Fingerprince
Fingerprince is the third (or fourth) album by The Residents, recorded between 1974 and 1976 and released on February 15th 1977 on Ralph Records. Its first half consists of a number of short and relatively accessible songs, with a six-part suite entitled "Six Things To A Cycle" on the album's second side.
Fingerprince was initially intended as a "three-sided" album titled Tourniquet of Roses. This idea was abandoned by the group, and it was released as a regular two-sided LP, with the additional songs released separately in 1979 as the limited edition EP Babyfingers.
The Babyfingers tracks have since been restored to the album on its CD reissues, and the EP was included alongside the album in an extremely limited edition Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box in 2020.
History
Background
Between 1974 and 1976, The Residents were working on three major projects; their unfinished feature film Vileness Fats, a mash-up pastiche of bubblegum pop, The Third Reich 'n Roll, and Not Available. Occasionally, the group took breaks from these projects, where they wrote and recorded music with no larger concept in mind.
Following the completion (and shelving) of Not Available, the release of The Third Reich 'n Roll, and the abandonment of Vileness Fats, The Residents began working on their next major project in April 1976; an ambient "musical documentary" album portraying the music of an imaginary Inuit culture.
Seemingly knowing that this project would take several years to complete, the group also took time over the ensuing months to compile a new album for imminent release, using their earlier stand-alone tracks as a starting point.
The Residents had wanted their friend, British guitarist Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman to appear on The Third Reich 'n Roll, but he could not contribute as he was living in Britain and touring with his band Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers. By 1975 Chilli Willi had disbanded, and Snakefinger returned to America in 1976, appearing on The Residents' single "Satisfaction", and at the group's Oh Mummy! live performance in June of that year, dressed as a giant artichoke.
Tourniquet of Roses
The Residents are said to have intended that the album, with the working title Tourniquet of Roses, would be the world's first "three-sided album" LP.
The group apparently suggested several ways to realize this seemingly impossible concept, such as releasing the album on two discs with one side left blank, as a single disc with two separate grooves on one side, each containing a separate programme of music (an idea pioneered in 1973 by British comedy troupe Monty Python with their album Matching Tie and Handkerchief), or - perhaps most unlikely of all - a triangular disc.
The Residents abandoned this idea in December 1976 due to its impracticality and expense, instead removing the intended "third side" from the album's running order, and renaming the resulting, two-sided album Fingerprince. The excised third side was withheld from release for the time being, with The Cryptic Corporation planning to include it as a bonus 7" EP in a planned (but ultimately unrealized) Tourniquet of Roses Collectors' Box later in the decade.
Contents
The first side of Fingerprince contains a sequence of short and relatively accessible songs, some of which originated from a demo reel The Residents recorded in 1974, X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion). It is said that many of the pieces of music on that reel (which is known to have included versions of "Bossy", "Tourniquet of Roses" and "March de la Winni") were originally intended for the soundtrack to the group's abandoned feature film Vileness Fats.
Other pieces of music featured on the first side of Fingerprince (including "Boo Who?" and "You Yesyesyes Again") originate from a 14 minute suite entitled "Leapmus" which had been recorded by the group's primary composer and arranger Hardy Fox in February 1976 as a gift for his then-wife Nessie Lessons. Snakefinger makes his first contributions to a Residents studio album proper on Fingerprince, providing guitar on "You Yesyesyes" and "Tourniquet of Roses", and vocals on "Home Age Conversation".
The album's second side consists entirely of "Six Things To A Cycle", a shortened version of a much longer, mostly instrumental six-part suite which had originally been conceived by the group as a ballet performance piece, but which was ultimately not produced. Portions of the piece were debuted at The Residents' live show, Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy!, in Berkeley, California in June 1976.
The ballet tells the story of "a primitive humanoid" who is "consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly". It features vocals from the group's friend and then-frequent collaborator Pamela Zeibak, as well as contributions from Adrian Deckbar on violin and Don Jackovich and Tony Logan on percussion.
