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Demons Dance Alone

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This article is about the 2002 studio album.
You may be looking for the song, live tour, or 2003 live DVD of the same name.

Demons Dance Alone is a concept album by The Residents, released in June 2002 by Euro Ralph and Ralph America in a two disc special edition, and in a single disc standard edition in September by East Side Digital.

Mostly conceived in the months following the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th 2001, Demons Dance Alone comprises a series of character studies in which "a vulnerable uncertain Eyeball asks questions which have no answers".

Released during The Residents' 30th Anniversary year, Demons Dance Alone was warmly received by fans and critics as a welcome return to form. The album's release was supported with a tour of America and Europe, which itself spawned a live DVD and album.

On June 28th 2024, a remastered and expanded pREServed edition of the album was released; the album was issued on vinyl for the first time on the same day. The release was promoted with the release of a digital single, "Vampire (Alternate)", featuring an alternate mix of the non-album track "Vampire", and a collection of additional outtakes titled Demons Dance For Free.

History

"When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, 'A fool cannot hold his tongue.'" [Note 1]

Plutarch's Morals, 1871

Background

Promotional art for Demons Dance Alone, 2002

On September 11th 2001, nineteen Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American airliners, crashing two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and a third into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., with the fourth plane crashing in a field in rural Pennsylvania following a passenger revolt. The attacks killed a total of 2,977 people and injured thousands more; it remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history.

The Residents witnessed the tragic events from Hamburg, Germany, where they were due to perform their Icky Flix live show. Although international terrorism had been a reality for many years, such a deadly attack on American soil was unprecedented. The Residents felt "a great sense of vulnerability"; so far away from home and less than half way through the European leg of the tour, many in the touring party were desperate to speak to loved ones and return to America.[1]

When they began the tour, The Residents had been writing material for a new album inspired by the Civil War; following their return from Europe in October 2001, the group decided to shelve this material, feeling that a more timely concept was in order.

Recording

Homer Flynn's artwork for the abandoned Tales of the Eyeball Buddha, later to become Demons Dance Alone

Disturbed by the destruction and loss of life caused by the 9/11 attacks, The Residents decided that their best response would be to produce an album inspired by their emotional reaction to the attacks.[1] They promptly began developing the new album in the studio, briefly under the title Tales of the Eyeball Buddha; the group's long time graphic designer Homer Flynn produced cover art which had to be shelved when the title was dropped.[2]

Choosing not to directly reference the events, The Residents instead conceived a series of lyrical studies of "characters in vulnerable moments in their lives", backed with some of the most melodic, direct and accessible music they had produced to date; The Residents, perhaps "unconsciously", composed accessible music in order to better convey their sense that vulnerability was "a universal feeling".[1]

In the studio, The Residents were assisted by a handful of collaborators: vocalist Molly Harvey, who had worked with the group since Gingerbread Man, vocalist Carla Fabrizio, who had worked with them since Wormwood, as well as guitarist Nolan Cook and "noise maker" Toby Dammit, both of whom had joined the team on the Wormwood tour. Isabelle Barbier, daughter of Homer Flynn, had also previously appeared on the Gingerbread Man album. The album artwork was created by Homer Flynn and Lorrie Murray.[1]

Demons Dance Alone was Cook's first appearance on a Residents studio album; he recalled that early on, when he asked the group how he should approach a tune, or "even how to approach the task of being their guitarist", he would be told: "That is for you to determine". Dammit noted that "often we would work on one thing and then the tracks would appear on completely different songs, having no relation to the initial structures".[1]

The final album is split into three parts, "Loss", "Denial", and "The Three Metaphors", bookended by the tracks "Tongue" and "Demons Dance Alone", and interspersed with a number of short, untitled transitional pieces. The "Tongue" tracks all feature samples from Slow Bob In The Lower Dimensions, a 1990 short film scored by The Residents.

Release

The Residents' 30th Anniversary logo: "Amusing the muses and confusing the masses for 30 years"

Demons Dance Alone was announced in early 2002, as the core release in The Residents' impending 30th Anniversary celebrations. In advance of the album's release, a compilation album titled Petting Zoo was released in April 2002 by East Side Digital. This album opened with two tracks from the then-unreleased Demons Dance Alone; "Betty's Body" and "Wolverines".

