Best of Ralph is a double-LP sampler album released by Ralph Records in 1982. The Residents are featured on 12 of the album's 27 tracks: 8 of them as performers, and 4 as co-producers (for Snakefinger.)
Background[]
Best of Ralph is a sampler record made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Ralph Records. It contains some of Ralph's greatest hits produced in their first ten years of existance, although only featuring material from their last eight years up to that point.
Each of the LPs' tracklists were picked by two different polls. The first one was answered by their mail order costumers, who selected different singles released by Ralph between 1976 and 1981. The second record features tracks chosen after an internal poll answered by various Ralph Records employees.
While the name and concept of the compilation implies that it would feature only previously released material, the track "Halloween" by MX-80 Sound made it's first appearance in Best of Ralph, and the band would not include it in any of their records until the 2016 re-release of their 1981 album, Crowd Control. (Which was originally released by Ralph)
Another exclusive is the edit of "Swastikas on Parade", that consists of the "Little Girl" segment of the suite. This is the only shortened version of the track ever released (Outside of concentrate edits of The Third Reich N' Roll, and the edit made for the album's music video). The three minute long edit of Festival of Death was also exclusive to this release, but was later featured on the Heaven? CD.
Track Listing[]
Ralph Advertisement promoting the sampler.
Disc One[]
Side A
- Snakefinger - The Model (Schult/Bartos/Hutter) (3:36)
- The Residents - Santa Dog '78 (Residents) (1:49)
- Fred Frith - Dancing In The Street (Gaye/Stevenson) (3:19)
- The Residents - Hello Skinny (Residents) (2:38)
- Tuxedomoon - What Use? (Reininger/Dachert/Brown) (3:55)
- The Residents - Satisfaction (Jagger/Richards)(3:59)
Side B
- The Residents - Constantinople (Residents) (2:20)
- Snakefinger - The Man in the Dark Sedan (Snakefinger/Residents) (2:59)
- Tuxedomoon - Jinx (Reininger/Principle/Brown/Tong) (3:08)
- Yello - Bimbo (Blank/Meier) (3:33)
- Tuxedomoon - Incubus (Blue Suit) (Reininger/Principle/Brown) (3:45)
- Snakefinger - The Spot (Snakefinger/Residents) (2:54)
Disc Two[]
Side C
- Yello - Homer Hossa (Blank/Meier) (3:35)
- Fred Frith - A Spit in the Ocean (Frith) (1:40)
- The Residents - Sinister Exaggerator (Residents/Snakefinger)(3:25)
- Snakefinger - Magic and Ecstasy (Morricone) (2:50)
- Art Bears - Rats and Monkeys (Cutler/Frith) (3:04)
- MX-80 Sound - Halloween (Carpenter) (3:18)
- Tuxedomoon - James Whale (Brown) (2:41)
Side D
- The Residents - Festival of Death (excerpt) (Residents)(3:25)
- Yello - Blue Green (Blank/Peron) (3:21)
- Renaldo & the Loaf - Bali Whine (Renaldo/Loaf) (2:04)
- Renaldo & the Loaf - Spratts Medium (Renaldo/Loaf) (1:14)
- The Residents - Swastikas On Parade (Excerpt) (1:24)
- The Residents - Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life (3:50)
- Tuxedomoon - Tritone (Musica Diablo) (Reininger/Dachert/Brown) (2:46)
- Fred Frith - Norrgarden Nyvla (Frith) (3:22)
Credits[]
- Cover: Pore Know Graphics
- Photography: Douglas Sandberg
- Typesetting: OOOCh Typography