Release
Fingerprince was released by Ralph Records on February 15th 1977, in a thick cardboard sleeve with sepia-toned grayscale cover art. The first pressing of one thousand copies had been pressed in December 1976.
A second pressing followed later in the year, with slightly de-saturated cover art and a new label design. Some copies of these first two pressings also included an application form for the Ralph "Weirdo" mailing list.
Cancelled collectors' box edition
After the release of Fingerprince, The Residents' in-house graphic designer Homer Flynn of Porno Graphics conceived of a series of collectors' box sets of Residents albums, which was to include a Tourniquet of Roses box, including the Fingerprince album and a separate 7" EP of the album's intended "third side", now titled Babyfingers, thus approximating the original concept.
The collectors' box series was abandoned in the early 1980s after Flynn went to the emergency room after suffering light-headedness brought on by a tight rubber band he was wearing around his forehead while spraying The Third Reich 'n Roll collectors' boxes with black car enamel.
The Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box was briefly revisited again in 2013, but abandoned as the group could not find a vinyl pressing plant who were interested in producing such a set in a low number of copies.
In 1979, the 7" copies of the Babyfingers EP which had been intended for the cancelled Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box were sent as gifts to purchasers of the delayed Third Reich 'n Roll collectors' box. The Babyfingers EP was then reissued in 1981 in an edition of 1500 copies, which were sold exclusively to members of the group's W.E.I.R.D. fan club. A third reissue of the EP in 1985 was pressed on pink vinyl in an edition of 250 copies.
Babyfingers is structured similarly to Fingerprince, in that both include one side of short, self-contained pieces, with a longer suite on the second. "Walter Westinghouse" on the EP is a mini-opera with characters and dialogue, complementing the mostly instrumental ballet "Six Things To A Cycle" which closes the album.
Reissues
The album's third pressing, issued in 1979, featured newly re-designed cover art, with a four color (black, green, blue and lilac) silkscreen print of the original front cover graphic; this variant of the cover art would become the standard for almost all reissues of the album over the next twenty years.
For the album's first CD release in 1987 on East Side Digital and Torso, the original Tourniquet of Roses track listing was restored, including all of the songs from Babyfingers in their originally-intended running order (minus the short instrumental piece "Monstrous Intro").
The 1995 Euro Ralph CD reissue of Fingerprince maintained the album's original track order, with Babyfingers included on a separate 3" mini-CD.
Fingerprince pREServed
CD edition (2018)
Fingerprince was the third album to be released in The Residents' pREServed series of newly remastered and expanded album reissues. It was released in a two CD edition on March 23rd 2018 through Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too, alongside the pREServed Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen.
The two CD edition of Fingerprince features the original sepia-toned cover art, and includes Fingerprince in its original track sequence (with the longer version of "Six Things To A Cycle"), followed by the Babyfingers EP. This replicates one possible running order of Tourniquet of Roses, the originally intended three-sided version of the album, though it differs from the sequence presented on most previous CD reissues of the album.
The second disc features bonus ephemera such as the previously unheard 14 minute suite "Leapmus", featuring a number of musical themes which would ultimately be included on Fingerprince, as well as instrumental outtakes from the sessions, 1982 live rehearsals of "Godsong" and "Walter Westinghouse", and live versions of album tracks dating from 1986 to 2014.
Vinyl edition (2023)
In December 2022, Fingerprince was announced as the third instalment in Cherry Red/MVD's vinyl pREServed reissue series; the two LP edition of Fingerprince contains the original album on the first disc (minus Babyfingers), with a second disc containing the previously heard "Tourniquet of Roses RDX" suite (featuring a selection of alternative "redux" mixes created by The Residents from the original multi-track masters), and the 15 minute suite "Leapmus", previously released on the CD edition.
The expanded Fingerprince vinyl edition was released March 17th 2023. Early copies pre-ordered from Cherry Red's official website also included a bonus white label 7" EP containing Babyfingers (which was confusingly mislabeled "Monstrous" in early press releases); the 7" EP was also available separately in limited numbers via The Residents' official online store.
Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box (2020)
On December 17th 2020, a newly-created collectors' box of Tourniquet of Roses was announced by noted fan and collector Jannis Tsakalis. The collectors' box was pressed in an issue of 15 copies only, and sold out within a day of being announced. Fourteen copies were available for sale, with one copy being sent to The Cryptic Corporation's archives. The box contains Fingerprince on transparent yellow vinyl, with the Babyfingers EP on an additional single sided 12" picture disc, and comes with two hand-puppets, a silk-screened t-shirt, and a Cryptic Corporation certificate of authenticity.
A second run of fifteen numbered copies of the Tourniquet collectors' box was announced on February 20th 2021, to be released in March. Alongside the boxes, Tsakalis also announced the separate release of the Fingerprince colored vinyl and Babyfingers picture disc, as well as Tourniquet of Roses hand-puppets, shirts and mugs.
"Classic Series" collectors' vinyl edition (2023)
Fingerprince was released as the third instalment in Psychofon Records' "Classic Series" of collectors' vinyl reissues at the end of March 2023, in an edition of 200 hand-numbered copies on a special three-color (neon pink, violet and "ultra clear") 180g vinyl pressing, with "glossy foldout cover plus gimmick".
Aside from the album, the package also contains a black envelope containing three postcards, a black CD-sized envelope containing a photo, and reproductions of the labels from the original pressing of the album, all housed inside a pink "Classic Series" branded tote bag.
Reception
Contemporary
Fingerprince was the first Residents album to receive attention from the mainstream music press, and as such, was largely reviewed alongside the group's first two LPs in pieces praising their originality. The New York based Trouser Press published the first of these in June of 1977, describing The Residents as "an amazing phenomenon", and Fingerprince as "more ambitious and aggressively weird" than their first two albums, calling it "Steely Dan and Frank Zappa on strong acid".
Word of The Residents' music soon reached international shores, and on July 1st 1977, Rock Music Australia published an article on The Residents. Although not a traditional review, the Australian magazine hyped the group as "the real thing", even suggesting that The Residents were in fact John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Jon Savage published an incredibly positive review of The Residents in the British publication Sounds on December 31st 1977, referring to Fingerprince specifically as "slightly more accessible" than Meet The Residents or The Third Reich 'n Roll, and repeated the earlier comparison to Steely Dan and Zappa. This review was greatly appreciated by The Cryptic Corporation, and is generally seen as a defining moment in The Residents' career.
California-based newspaper Pacific Sun published their own retrospective review of The Residents on January 6th 1978, which described Fingerprince as "a masterpiece". A few weeks later The Village Voice published another Residents retrospective, which (conversely to Savage) described Fingerprince as less "easy to get into" than The Third Reich 'n Roll, stating that its vocals were "unintelligible" and that it was difficult to be either "entertained or irritated by it".
Track listing
All tracks composed by The Residents.