The release of the album was supported by a series of pre-release listening parties hosted by Residents fans in cities across America in May and June 2002, including an event at Ralph America headquarters on May 19th, where the album was played once for a limited group of attendees.[3]

The first release of Demons Dance Alone was an expanded two disc edition, in June 2002 by Euro Ralph and Ralph America. Following this, the standard edition was released in September by East Side Digital; a planned vinyl edition from Euro Ralph failed to come to fruition.[4] On October 9th, the album was released in Japan by Bomba Records.

According to Lorrie Murray of Ralph America, Demons Dance Alone marked the point at which electronic purchases began to outnumber albums sold through the traditional mail order model.[1]

Reissues

Following an unofficial Russian release of the album in 2002, Demons Dance Alone was officially released in Russia by Euro Ralph in 2005. On March 16th 2016, the album was reissued by MVD Audio. This version of the album is thirty seconds longer, and features an amended track listing, with the untitled tracks from the original release being integrated into the album's other tracks.

A two LP vinyl edition of the album was announced for release on June 28th 2024 by Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too, alongside the three disc pREServed CD edition of the album. The LPs contain the original album on the first three sides, and a fourth side of non-album bonus tracks. This is the first time Demons Dance Alone has been issued on vinyl.

pREServed CD edition

A newly remastered and expanded three disc pREServed edition of Demons Dance Alone was released on June 28th 2024 by Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too.

The three-disc pREServed edition, compiled by The Residents with the assistance of collaborator Carla Fabrizio, features two discs of supplementary demo and live material, including 27 previously unreleased tracks. The release was promoted by a digital single, "Vampire (Alternate)", which was released to streaming platforms on the same day.

A collection of outtakes which were left off the final track listing of the pREServed collection, titled Demons Dance For Free, was released online the following day as a free bonus to subscribers of the Cherry Red Residents newsletter.

Reception

Contemporary

Artwork variant, from Bomba Records edition

Freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle reviewed Demons Dance Alone in September 2002,[5] rating it 7/10 and summarizing it as "a Residents Broadway musical on the subjects of loss, denial and emotional pain", praising the "undeniably emotional and instantly catchy" melodies of some songs, while comparing others to the "self-pity" of the work of Leonard Cohen.[6]

Long-time private music journalist "Grandpa Gio" noted that the album "has the core musicality – the sonic fingerprints – of the group, but forgoes their usual topcoat of broad experimentation", concluding that "Demons Dance Alone is an album that is outside anything The Residents have ever done, but fits squarely within the experience of every person who has ever dealt with extreme loss."[7]

Retrospective

Demons Dance Alone has maintained a warm reception among fans in the years since its release, and has been noted as a "seminal" album among the latter day Residents catalog. As of June 2024, Demons Dance Alone has an average user rating of 4.5/5 at AllMusic,[8] 4.39/5 at Discogs, and 3.68/5 at RateYourMusic.[9]

Reviewing the "strangely programmatic" album for AllMusic, Rick Anderson praised its "subdued ambience" and "intimations of mortality", singling out "The Weatherman" for its "naked emotion".[8] In his 2016 book Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Ian Shirley describes Demons Dance Alone as "a tremendously important Residents record... the waypoint, the transition towards a new sensibility and richness of musical and lyrical expression".[1]

Legacy

Live tour

As part of their "30th Anniversary Project", The Residents planned an extensive and "dynamic" live tour to support the release of Demons Dance Alone.[10] The show, which toured America and Europe from October 2002 to September 2003, featured mostly material from the album, with a brief suite of songs from the 1980s.

The line-up of additional musicians was nearly identical to those featured on the Wormwood and Icky Flix tours, with one major change: the group's lead composer was temporarily replaced with Eric Drew Feldman, who had previously worked with Captain Beefheart and Snakefinger. Also introduced on this tour was trumpet player Desmond Shea.

Recordings from the Demons Dance Alone tour were released on the Demons Dance Alone live DVD in 2003, and the live album/DVD Demonic! Demons Dance Alone Live In Oslo in 2012.

Later reworkings

Live versions

Other than the Bunny Boy tour in 2008 and In Between Dreams from 2017 to 2019, The Residents have consistently featured material from Demons Dance Alone in their live shows.

