Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen

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Artist	The Residents
Released	November 30th 1978
Recorded	October 1977 - August 1978
Studio	Grove Street Studio, San Francisco, California
Length	34:37
Label	Ralph Records
Producer	The Residents
Residents release chronology
Previous	Not Available (1978)
Next	"Santa Dog '78" (1978)
Residents recording chronology
Previous	"The Spot" by Snakefinger (1978)
Next	"Santa Dog '78" (1978)
Snakefinger chronology
Previous	"The Spot" (1978)
Next	"What Wilbur?" (1979)

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (or simply Duck Stab!) is the fifth studio album by The Residents, released on November 30th 1978 by Ralph Records. It combines Duck Stab!, a seven-song EP the group had released earlier in the year, with a selection of seven additional tracks which the group had originally intended to issue as a follow-up EP titled Buster & Glen.

With its relatively accessible song structures and lyrics, and its memorable contributions from guitarist Snakefinger, Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was an instant critical and commercial success, driving demand for The Residents' music to an unprecedented degree. Commonly considered a seminal entry in The Residents' catalog, it was included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

The album's legacy has continued to grow in recent years, with The Residents recording a series of re-interpretations of its songs for its 35th anniversary in 2013, and performing most of its tracks live in the studio for a streaming TV special, Duck Stab! Alive! in 2021. The Residents performed the album in its entirety during their Dog Stab! mini-tour of California in September 2021.

History

Duck Stab!

Duck Stab! EP cover art, 1978

The Residents have always had multiple projects they are working on at any given time. In 1976, the group were particularly prolific, releasing their 7" single "Satisfaction", also preparing the material that would become their fourth studio album Fingerprince and its companion EP Babyfingers, and had begun development of an ambitious "musical documentary" project titled Eskimo. The production of the Eskimo album proved to be a laborious effort, and after two years of production, it was becoming apparent to everyone involved that the album would not be ready for its projected 1978 release date.

Due to the project's intense and demanding nature, The Residents had allowed themselves occasional breaks, in which they would record unrelated pieces of music simply for fun. The Cryptic Corporation were aware of these fragments and demos, and, knowing that they would have no new Residents album ready for release in 1978, asked the group to complete these songs for an EP to be released in February 1978. The group began further developing the material, taking lyrics from a box full of lyrical ideas they kept, and getting their long-time friend, British multi-instrumentalist Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman (who had only recently returned to the country for the first time since 1972) to perform and write on the songs.

The EP came together very quickly, and Porno Graphics' designer Homer Flynn, needing artwork for the release, looked through photos of The Residents by their friend Graeme Whifler, taken during an improvised photo session from early in their career. One of these photos featured Resident holding a knife to a prop duck taken by Graeme Whifler. He created a black, white and red silk-screen print derived from this photograph and showed the artwork to a member of the group, whose response - "yeah, Duck Stab!" - gave the EP its title.

The Duck Stab! EP was released on February 1st, 1978, and featured a new and somewhat more accessible sound, not dissimilar to the first half of The Residents' previous album Fingerprince. This made Duck Stab! a runaway success, selling out the first pressing very quickly, meaning that Ralph had to press more to keep up with the demand, which, for them at that time, was highly unusual. The sound quality of the initial printing of the EP had been poor, due to the length of the material and the chosen format, 45rpm 7" vinyl. As a result, The Cryptic Corporation began to consider adapting the EP into an album.

Buster & Glen

Buster & Glen EP cover art, 1978

In the six months following the release of the Duck Stab! EP, The Residents had grown intensely in popularity, and The Cryptic Corporation felt hindered in their ability to capitalize on this, given the fact that The Residents continued to insist that their current project, Eskimo, was at least a year from completion.

The group did, however, agree to record a follow up to Duck Stab!, a nineteen minute EP provisionally titled Goose Gouge. For these sessions The Residents were again accompanied by Snakefinger; Monica "Ruby" Ganas also appeared, performing guest vocals on the closing track, "The Electrocutioner".

Retitled Buster & Glen, the EP was scheduled for a November 1978 release. Cover art for the planned EP was quickly created by Homer Flynn of Cryptic's graphic design arm Pore No Graphics; the artwork prominently features a framed picture of a man and a dog, which had been recovered from the home of the deceased grandmother of a Resident's wife. The man, named Glen (the grandmother's brother), apparently had been a homeless person, who at times had kept a bed in the basement of the house. One day, Glen's body was found on a beach, with the circumstances of his death unknown. When the body was found, it was being guarded by the dog, named Buster.