Fingerprince (original release, 1977)
Side A (19:23)
- You Yesyesyes (3:00)
- Home Age Conversation (2:03)
- Godsong (3:41)
- March de la Winni (0:58)
- Bossy (1:00)
- Boo Who? (2:48)
- Tourniquet of Roses (3:15)
- You Yesyesyes Again (2:38)
Side B (17:44)
- Six Things To A Cycle (17:44) [Note 1]
Tourniquet of Roses (CD reissues 1987, 1997, 2012)
- You Yesyesyes (3:02)
- Home Age Conversation (2:05)
- Godsong (3:45)
- March de la Winni (0:59)
- Bossy (1:04)
- Boo Who? (2:49)
- Tourniquet of Roses (3:21)
- Death in Barstow (2:04)
- Melon Collie Lassie (2:54)
- Flight of the Bumble Roach (2:15)
- Walter Westinghouse (8:03)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 1 (2:47)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 2 (1:38)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 3 (2:26)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 4 (3:49)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 5 (4:50)
- Six Things To A Cycle: Part 6 (2:17)
- You Yesyesyes Again (2:37)
Tourniquet of Roses (Euro Ralph CD and collectors' box, 1995, 2020)
Disc 1 (Fingerprince)
- You Yesyesyes (2:59)
- Home Age Conversation (2:05)
- Godsong (3:42)
- March de la Winni (0:59)
- Bossy (1:02)
- Boo Who? (2:51)
- Tourniquet of Roses (3:16)
- You Yesyesyes Again (2:46)
- Six Things To A Cycle (17:44)
Disc 2 (Babyfingers)
- Monstrous Intro (0:41)
- Death In Barstow (2:04)
- Melon Collie Lassie (2:54)
- Flight of the Bumble Roach (2:15)
- Walter Westinghouse (8:03)
pREServed CD edition (2018)
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1
Fingerprince (remastered from the original tapes) + Side Three (aka Babyfingers)
- You Yesyesyes (2:59)
- Home Age Conversation (2:05)
- Godsong (3:42)
- March de la Winni (0:59)
- Bossy (1:02)
- Boo Who? (2:51)
- Tourniquet of Roses (3:16)
- You Yesyesyes Again (2:46)
- Six Things To A Cycle (17:44)
- Monstrous Intro (0:41)
- Death In Barstow (2:03)
- Melon Collie Lassie (2:52)
- Flight of the Bumble Roach (2:14)
- Walter Westinghouse (8:05)
Disc 2
Finger Ephemera
- Leapmus (February, 1976) (*) (14:36)
- Entrance to Crypt (*) (1:10)
- Clumsy Climb (*) (1:55)
- Piano Dittie (*) (1:21)
- You Yesyesyes ('Oh Mummy' Mix) (*) (1:53)
- Whoopy Snorp (3:44)
- God Song (1982 Rehearsal) (*) (1:33)
- Walter Westinghouse (1982 Rehearsal) (*) (6:45)
- God Song (Studio Rehearsal) (*) (1:32)
- Tourniquet of Roses (Tromso, Inconvenienced, 1986) (*) (2:44)
- Walter Westinghouse (Live 1997) (6:24)
- Once I Went To Barstow (Live 2011) (4:47)
- Melon Collie Lassie (Live 2014) (3:33)
- Fingerprince Concentrate (7:52)
pREServed vinyl edition (2023)
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
Disc 1 - Fingerprince
Side A
- You Yesyesyes (2:59)
- Home Age Conversation (2:05)
- Godsong (3:42)
- March de la Winni (0:59)
- Bossy (1:02)
- Boo Who? (2:51)
- Tourniquet of Roses (3:16)
- You Yesyesyes Again (2:46)
Side B
- Six Things To A Cycle (17:44)
Disc 2
Side C
- Tourniquet of Roses RDX (22:35) (*)
- Walter Wesitinghouse (1:07)
- Home Aged Conversations (2:33)
- Boo Who (2:49)
- March de la Winni (2:00)
- GodSong (3:14)
- You YesYesYes (1:59)
- Six Things To A Cycle (6:18)
- Tourniquet of Roses (2:31)
Side D
- Leapmus (February, 1976) (14:36)
Credits
- The Residents: Vocals, guitars, horns, synthesizers, keyboards and percussion
- Snakefinger: Vocals on "Home Age Conversation" and guitars on "You Yesyesyes" and "Tourniquet Of Roses"
- D. Jackovich: Percussion on "Six Things To A Cycle"
- A. Dekbar: Violin on "Six Things To A Cycle"
- T. Logan: Percussion on "Six Things To A Cycle"
- Zeibak: Vocals on "Six Things To A Cycle"
- Composed, arranged and engineered by: The Residents
- Cover design and layout by: The Residents & Pore No Graphics
- Liner photography: Richard McCaffree
- Liner Notes: The Cryptic Corporation
Additional Credits (From 1987 CD pressing)
- Producer: The Cryptic Corporation
Release history
| Year | Label | Format | Region | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Ralph Records | LP | US | |
| 1979 | New color cover art | |||
| 1987 | East Side Digital | CD | Babyfingers tracks inserted before "Six Things To A Cycle" | |
| Torso | NL | |||
| 1988 | LP | |||
| Ralph Records | US | |||
| 1994 | Euro Ralph | CD | EU | |
