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This article is about the 1997 video release. You may be looking for the series of live shows or 2016 compilation album of the same name. |
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Disfigured Night! is a short concert video by The Residents, featuring a performance of their live show Disfigured Night filmed in Germany in August 1997. It was released on VHS at the merchandise stand of the group's October 1997 Fillmore performances, and later through mail order.
The video was reissued on DVD in 2004; the audio of the performance was released in 2009 as a Robot Selling Device digital release titled 1997: The Missing Year - The Marlboro Eyeball Experience.
History[]
From 1995 to 1997, The Residents were in a creative rut. Their CD-ROM projects had all been cancelled due to lack of public interest in the format. These projects had taken up much of their creative time, and all they had on the table outside of that were some scattered musical sketches, making up an incomplete demo album. As the group were chipping away at this seemingly fruitless project, The Adobe Corporation commissioned The Residents to perform at their world headquarters in San Jose. The group accepted, and adapted the demo album into a live set of seemingly reworked versions of their classic hits.
Afterwards the group began to create a new performance piece based on more of the demo album, to be performed at The Fillmore on the week of Halloween, 1997. But before that, they were commissioned by Marlboro Cigarettes to perform at the PopKomm Music Festival in Köln, Germany. The group once again accepted and hired the assistance of two performers. The first was Molly Harvey, who had been working closely with the group for three years at that point, and a mysterious guest performer Pavers. On the technical side of things, the lineup closely resembled that which The Residents had been using since Cube-E; Chris McGregor was in charge of lighting & Tony Jansen was on sound. John Payson was brought on to direct the video.
The show, unlike the Adobe performance, would be entirely new material; and would be entirely one thirty minute suite. The suite was called Disfigured Night, and told the story of Silly Billy, and his pet monkey. The story of the show would not only be represented by the lyrics, but would also be represented by an animated video created by Steve Cerio, which was played behind the Residents on screen.
Release[]
Disfigured Night was released on October 27th 1997 only one month after the concert was filmed. It was sold at the merchandising stand of the Halloween Fillmore performances, then was likely sold through the Ralph America and Euro Ralph mail order afterwards. The performance of 'We Are The World' was later featured on the 2001 video compilation Icky Flix, and in 2004 the show was released in DVD. A digital soundtrack album was released in 2009.
Legacy[]
Being a live show in itself, material from Disfigured Night has not been performed live outside of its original context. However, for the 2001 Icky Flix project, the instrumental for We Are The World was used as the basis for a new song, titled 'Just For You'.
Credits[]
DVD[]
- Performed By: The Residents
- With Guests: Molly Harvey & Pavers
- Guest Artist: Steve Cerio
- Lighting Design: Chris McGregor
- Sound Design: Tony Janssen
- Music By: The Residents
- Stage & Broadcast Version Directed By: John Payson
Album[]
The Marlboro Eyeball Experience is the 2009 soundtrack album to the Disfigured Night short film, released as part of The Residents Missing Year series of downloads.
Track listing[]
- Marlboro (5:15)
- Marlboro 2 (3:27)
- Marlboro 3 (5:42)
- We Are The World (10:46)
Liner notes[]
Inhabiting a position that normally would have been occupied by a string quartet, The Residents performed for a small, but wealthy crowd in San Jose. As the unsuspecting patrons entered the event, the group was seen perched 30 feet above the entrance to the cavernous lobby of software giant Adobe's world headquarters. Needless to say, The Residents hour long set was not quite what the rich nerds expected. Making sure no one missed it, the group performed the set, made up of a mix of prerecorded and live elements - some planned and some spontaneous - four times, and quickly left town.
Also volunteering at the fund raiser was the house manager for the Fillmore in San Francisco. After seeing The Residents' performance, the promoter was so excited, he immediately invited the group to perform five shows at The Fillmore the following Halloween. Having never played this historic venue before, The Residents immediately accepted and began preparations. Soon another request came in, this time from the unlikely source of Marlboro cigarettes - in Germany. Searching for an event on which to focus their advertising at the Popkomm music trade show in Cologne, the tobacco giant suggested a short performance, 20-30 minutes in length, that could be video taped for television; it was to be performed 3 or 4 times with a changing audience. The small crowd was limited to people who won tickets in response to cigarette ads. (Leaving no opportunity for addiction unanswered, Marlboro also showered the audience with free smokes while waiting to take their turn as an audience member.) Aided by MTV producer and friend, John Payson, The Residents adapted a piece from the Adobe performance, transforming it into a 30 minute performance vehicle, Disfigured Night. The Residents performed Disfigured Night four times that evening; several months later, the piece was later broadcast on national television in Germany.