Release

The Cryptic Corporation ultimately decided that, in order to avoid the sound quality issues which had plagued the Duck Stab! 7", Buster & Glen should instead be released as one side of a single LP, with a re-ordered version of the Duck Stab! EP on the other.

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was released by Ralph Records on November 30th 1978, in a run of 30,000 copies. The marriage of the two EPs would become permanent and intractable; to date, Buster & Glen has never been released as a standalone EP separately from Duck Stab!, and the original Duck Stab! EP has never since been reissued in its original format.

The album was released partly as a stopgap to take advantage of The Residents' growing success in the face of the delays in recording their long-awaited Eskimo album, which would finally see release the following year. These delays, and the need to release new products to meet the new demand, had also resulted in the release of the group's previously unreleased 1974 album Not Available a month earlier.

Reissues

The Classic Series CD reissue of the album in 1987 was the first time the album was released simply as Duck Stab!, with the now iconic artwork taking up the entirety of the album art. The CD also included the Goosebump suite from the 1980 Diskomo/Goosebump EP.

The 1995 Euro Ralph CD reissue of the album included Duck Stab! and Buster & Glen as two separate 3" mini CDs, marking the first time that the Buster & Glen EP was issued on a separate format, and the last until the Psychofon Records "Classic Series" double 12" EP edition of the album in 2023.

Duck Stab! pREServed

CD edition (2018)

Postcard included with early copies of Duck Stab! pREServed

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was the fourth Residents album released as part of their pREServed series of expanded and remastered catalog CD reissues, alongside Fingerprince on March 23rd 2018.

The two disc pREServed CD edition of Duck Stab! features the Duck Stab! and Buster & Glen LPs (in their LP track configuration) with additional "Duck Buster ephemera", such as "Santa Dog '78" (with an additional, previously unreleased version of "Guylum Bardot" from around this time), previously unheard material from the Duck Stab! sessions ("Soulful Sax", "Owboutthat", and a version of "When Johnny Comes Marching", which was previously heard on the group's early demo tapes), rehearsals, live versions and studio re-interpretations dating from 1982 to the mid 2010s.

Vinyl edition (2023)

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was released as the fourth entry in the deluxe pREServed vinyl reissue series on May 19th 2023 (however some American customers began receiving their orders from MVD in late April). The double LP set contains the original LP on the first disc, with the previously unreleased "Shitty Rock 'n Roll RDX Suite" and a selection of outtakes and live material on the second disc.

A limited number of copies sold via the Cherry Red Records website included a bonus white label 7" single, "Duck Kosmische", which is also available separately via Amazon and The Residents' official online store.

Psychofon "Classic Series" vinyl edition (2023)

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was released as the fourth instalment in Psychofon Records' collector vinyl "Classic Series", in a double 12" EP edition of two hundred copies on black, single-sided vinyl (with art etched into the blank B-sides of the discs), housed inside a white "Classic Series" branded tote bag, and featuring a unique white color variant of the album's original cover art.

The "Classic Series" edition of Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen became available for pre-sale on July 1st 2023 via the Psychofon website, shortly after the release of the expanded pREServed vinyl edition of the album.

Legacy

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was as big a success commercially as it was critically; Ralph Records made $20,000 from sales of the album (equivalent to $94,378 in 2023). The more accessible music, Lewis Carroll-esque lyrics and shorter length of the songs made the album more accessible for new fans, and songs like "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny" helped cement The Residents' cult following.

The attention the album received prompted The Cryptic Corporation to reissue The Residents' 1976 single "Satisfaction", despite the group's preference that it be left as a one-time, limited edition release. This resulted in a short feud between The Residents and Cryptic, which saw The Residents briefly flee to England with the Eskimo master tapes in tow, seeking refuge with their friend, percussionist Chris Cutler of Henry Cow and Art Bears.

Unproduced film concept

Terris in a scene from the abandoned Duck Stab! film

The wiki has a page dedicated to this topic. For more information, read this article.

Shortly after the release of the album, The Cryptic Corporation hired their collaborator Graeme Whifler to direct a series of short promotional films inspired by songs from the album. This concept later expanded to become a proposed feature-length musical film, which would have starred a mentally ill disabled man known as Bridgit Terris in the lead role of Skinny (as well as multiple other characters).

Shortly into production of the film, Terris announced he was leaving San Francisco to live with his mother. This, along with The Cryptic Corporation's reluctance to fund a feature film as opposed to a series of music videos (which they had come to feel was the coming medium), led to the abandonment of the project.

