terror (1:05)
- Red Rider (1:04)
- My Second Wife (1:04)
- Floyd (1:05)
- Suburban Bathers (1:05)
- Dimples and Toes (1:06)
- The Nameless Souls (1:06)
- Love Leaks Out (1:05)
- Act of Being Polite (1:05)
- Medicine Man (1:06)
- Tragic Bells (1:05)
- Loss of Innocence (1:06)
- The Simple Song (1:04)
- Ups and Downs (1:06)
- Possessions (1:06)
- Give It to Someone Else (1:05)
- Phantom (1:06)
- Less Not More (1:05)
- My Work Is So Behind (1:06)
- Birds in the Trees (1:06)
- Handful of Desire (1:06)
- Moisture (1:05)
- Love Is... (1:05)
- Troubled Man (1:06)
- La La (1:06)
- Loneliness (1:06)
- Nice Old Man (1:06)
- The Talk of Creatures (1:05)
- Fingertips (1:06)
- In Between Dreams (1:06)
- Margaret Freeman (1:05)
- The Coming of the Crow (1:06)
- When We Were Young (1:13)
- Shut Up Shut Up (1:04)
- And I Was Alone (1:05)
- Theme For An American TV Show (1:27)
- We're A Happy Family (Ramones) (1:11)
- The Sleeper (2:58)
- Boy In Love (2:57)
- Diskomo (*Residue Edit) (4:35)
- Jailhouse Rock (Leiber/Stoller) (*1982 Residue version) (3:08)
- This Is A Man's Man's Man's World (Brown) (*1984 Single Version) (3:44)
- Hit The Road Jack (Mayfield) (*Original 1986 Single Version) (4:04)
pREServed CD edition (2019)
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1 - Commercial Album + Bonus Tracks
- Easter Woman (1:03)
- Perfect Love (1:03)
- Picnic Boy (1:03)
- End of Home (1:03)
- Amber (1:02)
- Japanese Watercolor (1:03)
- Secrets (1:03)
- Die in Terror (1:02)
- Red Rider (1:02)
- My Second Wife (1:02)
- Floyd (1:03)
- Suburban Bathers (1:03)
- Dimples and Toes (1:03)
- The Nameless Souls (1:04)
- Love Leaks Out (1:02)
- Act of Being Polite (1:03)
- Medicine Man (1:03)
- Tragic Bells (1:03)
- Loss of Innocence (1:02)
- The Simple Song (1:03)
- Ups and Downs (1:03)
- Possessions (1:03)
- Give It to Someone Else (1:03)
- Phantom (1:03)
- Less Not More (1:03)
- My Work Is So Behind (1:03)
- Birds in the Trees (1:03)
- Handful of Desire (1:03)
- Moisture (1:03)
- Love Is... (1:03)
- Troubled Man (1:03)
- La La (1:03)
- Loneliness (1:03)
- Nice Old Man (1:03)
- The Talk of Creatures (1:03)
- Fingertips (1:03)
- In Between Dreams (1:03)
- Margaret Freeman (1:03)
- The Coming of the Crow (1:03)
- When We Were Young (1:09)
- Shut Up, Shut Up (1:02)
- And I Was Alone (1:04)
- Electronic Elaborate Waste (1:02) (*)
- Kraftwerk (1:03) (*)
- Cosmetics for Reality (1:06) (*)
- Rosco's Righteous Rodent (1:01) (*)
- Pretty Baby (1:04) (*)
- Tuxedos (1:08) (*)
- No Longer Unused (1:03) (*)
- Instant Hostility (3:04) (*)
- Elevator Lady (2:37) (*)
- We're A Happy Family (Ramones) (1:10)
- Commercial Commercials Suite (3:07) [Unlisted, CD only]
Disc 2 - Bonus Tracks
- Shut Up, Shut Up (Residue Version) (1:12)
- And I Was Alone (Alternate) (1:03) (*)