The 2005 Way We Were mini-tour featured a medley of "Mr. Wonderful" and "Betty's Body", the Talking Light tour featured the album's title track until halfway through the final leg, as well as "Sleepwalker" from the two disc special edition of the album, The Wonder of Weird featured "Honey Bear", and finally, Shadowland featured "Betty's Body", "Caring" and "Mickey Macaroni".

Studio versions

"Betty's Body" and "Sleepwalker" were both re-recorded in 2004 for the 12 Days of Brumalia Internet download event, featuring the same line-up as the Demons Dance Alone tour. An instrumental version of "Make Me Moo" was included in the Bunny Boy tour intermission music in 2008, and in 2011, "Sleepwalker" was again reworked for the album Lonely Teenager.

In 2013, a remixed version of "The Weatherman" was released as a digital single. In 2016, a new version of "Betty's Body" by Charles Bobuck was featured on the 2016 album Bobuck Plays The Residents. The song "Still Needy?" from The Residents' 2018 album Intruders is a variation on the song "Neediness".

On the official cover album I Am A Resident!, the suites "Hanging By His Habit" and "Freaky Wake" both feature excerpts of Demons Dance Alone songs. The bonus disc of the CD edition (titled "And So Are We...") features a version of "The Weatherman" by Danny Spiteri and Jason Hallyburton. Another version of "The Weatherman" by (the) baby born massacre featured on the vinyl edition of the album.

Track listing

All tracks composed by The Residents unless otherwise noted.

Standard edition (2002)

  1. I. Tongue (1:10)
  2. Mr Wonderful (3:47)
  3. The Weatherman (3:03)
  4. Ghost Child (2:53)
  5. Caring (3:47)
  6. Honey Bear (4:11)
  7. The Car Thief (3:56)
  8. Neediness (4:08)
  9. Untitled (0:25)
  10. Untitled (0:44)
  11. Untitled (0:06)
  12. Thundering Skies (2:51)
  13. Mickey Macaroni (2:41)
  14. Betty's Body (3:28)
  15. My Brother Paul (3:04)
  16. Untitled (0:17)
  17. Baja (2:29)
  18. Untitled (0:26)
  19. Untitled (0:31)
  20. Untitled (0:04)
  21. The Beekeeper's Daughter (2:50)
  22. Untitled (0:08)
  23. Wolverines (2:45)
  24. Untitled (0:04)
  25. Make Me Moo (2:51)
  26. Untitled (0:34)
  27. Untitled (1:02)
  28. II. Demons Dance Alone (3:43)

Special edition (2002)

Disc One

  1. I. Tongue (1:11)
  2. Mr Wonderful (3:50)
  3. The Weatherman (3:06)
  4. Ghost Child (2:56)
  5. Caring (3:49)
  6. Honey Bear (4:14)
  7. The Car Thief (3:58)
  8. Neediness (4:08)
  9. Untitled (0:25)
  10. Untitled (0:44)
  11. Untitled (0:06)
  12. Thundering Skies (2:54)
  13. Mickey Macaroni (2:44)
  14. Betty's Body (3:31)
  15. My Brother Paul (3:07)
  16. Untitled (0:18)
  17. Baja (2:28)
  18. Untitled (0:26)
  19. Untitled (0:32)
  20. Untitled (0:04)
  21. The Beekeeper's Daughter (2:53)
  22. Untitled (0:09)
  23. Wolverines (2:58)
  24. Untitled (0:04)
  25. Make Me Moo (2:41)
  26. Untitled (0:35)
  27. Untitled (1:03)
  28. II. Demons Dance Alone (3:42)

Disc Two

  1. Sleepwalker (2:55)
  2. Hidden Hand (Instrumental) (1:44)
  3. Black Cats (1:20)
  4. Weatherman (2:02)
  5. Make Me Moo (2:15)
  6. The Car Thief (1:34)
  7. My Brother Paul (1:26)
  8. Caring (1:11)
  9. Honey Bear (1:41)
  10. Wolverines (1:35)
  11. Mickey Macaroni (2:05)
  12. Demons Dance Alone (1:10)
  13. Happy Thanksgiving (2:24)
  14. Hidden Hand (Vocal) (2:25)
  15. Vampire (3:09)
  16. Tortured (3:10)

MVD Audio reissue (2016)