As Terris was at the bus terminal waiting to catch his bus home, Whifler took a number of photographs of him. He later used these photos to create a photo-montage, which was used (alongside a small amount of footage from the unfinished film) to fashion a short promotional film for the song "Hello Skinny". This video premiered in April 1980.

Other unused footage from the film was later edited by filmmaker Don Hardy into a music video for the group's song "Melon Collie Lassie" (from the 1979 EP Babyfingers), which was included as a bonus feature on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Hardy's 2015 documentary Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents. Excerpts from The Residents' handwritten outline for the film can be found in the Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook included with the deluxe edition of the 2022 art book A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1.

Track listing

All tracks composed by The Residents unless otherwise noted.

Original release (1978)

Side A - Duck Stab! (16:06)

1. Constantinople (2:23)
2. Sinister Exaggerator (3:27)
3. The Booker Tease (1:09)
4. Blue Rosebuds (3:11)
5. Laughing Song (2:14)
6. Bach Is Dead (1:12)
7. Elvis And His Boss (2:30)

Side B - Buster & Glen (18:31)

1. Lizard Lady (1:54)
2. Semolina (2:48)
3. Birthday Boy (2:41)
4. Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:11)
5. Krafty Cheese (1:59)
6. Hello Skinny (2:41)
7. The Electrocutioner (3:20)

"Classic Series" CD reissue (1987)

1. Constantinople (2:33)
2. Sinister Exaggerator (3:27)
3. The Booker Tease (1:09)
4. Blue Rosebuds (3:11)
5. Laughing Song (2:14)
6. Bach Is Dead (1:12)
7. Elvis And His Boss (2:30)
8. Lizard Lady (1:52)
9. Semolina (2:50)
10. Birthday Boy (2:39)
11. Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
12. Krafty Cheese (2:00)
13. Hello Skinny (2:40)
14. The Electrocutioner (3:18)
15. Disaster (3:52)
16. Plants (3:16)
17. Farmers (5:27)
18. Twinkle (2:00)

pREServed CD edition (2018)

^(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.

Disc 1

Duck Stab! + Buster & Glen remastered + Duck Buster Ephemera

1. Constantinople (2:24)
2. Sinister Exaggerator (3:28)
3. The Booker Tease (1:07)
4. Blue Rosebuds (3:12)
5. Laughing Song (2:14)
6. Bach Is Dead (1:14)
7. Elvis and His Boss (2:32)
8. Lizard Lady (1:55)
9. Semolina (2:53)
10. Birthday Boy (2:42)
11. Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
12. Krafty Cheese (2:03)
13. Hello Skinny (2:40)
14. The Electrocutioner (3:24)
15. Guylum Bardot '78 ^(*) (1:06)
16. Soulful Sax ^(*) (2:19)
17. Ow Boutthat ^(*) (0:49)
18. When Johnny Comes Marching ^(*) _{(traditional)} (1:37)
19. Unlisted ^(*) (1:59)
20. Santa Dog '78 (1:51)

Disc 2

Duck Buster Ephemera

1. Bach Is Dead (1982 Rehearsal) (1:21)
2. Birthday Boy (1982 Rehearsal) (3:41)
3. Constantinople (1982 Rehearsal) (2:10)
4. DS/BAG Suite (Tromso, Inconvenienced, 1986) ^(*) (13:21)
   1. Lizard Lady
   2. Semolina
   3. Hello Skinny
   4. Constantinople
5. Semolina (Live, 1986) (3:56)
6. Hello Skinny (Icky Flix Version) (3:06)
7. Constantinople (Icky Flix Version) (2:27)
8. Lizard Lady / Hello Skinny (Live 2005) (5:09)
9. Semolina (Live 2011) (3:46)
10. Lizard Lady (Live 2011) (3:42)
11. Blue Rosebuds (Live 2014) (3:07)
12. Weightlifting Lulu (Live 2014) (3:29)
13. Blue Rosebuds RMX (3:23)
14. Booker Tease (Re-Imagined) (2:24)
15. Weight-Lifting Lulu (Re-Imagined) (3:16)
16. Constantinople (Adobe) (1:54)
17. Bach Is Dead (Re-Imagined) (2:26)
18. Laughing Song (Re-Imagined) (2:23)
19. The Electrocutioner (Re-Imagined) (2:38)
20. Hello Skinny (Re-Imagined) (4:03)

pREServed vinyl edition (2023)

^(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.

Disc 1 - Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen

Side A - Duck Stab!

