Hunters: The World of Predators and Prey
Hunters: The World of Predators and Prey (released on DVD as Predators) is a nature documentary series directed by Wolfgang Bayer and broadcast on the Discovery Channel from December 1994 to March 1995. It featured an instrumental score by The Residents, which Milan Records released on CD the same year.
The Residents would revisit and rework the 1993-1994 recording sessions more than ten years later, resulting in the release of the limited edition two-disc album Night of the Hunters in 2007.
History
Steve Rosenthal and Robert Fish produced the series for the Discovery Channel and developed and filmed it throughout early 1994. The Discovery Channel broadcasted all eleven episodes between December 1994 and March 1995. The Residents' soundtrack was released that same year on Milan Records.
Home video release
Shortly after the conclusion of the series, an 11x VHS box set was released. Tapes of individual episodes were released on VHS between April 1998 and January 2000.[1][2]
On November 5th 2007, eight of the ten episodes of Hunters were released on DVD, in a box set titled Predators; the opening titles of the episodes on the DVDs retain the original title card reading Hunters. To date, the remaining two episodes have not been released in a digital format; no episodes of the series have been released on Blu-ray or to streaming.
Soundtrack album
Hunters (The World Of Predators And Prey) (AKA, Räuber Der Wildnis (Hunters)) is soundtrack to the documentary television series of the same name. It is also, The Residents' twenty-first studio album, as well as their first entirely instrumental release. The album was not as widely available as the groups' earlier releases had been, leading Hunters to fall into relative obscurity.
Writing and recording
In 1993 The Residents were working on their album Gingerbread Man when they were approached by Barry and Terry Clark, two Los Angeles television producers who were developing Hunters: The World of Predators and Prey for the Discovery Channel.[3]
With the series having been intended to feature no narration, the Clark brothers asked the group to provide around ten hours of music similar in tone to their 1979 "documentary" album Eskimo. The Residents were unsure of taking on such a monumental task, having never recorded such a large amount of soundtrack music before, but agreed and began work on the project after being offered a "whopping check".[3]
The group finished recording the soundtrack in December 1994, despite their interest in the series waning after receiving a number of rough cut episodes and seeing that the series now included "trite, cliched narration" and none of the violent documentary footage they had been told would feature heavily.
Release
Milan Records owned the album, so it was not released by The Residents' main record label at the time, East Side Digital. VOX Records released it in European territories, with the title translated as Räuber Der Wildnis (Predators in The Wilderness).
The album was been out of print for 26 years following its initial release, but was eventually reissued as part of the three-disc Gingerbread Man pREServed edition in May 2021. The set also included outtakes such as the previously unreleased "Fat Boy" demo tape and the 1993 EP Prelude to "The Teds".
Track listing
- Hunters Prelude (0:49)
- The Deadly Game (4:47)
- Tooth & Claw (5:12)
- The Dangerous Sea (4:49)
- Rulers of the Deep (5:06)
- Track of the Cat (5:16)
- The Giant Grizzlies (6:27)
- Dawn of the Dragons (5:50)
- Eye of the Serpent (6:49)
- The Crawling Kingdom (6:30)
- The Savage Pack (6:28)
- Hunters Reprise (1:02)
Liner notes
Original release (1995)
"Hunters is an extraordinary compilation of music from the 10-part nature documentary series to be broadcast in the United States on The Discovery Channel beginning in December, 1994 (and subsequently in many other territories throughout the world).
Through the lens of Wolfgang Bayer, one of the world-renowned masters of natural history cinematography, the Hunters television series explores the many worlds of creatures that kill, examining their varied lifestyles, their strategies for survival, and the vital role they play in the world's ecosystems.
The original soundtrack for Hunters was composed in its entirety by The Residents, perhaps the most celebrated avant-garde musical group in the world. During the past two decades, The Residents have built a devoted international following for their futuristic projects, and have released nearly twenty albums, while creating numerous performance pieces, conceptual musical works, and ground-breaking scores for MTV.