  1. Tongue 1 (1:14)
  2. Mr Wonderful (3:52)
  3. The Weatherman (3:09)
  4. Ghost Child (2:59)
  5. Caring (3:54)
  6. Honey Bear (4:17)
  7. The Car Thief (4:02)
  8. Neediness (4:30)
  9. Tongue 2 (0:42)
  10. Thundering Skies (3:01)
  11. Mickey Macaroni (2:43)
  12. Betty's Body (3:33)
  13. My Brother Paul (3:09)
  14. Baja (3:14)
  15. Tongue 3 (0:42)
  16. The Beekeeper's Daughter (3:01)
  17. Wolverines (3:11)
  18. Make Me Moo (3:29)
  19. Tongue 4 (1:06)
  20. Demons Dance Alone (3:43)

pREServed CD edition (2024)

(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.

Disc One - Demons Dance Alone + bonus tracks

  1. Tongue I
  2. Mr Wonderful
  3. The Weatherman
  4. Ghost Child
  5. Caring
  6. Honey Bear
  7. The Car Thief
  8. Neediness
  9. Tongue II
  10. Thundering Skies
  11. Mickey Macaroni
  12. Betty's Body
  13. My Brother Paul
  14. Baja
  15. Tongue III
  16. The Beekeeper's Daughter
  17. Wolverines
  18. Make Me Moo
  19. Tongue IV
  20. Demons Dance Alone
  21. Sleepwalker
  22. Hidden Hand
  23. Vampire
  24. Tortured
  25. The Golden Goat

Disc Two - Demos Dance Alone

  1. DRIve (Honey) (*)
  2. KLEnex (*)
  3. COLlera (*)
  4. JASmine (Paul) (*)
  5. A Miracle (Betty) (*)
  6. Tortured ENK84 (*)
  7. Mr Wonderful (Demo) (*)
  8. Ghost Child (Demo) (*)
  9. Caring (Demo) (*)
  10. Honey Bear (Demo) (*)
  11. The Car Thief (Demo) (*)
  12. Neediness (Demo) (*)
  13. Mickey Macaroni (Demo) (*)
  14. Betty's Body (Demo) (*)
  15. The Beekeeper's Daughter (Demo) (*)
  16. Wolverines (Demo) (*)
  17. Demons Dance Alone (Demo) (*)
  18. Sleepwalker (Demo) (*)
  19. Love Song Of A Vampire (Demo) (*)
  20. Tortured In The Orchard (Demo) (*)
  21. The Golden Goat (Remix)
  22. Vampire (Alternate) (*)
  23. The Weatherman (Radio Thoreau)
  24. Wolverines (Radio Thoreau)

Disc Three - Demons Dance Alive

  1. Pickle
  2. Betty's Body (Demons Live)
  3. Caring (Demons Live)
  4. My Brother Paul (Demons Live)
  5. The Car Thief (Demons Live)
  6. Honey Bear (Demons Live)
  7. Neediness (Demons Live)
  8. Wonderful Betty (WWW Rehearsal) (*)
  9. Demons Dance Alone (Talking Light Rehearsal)
  10. Honey Bear (Talking Light WIP) (*)
  11. Sleepwalker (Teenager)
  12. My Brother Paul (WOW Studio)
  13. Honey Bear (WOW London) (*)
  14. Betty's Body (Shadowland Studio) (*)
  15. Caring (Shadowland Studio) (*)
  16. Make Me Moo (Shadow Sketch) (*)
  17. Mickey Macaroni (Shadowland)

Vinyl edition (2024)

Disc One

Side A
  1. Tongue I
  2. Mr Wonderful
  3. The Weatherman
  4. Ghost Child
  5. Caring
  6. Honey Bear
Side B
  1. The Car Thief
  2. Neediness
  3. Tongue II
  4. Thundering Skies
  5. Mickey Macaroni
  6. Betty's Body
  7. My Brother Paul

Disc Two

Side C
  1. Baja
  2. Tongue III
  3. The Beekeeper's Daughter
  4. Wolverines
  5. Make Me Moo
  6. Tongue IV
  7. Demons Dance Alone
Side D (Bonus Demons)
  1. Sleepwalker
  2. Hidden Hand
  3. Vampire
  4. Tortured

Liner notes

Standard edition (2002)