1. Constantinople (2:24)
2. Sinister Exaggerator (3:28)
3. The Booker Tease (1:07)
4. Blue Rosebuds (3:12)
5. Laughing Song (2:14)
6. Bach Is Dead (1:14)
7. Elvis and His Boss (2:32)

Side B - Buster & Glen

1. Lizard Lady (1:55)
2. Semolina (2:53)
3. Birthday Boy (2:42)
4. Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
5. Krafty Cheese (2:03)
6. Hello Skinny (2:40)
7. The Electrocutioner (3:24)

Disc 2

Side C

1. Shitty Rock 'N Roll RDX Suite ^(*)

Side D

1. Santa Dog '78 (1:51)
2. Guylum Bardot '78 (1:06)
3. Soulful Sax (2:19)
4. Ow Bout That (Instrumental) (0:49)
5. When Johnny Comes Marching _{(traditional)} (1:37)
6. Unlisted
7. Bach Is Dead (1982 Rehearsal) (1:21)
8. Birthday Boy (1982 Rehearsal) (3:41)
9. Constantinople (1982 Rehearsal) (2:10)

Liner notes

"Buster and Glen" photo collage, 1978

Classic Series CD reissue (1987)

The fifth LP release by The Residents, Duck Stab! started off its life as an EP of seven songs. The record proved to be a big hit and was soon united with a second EP, Buster & Glen, to form the LP Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen. All the tracks from the two EPs are represented here. This release, recorded in 1977, startled the world's ears with its "modern-day nursery rhyme" characterizations. It is fitting that Goosebump, a contemporary Mother Goose, has been added to complete this Compact Disc.

Double 3" CD reissue (1995)

Duck Stab!

For many admirers of the group, Duck Stab! has been the ultimate release by The Residents. It is reported that Duck Stab! "lifted many people across the country out of the slumber of the seventies". We at Euro Ralph do not know whether that's true or not. But it's a fact that the original 7" EP, with 7 songs and 16 minutes of music, resulted in a limited sound quality. Therefore the songs on this little disc have been remastered for better sound, evolving in more pleasure for admirers of "Constantinople" and the likes. Enjoy.

Buster & Glen

Due to the greed of The Residents' record company Ralph Records, Buster & Glen had a very limited life of its own. Instead of being released as a 7" EP, commercial reasons degraded Buster & Glen to become somewhat like Duck Stab's bonus tracks appendix. Euro Ralph always believed that the material on Buster & Glen was too strong to end up as a B-side. And now this masterpiece finally appears on a 3" CD of its own, being part of this split-cover-release. All tracks experienced the same sound enhancements as its sister release Duck Stab.

Credits

• Composed, Arranged, Recorded & Produced by: The Residents except...
  • Sinister Exaggerator Written by: The Residents/Snakefinger
• Guest vocalist on 'The Electrocutioner': Ruby of "The Rick & Ruby Show"
• Covers: Pore No Graphics
• Duck Stab Photo: G. Whifler
• Slithering Almost Everywhere: Snakefinger

• Snakefinger:
  • Backing Vocals on 'Constantinople', 'Laughing Song', & 'The Electrocutioner'
  • Violin on 'Laughing Song',
  • Guitar on 'Sinister Exaggerator', 'Blue Rosebuds' & 'The Electrocutioner'
  • Musician on 'Lizard Lady' & 'Hello Skinny'

Release history

Year	Label	Region	Format	Length	Notes
1978	Ralph Records	USA	LP	34:37	Two Variants
1980					Test Pressing
1985					13th Anniversary pressing
1987					Two variations, on Red and Black vinyl.
			Cassette
	East Side Digital		CD		Bonus tracks from Diskomo
	Torso	NL	LP
			CD		Bonus tracks from Diskomo
1995	Euro Ralph	EU	2xCD		Each side represented on one disc
1997	East Side Digital	US	CD	34:47
	Bomba Records	JPN		34:32
2005	Euro Ralph	EU	2xCD	34:37	Each side represented on one disc
			LP		Red Vinyl
	Cryptic Corporation	DU
2008	Mute	US / EU	CD	35:06	30th Anniversary Pressing
2010	Birdsong, Hayabusa Landings	JPN		34:32	Bonus tracks from Diskomo
2012	MVD Audio	US		34:58
	Ralph Records		LP
2018	Cherry Red, New Ralph Too	US / UK / EU	2xCD	35:07	pREServed CD edition. 40th Anniversary.
2021		EU			pREServed CD edition.
2023		US / UK / EU	3xLP	35:07	pREServed vinyl edition.
	Psychofon Records	EU	2x12"	35:07	Classic Series collectors vinyl edition, two single-sided 12" EPs with etchings. Unique white cover art color variant.

