Arkansas is a studio album by The Residents, comprising of outtakes from the group's 2008 Bunny Boy sessions. The album's name, like its lyrical themes, are taken from the plot of The Bunny Boy web-series.
Background[]
Recording[]
In late 2007, The Residents began working on a multimedia project about delusion and mental instability; The Bunny. Boy. This project culminated in a web show, an album, and a live tour, which brought the two pieces together. As was typical for the group, The Residents ended up with a handful of finished outtakes to be put into their vault for researchers to discover years later. Some of these outtakes were adapted for use in the Bunny Boy live show beforehand.
"Bunny" on stage, Autumn 2008
Release[]
About a year later, the outtakes were re-discovered by The Cryptic Corporation, who delivered them to the team at Ralph America for compilation purposes. Two songs, "Sad Saint John" and "My Brother's Skin," were included in the MVDaudio Residents sampler album Ten Little Piggies to promote the release. The album was the first release of the songs "Nobody Is Listening," "Memories For Sale," "Two Clown Paintings," "Save The World," and " Circe."
As a Ralph America release, Arkansas was only available to purchase online, and was not distributed to stores, likely ti avoid clashing with the widely distributed albums The UGHS or Ten Little Piggies, which were released shortly beforehand. Only 1000 copies of Arkansas were ever made, with 500 being hand numbered copies being made available upon its original release. The 500 remaining un-numbered copies were sold at performances of Talking Light, and later through Ralph America.
The 'Ozark' cover
Legacy[]
The alternative version of "The Black Behind" from Arkansas was later featured on the 2010 Beautiful Eyes compilation. That same year, "Save The World" was featured on the Morning Music compilation. In 2011, the full album, in a slightly re-arranged form, was included on the compilation album Ozark, which combined Arkansas with the 2010 Ozan EP, which collected tracks from the unrealised 2009 Bunny Boy sequel project.
Live versions of "Nobody Is Listening," "Two Clown Paintings" and "Save The World," recorded in 2008, were featured on the 2021 album Bunny Boy Live In Frankfurt; "Circe" was featured on Secret Records Compilation 2021 1/2, and "Two Clown Paintings" was featured on Secret Records: 15 Years Old! 2023 Sampler.
Track Listing[]
- Nobody Is Listening (Unfinished Outtake, included in The Bunny Boy Live) (1:46)
- The Bunny Boy (Early longer Version) (3:32)
- Sad Saint John (Outtake, released on Ten Little Piggies) (3:08)
- The Butcher Shop (Early Version) (3:19)
- Memories For Sale (Outtake) (3:42)
- Two Clown Paintings (Unfinished Outtake, included in The Bunny Boy Live) (1:53)
- The Black Behind (Early shorter Version) (3:46)
- My Brother's Skin (Outtake, released on Ten Little Piggies) (3:50)
- Save The World (Outtake, included in The Bunny Boy Live) (3:58)
- Circe (Outtake) (4:43)
Credits[]
- Performed By The Residents
- With Guests: C. Fabrizio & N. Cook
- Written By: The Residents
- Produced By: The Cryptic Corporation