An ancient saga tells us how
In the beginning the First Cow
(For nothing living yet had birth
But Elemental Cow on earth)
Began to lick cold stones and mud:
Under her warm tongue flesh and blood
Blossomed, a miracle to believe:
And so was Adam born, and Eve.
Here now is chaos once again,
Primeval mud, cold stones and rain.
Here flesh decays and blood drips red,
And the Cow's dead, the old Cow's dead.
Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Credits

Original release (2002)

Performed by

Release history

Year Label Format Region
2002 Ralph America 2xCD US, EU
Euro Ralph 2xCD EU
East Side Digital CD US
2005 Euro Ralph CD RU
2016 MVD Audio CD US
2024 Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio, New Ralph Too 3xCD UK, EU, US
2xLP UK, EU, US

See also

Buy Or Die!

Listen online

Notes

  1. ↑ The version of the Plutarch quote which appears in the album's liner notes substitutes the name "Bob" for "Demaratus".

Resources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Cherry Red Books, 2016
  2. ↑ "Fifty Years Of Weird & Wacky Wonderfulness", Musique Machine, March 23rd 2022
  3. ↑ Demons Dance Alone Pre-Release Listening Parties at Smelly Tongues (archived via archive.org)
  4. ↑ "A Demons Dance Alone Special Edition is due out in mid-June. The commercial version will be hitting stores in September, as will a vinyl version from EuroRalph." tzoq, "Newz to Uze", RZWeb, ca. May 2002 (archived via archive.org)
  5. ↑ Mark Prindle, "What's new on the Prindle site", Mark's Record Reviews, September 28th 2002 (archived via archive.org)
  6. ↑ Mark Prindle, "Demons Dance Alone", Mark's Record Reviews, September 28th 2002
  7. ↑ Grandpa Gio, "Caught Between Confusion And The Need To Know We Are Alive (Demons Dance Alone)", Grandpa Gio and The Residents, August 13th 2002
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Demons Dance Alone at AllMusic
  9. ↑ Demons Dance Alone at RateYourMusic
  10. ↑ Big Brother, "Favorite Top Ten", The Last Word, February 1st 2009
The Residents studio albums

Ralph Records (1972 - 1987)
Meet The Residents (1974) · The Third Reich 'n Roll (1976) · Fingerprince (1977) · Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978)
Not Available (1978) · Eskimo (1979) · Commercial Album (1980) · Mark of the Mole (1981)
The Tunes of Two Cities (1982) · George & James (1984) · The Big Bubble (1985) · Stars & Hank Forever! (1986)

Ryko and Enigma (1988 - 1989)
God In Three Persons (1988) · The King & Eye (1989)

East Side Digital (1990 - 2002)
Freak Show (1990) · Our Finest Flowers (1992) · Gingerbread Man (1994) · Have A Bad Day (1996)
Wormwood (1998) · Demons Dance Alone (2002)

Mute Records (2004 - 2007)
Animal Lover (2005) · Tweedles! (2006) · The Voice of Midnight (2007)

MVD Audio (2008 - 2015)
The Bunny Boy (2008) · Lonely Teenager (2011) · Mush-Room (2013)

MVD Audio and Cherry Red (2016 - present)
The Ghost of Hope (2017) · Intruders (2018) · Metal, Meat & Bone (2020)

Fan club / off-label albums
Buckaroo Blues (1989) · The 12 Days of Brumalia (2004) · Night of the Hunters (2007)
Hades (2009) · Dollar General (2010) · Night Train To Nowhere! (2012)

Soundtrack albums
Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? (1984) · The Census Taker (1985) · Hunters (1995) · Icky Flix (2001)
I Murdered Mommy! (2004) · Postcards From Patmos (2008) · Strange Culture/Haeckel's Tale (2010)
Chuck's Ghost Music (2011) · Theory of Obscurity Soundtrack (2014) · Sculpt (2016) · Music to Eat Bricks By (2019) · Triple Trouble (2022)

Collaborative albums
Title In Limbo with Renaldo & The Loaf (1983) · I Am A Resident! with You? (2018)

Live in the studio
Assorted Secrets (1984) · Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions (2000) · Talking Light Live In Rehearsal, Santa Cruz, California (2010)
Mole Dance 82 (2021) · Duck Stab! Alive! (2021)

Related articles
The Residents discography (W.E.I.R.D., 1979) · Ralph Records discography

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