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ERA B474 is a compilation of material by The Pre-sidents, released in early 2012 on the Robot Selling Device. It is a compilation of recordings from the earliest days of The Residents, dating from 1969, to the release of the Santa Dog EP in 1972, and was the first official release of a number of the group's early demo recordings.

It was intended to be the first in a series of compilations featuring rare or unheard archival material, however this was the only installment in the series to see release. A similar concept would later be enacted with the pREServed series of expanded reissues, which began in 2018 and continues to the present.

An expanded version of ERA B474 was released on CD the following year by The Cryptic Corporation, titled The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss; it was again expanded and reissued in 2016 by Klanggalerie as The Residents Present The Delta Nudes.

History[]

Intended as the first in a series of compilations releasing rare tracks and merchandise related to various "eras" in The Residents' history, ERA B474 includes "Blow Blusy Balloon" and "The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger", neither of which had never been released to the public in any form, as well as the complete six-minute 1969 take of "I Hear Ya Got Religion" (previously released in a shorter edit on dot.com in 1999), and the first official releases of "Mad Sawmill", "Goodbye Lover" and "Maggie's Farm" from The Warner Bros. Album.

The release of the album was accompanied by a short-lived run of t-shirts featuring images from the earliest part of the group's career, including one with the "Residents, Uninc." logo seen on the back cover of Meet The Residents; many of these shirts are now rarely seen.

This compilation was later effectively superseded by the Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss and The Residents Present The Delta Nudes compilation albums, released in 2013 and 2016 respectively, which boasted all of the tracks on this compilation, with expanded track listings featuring further unheard early recordings.

The "ERA" project only continued for a month after the release of ERA B474, but following Cherry Red Records and MVD Audio's acquisition of The Cryptic Corporation and its archives in 2016, the concept was developed into the much more comprehensive pREServed reissue campaign which began in 2018 and continues into the present.

Track listing[]

  1. Aircraft Damage (3:51)
  2. Mad Sawmill (1:30)
  3. I Hear Ya Got Religion (6:26)
  4. Blow Blusy Balloon (3:35)
  5. Ballad of Stuffed Trigger (2:54)
  6. Goodbye Lover (2:38)
  7. King Kong (Zappa) (4:08)
  8. Maggie's Farm (Dylan) (1:24)
  9. Party of 71 (3:00)
  10. D For Doorknob (3:50)
  11. Hallowed Be Thy Ween (14:06)

Liner notes[]

"...The term The Residents first appeared in 1974 on the cover of Meet The Residents. Before that there were no Residents, just the loosely bonded friendship of a few people. For the sake of simplicity I shall call them "Pre-sidents"...

...We know that around 1974 the Pre-sidents reorganized as The Residents and the unincorporated residents (Residents, Uninc,) reorganized as The Cryptic Corporation with the attitude of continuing their support of the artistically inclined group..."

- Big Brother

Recording Dates[]

Buy Or Die![]

Listen online[]

See also[]

External links and references[]

Wbrmx-sml-transparent The Delta Nudes / Residents, Uninc.
(1967 - 1974)
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