Talking Light Drammen Norway is a digital-only live album by The Residents It is the second release of their third series of Talking Light downloads, and is the thirty-fourth of sixty digital live albums of The Residents' Talking Light world tour.
Track Listing[]
- Drammenpart 1 (34:04)
- Intro / Smelly Tongues (2:52)
- Sleepwalker (3:13)
- Monologue #1 (2:18)
- Talking Light (14:26)
- Six More Miles (8:42)
- Monologue #2 (2:30)
- Drammenpart 2 (36:36)
- They Are The Meat (3:08)
- He Also Serves / The Service (5:21)
- The Ghost Snake (13:12)
- Semolina (3:42)
- My Window (4:20)
- Death in Barstow (4:43)
- Monologue #3 (2:07)
- Drammenpart 3 (43:52)
- The Unseen Sister (10:14)
- Monologue #4 (3:17)
- The Old Woman (7:16)
- Lillie (6:12)
- Applause (1:37)
- Bury Me Not (10:09)
- Die-Stay-Go / Ghostbusters Acapella outro (5:04)
Translated Press Release[]
Mr. Fox apologizes for the noise in the background. The Residents have just gone through costume rehearsals. The band members are having lunch at The Lindenberg in the Netherlands before the gig. Apart from the costume rehearsals, this is standard practice for bands on tour, eating lunch. But The Residents are anything but a standard musical act. Although the American band will soon celebrate its 40th anniversary, its members have yet to step out in public without masks. They are known to wear tuxedos and massive eyes on their heads. They have also performed concerts as Richard Nixon.
In 1976, they released the album "The Third Reich N'Roll" as a satire on 60s pop. In the 17-minute long song "Hitler was a Vegetarian," the band interprets "Hey Jude," "Sunshine of your love," and "Sympathy for the Devil" at once.
Cryptic mastermind
"There is one thing you must remember: The Residents are not a band in the traditional sense. They are more like conceptual artists," says Fox. Fox is not one of the band members; they don't grant interviews themselves. Fox represents The Cryptic Corporation, the organization which, for nearly 40 years, has given interviews and more or less been the sole source of the band's early history. Now The Residents are on a tour that sweeps through Trondheim and Drammen as the only venues in Norway. Then the trip goes via Copenhagen to two sold-out concerts at the Center Pompidou in Paris. - a very prestigious place to perform, an art arena. "So they (The Residents) are considered to be high-quality art in Paris, not ordinary like traditional rock bands," says Fox.
Old age and death
The band's tour is titled "Talking Light." While musicians often go on tour to promote their latest album, this is not true for The Residents.
"They are doing this tour instead of making an album. The idea is to perform as the album would have been, but with a performance approach," says Fox.
"On a larger scale, you can say that "Talking Light" deals with aging and dying. It is the only universal experience everyone shares, at least those who live long enough to get old. And since The Residents are so senior that the band will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2012, this was an exciting field to explore theatrically," says Fox, who also highlights the role of ghosts on tour.
Haunted by ghosts
"Ghosts have a role, yes, not necessarily scary ghosts. Here we are talking about ghosts from your youth that haunt you in old age. The ballast from your youth can therefore turn into a spirit."
Hardy Fox says that The Residents are avant-garde. The concert at Union will be a musical.
"There will be no rock concert; there will be songs and stories. The songs are stories, and the stories have songs in them. Yes, it will be like a musical," he says.
In a career that will soon span 40 years, the masks, the hidden identity, The Cryptic Corporation, and the mystery surrounding The Residents have become some of the most talked about. They are unlikely to allow themselves to be photographed without masks.
Will not be ordinary
"No, the hidden identity is to make it more interesting." Fox says "I don't think they want to become "ordinary," that's less attractive."
Fans of the band have long debated the identity of the band members. Whether The Cryptic Corporation's Hardy Fox is one of the band members has been a hot topic.
"I am the boss; I tell them what to do. The Residents would have been nothing without me," says Fox before adding:
"No, I'm just kidding. But I've been working with the band since the beginning. I met them in high school, we became good friends, and before I knew it, this was my career."
He says "I knew that as soon as I got paid for the job."