See also

• Duck Stab!
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook
• "Duck Kosmische"
• D*ck S*ab - 35th Anniversary
• Dog Stab!
• Duck Stab! Alive!

Buy Or Die!

• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed CD edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed CD edition at MVDShop (US)
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed vinyl edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed vinyl edition at MVDShop (US)

Listen online

• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen on Spotify
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen on Apple Music
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed CD edition on Spotify
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen pREServed CD edition on Apple Music

External links and references

• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen at The Residents Historical
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen at Discogs
• Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen at Wikipedia

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978) Side A: Duck Stab! "Constantinople" · "Sinister Exaggerator" · "The Booker Tease" · "Blue Rosebuds" · "Laughing Song" · "Bach Is Dead" · "Elvis And His Boss" Side B: Buster & Glen "Lizard Lady" · "Semolina" · "Birthday Boy" · "Weight-Lifting Lulu" · "Krafty Cheese" · "Hello Skinny" · "The Electrocutioner" Personnel The Residents · Snakefinger · Ruby Related works Duck Stab! EP · "Soulful Sax" · "Ow Boutthat" · "When Johnny Comes Marching" · "Unlisted" · "Santa Dog '78" · "Guylum Bardot '78" · Duck Stab! film · "Hello Skinny" video · D*ck S*ab - 35th Anniversary · Dog Stab! · Duck Stab! Alive! · Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook · "Duck Kosmische" Related articles Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Pore No Graphics · Graeme Whifler · Bridgit Terris · The Rick & Ruby Show · "Satisfaction" · Not Available · Eskimo‏‏‎

Duck Stab! EP (1978) Side A: "Laughing Song" · "Blue Rosebuds" · "Constantinople" Side B: "The Booker Tease" · "Sinister Exaggerator · "Bach Is Dead" · "Elvis And His Boss" Personnel The Residents · Snakefinger Related works Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen · Duck Stab! film · D*ck S*ab - 35th Anniversary · Dog Stab! · Duck Stab Alive! · Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook Related articles Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Pore No Graphics · Graeme Whifler

The Residents studio albums Ralph Records (1972 - 1987) Meet The Residents (1974) · The Third Reich 'n Roll (1976) · Fingerprince (1977) · Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (1978) Not Available (1978) · Eskimo (1979) · Commercial Album (1980) · Mark of the Mole (1981) The Tunes of Two Cities (1982) · George & James (1984) · The Big Bubble (1985) · Stars & Hank Forever! (1986) Ryko and Enigma (1988 - 1989) God In Three Persons (1988) · The King & Eye (1989) East Side Digital (1990 - 2002) Freak Show (1990) · Our Finest Flowers (1992) · Gingerbread Man (1994) · Have A Bad Day (1996) Wormwood (1998) · Demons Dance Alone (2002) Mute Records (2004 - 2007) Animal Lover (2005) · Tweedles! (2006) · The Voice of Midnight (2007) MVD Audio (2008 - 2015) The Bunny Boy (2008) · Lonely Teenager (2011) · Mush-Room (2013) MVD Audio and Cherry Red (2016 - present) The Ghost of Hope (2017) · Intruders (2018) · Metal, Meat & Bone (2020) Fan club / off-label albums Buckaroo Blues (1989) · The 12 Days of Brumalia (2004) · Night of the Hunters (2007) Hades (2009) · Dollar General (2010) · Night Train To Nowhere! (2012) Soundtrack albums Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? (1984) · The Census Taker (1985) · Hunters (1995) · Icky Flix (2001) I Murdered Mommy! (2004) · Postcards From Patmos (2008) · Strange Culture/Haeckel's Tale (2010) Chuck's Ghost Music (2011) · Theory of Obscurity Soundtrack (2014) · Sculpt (2016) · Music to Eat Bricks By (2019) · Triple Trouble (2022) Collaborative albums Title In Limbo with Renaldo & The Loaf (1983) · I Am A Resident! with You? (2018) Live in the studio Assorted Secrets (1984) · Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions (2000) · Talking Light Live In Rehearsal, Santa Cruz, California (2010) Mole Dance 82 (2021) · Duck Stab! Alive! (2021) Related articles The Residents discography (W.E.I.R.D., 1979) · Ralph Records discography