In addition to their musical exploits, The Residents have been pioneers in the fields of video (two of their works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art), and, most recently CD-ROM (their initial project, Freak Show has been acclaimed as the most innovative work of its kind).
The original soundtrack album for Hunters is The Residents' latest musical masterpiece." - Milan.
When The Residents were invited by the Discovery Channel to score a nature series, a great question mark hung over their collective heads. How does one approach composing for a ten-hour series, much less one about nature? The producers assured the group that there was going to be tons of blood and killing, which did ease the group's mind. The series, Hunters, was aired in 1995 to great response. The Residents scored the entire series in an unusual tuning that they devised.
Credits
- Music written, performed, & produced by: The Residents
- (C): Telenova Productions, Inc.
- Album Produced and Edited by: Steve Rosenthal at the Magic Shop, New York
- Digital Editing by: Oliver Straus
- Mastered by: Joe Brescio at The Master Cutting Room, New York
- Executive Album Producer: Robert Fish
- HUNTERS the television series is a production of: Telenova Productions, Inc.
- In association with: Discovery Communications, Inc.
- Executive Producers for Telenova: Barry Clark & Terry Tanner
- Executive Producers for The Discovery Channel: Steve Burns & Angus Yates
- Executive in Charge of Production: Clark Bunting
- Special thanks to: Robert N. Gold, Esq.
- Package Supervision: Chris Maguire
- Album Art Direction: Judy Kaganowich
- Milan Executive Producers: Emmanuel Chamboredon & Toby Pieniek
Release history
Milan released this album on CD & Cassette in the US & Europe. The European release was titled "Räuber Der Wildnis" which translates to "Predators Of The Wilderness"
| Year | Label | Format | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Milan | CD | USA |
| Cassette | |||
| VOX | CD | Europe | |
| 2021 | Cherry Red, MVD, New Ralph Too | US, Europe |
Legacy
Milan Records didn't promote the Hunters album much, aside from the airing of its documentary counterpart; this, as well as the album not being issued through The Residents' main label East Side Digital, meant that Hunters would long remain one of the more obscure entries in The Residents' vast catalog.
A four minute "concentrate" version of the soundtrack was created for the retrospective CD box set Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses in 1997. The 2000 compilation dot.com featured an extended edit of the soundtrack's central theme. In 2007, The Residents revisited the Hunters recording sessions, producing an alternate album titled Night of the Hunters, which was released as a limited edition two disc CD.
In December 2024, Cherry Red Records sent out a folder of mp3s titled Wood Snakes as a free gift to email newsletter subscribers; the eight tracks included are outtakes from the Hunters sessions. Two more free mini-albums featuring outtakes from the Hunters sessions, Seven Cats and I Know An Old Lady....., followed in 2025.
Bandcamp digital release series
Shortly after the release of the Wood Snakes mini-album in December 2024, fan Natan Wojtyła created a change.org petition in support of a digital release of the complete Hunters soundtrack recordings; the petition received 88 signatures.
In late 2025, it was announced that The Residents are planning to release a series of at least six digital-only compilations of music from the Hunters recording sessions via a planned Bandcamp page for obscure archival material; two of these releases, Hunters Vol. 4 - Insex and Hunters Vol. 6 - Sharks and the Sea, were previewed on the sampler mini-album Things to Come, Pt 2 in December 2025.
- Gingerbread Man pREServed edtiion at MVDshop (US)
- Gingerbread Man pREServed edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
See also
External links and references
- Hunters on The Residents Historical
- Hunters on RZWeb
- Hunters on IMDb
- Hunters on Discogs
- Predators DVD box set at Amazon
- ↑ Hunters: Eye of the Serpent VHS on Amazon
- ↑ Hunters: The Dangerous Sea VHS on Amazon
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jim Knipfel, "Everybody Feeds The Fat Boy: The Gingerbread Man Goes A-Hunting", Gingerbread Man pREServed edition liner notes, 2021
