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Open Up is an unfinished outtake from The Residents' ninth studio album, The Tunes of Two Cities. The song features Snakefinger on guitar and was first released on the Residue of The Residents rarities compilation.
History[]
Background[]
When The Residents set out to record their ninth studio album, The Tunes of Two Cities, they had two main objectives in mind. They wanted to showcase the musical cultures of the two species featured in their previous studio album, Mark of the Mole, and also to take full advantage of the recently invented E-MU Emulators, which allowed artists to play back recorded samples on a keyboard.
The album was structured so that the songs alternated between the cultures' music, with the lines blurring by side two. Although the 1988 CD track listing implies that the song is a Chub tune, the fact that the song was released outside of the album, leaves it open to interpretation.
Lithman, 1979
Since the song features Snakefinger on guitar, it may have been recorded in the same sessions as Serenade for Missy, Smack Your Lips, and Smokebeams, which also feature Lithman.
Despite the unfinished nature of the song, it appears that The Residents only excluded the track from The Tunes of Two Cities because of restrictions surrounding the album's length.
Release[]
Open Up was released little over a year after it was recorded, first appearing on Residue of The Residents, where it featured as one of the few newly recorded tracks, alongside Jailhouse Rock, Saint Nix, and fellow Tunes outtake, Anvil Forest.
The song was later included as track 7 on the the 1988 CD re-issue of The Tunes of Two Cities, presumably where it was originally intended to be. This placement has not been maintained on subsequent CD issues, with the 2019 Mole Box version as the only other release of Tunes to even feature the song, where it was placed as the first of 9 bonus tracks at the end of the album. The liner notes justify this decision:
[The Tunes of Two Cities outtakes were] somewhat crowbarred into the middle of the running order, which ever felt quite right to me. So, without anybody else's knowledge or say so, I've restored the original LPs running order here and tagged those songs onto the end of the album. I hope that's OK.'
Credits[]
- Written & Produced by: The Residents
- Featuring a Fine Guitar Solo by: Snakefinger
List of releases[]
- Residue Of The Residents (1983)
- The Tunes Of Two Cities (1988)
- Residue Deux (1998)
- Residue Of The Residents 2xLP (2014)
- Mole Box (2019)
See also[]
- The Tunes of Two Cities
- Anvil Forest
- Scent of Mint
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Residue of The Residents (1983) Side A |