| 1995 | Babyfingers included on bonus 3" mini-CD | |||
| 1997 | East Side Digital | US | Babyfingers tracks inserted before "Six Things To A Cycle" | |
| Bomba Records | JPN | |||
| 2010 | Birdsong & Hayabusa Landings | |||
| 2012 | MVD Audio | CD | US | |
| LP | ||||
| 2018 | New Ralph Too & Cherry Red | 2xCD | UK, EU & US | pREServed CD edition; Babyfingers inserted after "Six Things To A Cycle" |
| 2020 | Jannis Tsalakis & The Cryptic Corporation | LP | EU | Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box, limited edition of 15 copies; Babyfingers included on separate 12" picture disc |
| 2023 | New Ralph Too & Cherry Red | 2xLP | UK, EU & US | pREServed vinyl edition; Babyfingers included on a separate 7" white label EP with some copies |
| Psychofon Records | LP | EU | "Classic Series" vinyl collectors' edition of 200 copies; three-color vinyl with fold-out cover and bonus "gimmick" |
Liner notes
Original release (1977)
While The Residents were working on their concept album, The Third Reich 'N Roll, a large amount of original material was written as an outgrowth of the unreleased second album. At last some of these songs are recorded, showing the strength of The Residents as composers for the first time in four years.
Side One gives us eight samples of The Residents working in shorter, complete song structures, as opposed to their better known 'train of consciousness' format, which is retained on the second side.
Side Two is interesting in the fact that it is written as a ballet. The plot concerns how man, represented as a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a newer creature, still primitive, but destined to rule the world just as poorly.
The basic unit of the musical construction was written in 1972 and used as a rhythmic element in the performance of Number One, an early conceptual piece for improvisational orchestra. The Residents decided to expand the idea into a ballet when the opportunity arose to do a performance at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. Although the performance was never given, The Residents completed this shorter version of that score, which they described as 'progressive bunny hop'.
Fingerprince gives us the most complete and persona insight into The Residents that has yet been offered to the public; an insight into the music and ideas of the present for a world living in the past.
Classic Series CD reissue (1987)
Recorded in 1976, Fingerprince is The Residents' fourth album. However, when it was being recorded it was not called Fingerprince. In 1976 it was called Tourniquet of Roses and was so long that it would have consumed three LP sides. The record company, Ralph Records, insisted that the record be cut back to the standard length of two sides, which was renamed Fingerprince. The remaining side was eventually released in limited numbers as Babyfingers.
The two pieces to note here are "Walter Westinghouse" and "Six Things to a Cycle", which is a ballet. The plot outline as provided by The Residents reads: "Man, represented as a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly". "Walter Westinghouse", on the other hand, is noteworthy as a kind of mini-opera with characters and dialogue interaction, a trend which points towards much of The Residents' later work.
Thanks to the convenient length of Compact Discs, we are happy to finally present the original Tourniquet of Roses as it was conceived. True, the title Fingerprince is still on the cover in attempt to prevent confusion, but this is the real thing, folks. Dig it.
See also
- Fingerprince (Tourniquet of Roses version) at MVDShop (US)
- Fingerprince pREServed CD edition at MVDShop (US)
- Fingerprince pREServed CD edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
- Fingerprince pREServed vinyl edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
Listen online
Notes
- ↑ The track times for the earliest vinyl pressings of the album incorrectly list "Six Things To A Cycle" as being 15:09 in length.
Resources
External links and references
- Fingerprinceat The Residents Historical
- Fingerprinceat RZWeb
- Fingerprinceat Discogs
- Fingerprinceat Hayabusa Landings
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Tourniquet of Roses Fingerprince / Babyfingers (1976-1979) Side A |