- Ups and Downs (Residue Version) (3:07)
- Boy In Love (2:55)
- Die In Terror (1982 Rehearsal) (1:28) (*)
- Give It To Someone Else (1982 Rehearsal) (0:53) (*)
- Love Leaks Out (1982 Rehearsal) (1:09) (*)
- The Talk of Creatures (1982 Rehearsal) (1:04) (*)
- Easter Woman (Live 1986) (2:30)
- Amber (Live 1986) (1:45)
- Red Rider (Live 1986) (1:32)
- Die In Terror (Live 1986) (1:26)
- The Coming of the Crow (Live 1986) (1:45)
- Moisture (Icky Flix Version) (1:05) (*)
- Act of Being Polite (Icky Flix Version) (1:03) (*)
- Perfect Love (Icky Flix Version) (1:06) (*)
- Simple Song (Icky Flix Version) (1:04) (*)
- Red Rider (Commercial DVD Version) (1:09) (*)
- Moisture (Commercial DVD Version) (1:10) (*)
- Commercial Album Suite (Live 2005) (5:48)
- Give It To Someone Else (Live 2013) (3:04)
- Easter Woman (Live 2015) (2:34) (*)
- My Second Wife (Live 2015) (2:28) (*)
- Loss of Innocence (Live 2015) (2:18) (*)
pREServed vinyl edition (2023)
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1 - Commercial Album
Side A
- Easter Woman (1:03)
- Perfect Love (1:03)
- Picnic Boy (1:03)
- End of Home (1:03)
- Amber (1:02)
- Japanese Watercolor (1:03)
- Secrets (1:03)
- Die in Terror (1:02)
- Red Rider (1:02)
- My Second Wife (1:02)
- Floyd (1:03)
- Suburban Bathers (1:03)
- Dimples and Toes (1:03)
- The Nameless Souls (1:04)
- Love Leaks Out (1:02)
- Act of Being Polite (1:03)
- Medicine Man (1:03)
- Tragic Bells (1:03)
- Loss of Innocence (1:02)
- The Simple Song (1:03)
Side B
- Ups and Downs (1:03)
- Possessions (1:03)
- Give It to Someone Else (1:03)
- Phantom (1:03)
- Less Not More (1:03)
- My Work Is So Behind (1:03)
- Birds in the Trees (1:03)
- Handful of Desire (1:03)
- Moisture (1:03)
- Love Is... (1:03)
- Troubled Man (1:03)
- La La (1:03)
- Loneliness (1:03)
- Nice Old Man (1:03)
- The Talk of Creatures (1:03)
- Fingertips (1:03)
- In Between Dreams (1:03)
- Margaret Freeman (1:03)
- The Coming of the Crow (1:03)
- When We Were Young (1:09)
Disc 2 - COMS 1-3 RDX Suite
Side C
- COMS 1-3 RDX Suite Pt 1 (16:14) (*)
Side D
- COMS 1-3 RDX Suite Pt 2 (16:40) (*)
Liner notes
"Classic Series" CD reissue (1987)
- Point one: Pop music is mostly a repetition of two types of musical and lyrical phrases, the verse and the chorus.
- Point two: These elements usually repeat three times in a three minute song, the type usually found on top-40 radio.
- Point three: Cut out the fat and a pop song is only one minute long. Then record albums can hold their own top-40, twenty minutes per side.
- Point four: One minute is also the length of most commercials, and therefore their corresponding jingles.
- Point five: Jingles are the music of America.
- Conclusion: This compact disc is terrific in shuffle play. To convert the jingles to pop music, program each song to repeat three times.
Credits
- Written & Produced By: The Residents
- Extra Hard Working Guest Musician: Fred Frith (Guitar and Bass)[11]
- Special Appearances: Chris Cutler (Drums)[11], Don Jackovich, Sandy Sandwich (Guitar and vocals on "Margaret Freeman")[11], Mud's Sis & Snakefinger (Guitar, violin, vocals)[11]
- Special Secret Appearances: Nessie Lessons,[12] Lene Lovich[13], Don Preston,[11] David Byrne & Brian Eno[11]
- Cover Design & Art Direction: Pore Know Graphics
Release history
| Year | Label | Format | Region | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Ralph Records | LP | USA | Three variations. |
| PRE Records | UK | Incorrect track listing on sleeve | ||
| Charisma Records | Germany | Incorrect track listing on sleeve, no track listing on label. | ||
| Cassette | Suburban Bathers misspelt. | |||
| Missing Link | LP | Australia | ||
| 7 Records & Tapes | Cassette | |||
| RTC | LP | New Zealand | ||
| 1981 | Celluloid | LP+7" | France | Incorrect track listing on sleeve, contains additional 7". |
| LP | Correct track listing on sleeve. No 7" | |||
| Vogue | Cassette | Suburban Bathers misspelt. | ||
| 1985 | Ralph Records | LP | USA | 13th Anniversary Re-Press. |
| 1988 | ||||
| East Side Digital | CD | Contains 10 bonus tracks. | ||
| Torso | LP | Holland | ||
| CD | Contains 10 bonus tracks. | |||
| 1990 | T.E.C. Tones | Cassette | USA | 10th Anniversary Re-Press. |
| 1994 | Euro Ralph | CD | EU | As part of the Memoriam Torso box set. |
| 1995 | Remastered version | |||
| 1997 | East Side Digital | USA | ||
| Bomba Records | Japan | Remastered version, comes with 16 page booklet. | ||
| 2004 | Mute | Europe | 24th Anniversary repress, mislabeled as 25th. 32 page booklet. | |
| 2010 | Birdsong/Hayabusa Landings | Japan | 30th Anniversary remaster. Same bonus tracks as 1988. | |
| 2015 | MVD Audio | USA | ||
| 2019 | New Ralph Too, Cherry Red | 2xCD | UK, USA, EU | pREServed CD edition |
| 2023 | 2xLP | pREServed vinyl edition | ||
| Psychofon Records | LP | EU | Classic Series collectors vinyl edition of 200 copies on transparent rainbow splatter vinyl, with pop-up gatefold cover |
See also
- Commercial Single
- One Minute Movies
- Commercial DVD
- "Cosmetics for Reality"
- "Kraftwerk" (song)
- Lene Lovich
- Andy Partridge
- David Byrne
- Brian Eno
Listen online
- Commercial Album on Spotify
- Commercial Album on Apple Music
- Commercial Album pREServed edition on Spotify
- Commercial Album pREServed edition on Apple Music
Notes
- ↑ In Dave Warden's 1986 book The Cryptic Guide to The Residents, Commercial Album is said to have been recorded between September 1979 and July 1980. In the liner notes of the 2025 release Leftovers (1970-1988), July 1980 is said to be the date noted on the album's master tape. This likely indicates that the album's recording sessions had concluded by the end of 1979, while mixing/production continued into July of the following year.
External links and references
- Commercial Album at The Residents Historical
- Commercial Album at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
- Commercial Album on Discogs
- Commercial Album pREServed CD edition on Cherry Red Records
- ↑ Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole, et al., Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, Cherry Red Books, 2022, pg. 53
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 I know there are plans afoot for some mail order only obscure vinyl too, but The Residents were slightly unsure what the demand would be, so this all bodes well. The complete '1-10 (With A Touch Of 11)' tape, the complete 'German Slide' tape, the complete 'Commercial Album' commercials tape (which I think is a mono mix of the album too) and so on..." - Richard Anderson, The Residents Facebook group, March 19th 2019
- ↑ Billboard magazine, November 15th 1980, pg 23
- ↑ Reviews of Commercial Album at Google Books
- ↑ Mark of the Mole at The Residents Historical
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Commercial Album at AllMusic
- ↑ Commercial Album at RateYourMusic
- ↑ Mark Prindle, "The Commercial Album", Mark's Record Reviews, ca. 1996-2001
- ↑ Big Brother, "Favorite Top 10", The Last Word, December 5th 2007
- ↑ Big Brother, "Favorite Top Ten", The Last Word, February 1st 2009
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Commercial Album pREServed CD edition liner notes, 2019
- ↑ Heaven? liner notes, 1986
- ↑ Commercial Album Mute CD reissue liner notes, 2004
