Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen (or simply Duck Stab!)Since the "Classic Series" reissue campaign in 1987, the Buster & Glen subtitle has frequently been dropped from the album title on reissues, resulting in the album often being referred to simply as Duck Stab!. is the fifth studio album by The Residents,While technically a compilation of two EPs, Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen is generally considered to be The Residents' fifth studio album, due in no small part to its success among new wave audiences at the time and its resulting popularity and influence among fans, as well as the fact that the two EPs have never been issued separately since the album's release. 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! ===
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."I think most of it already existed, at least in terms of backing tracks... once again, they worked on Eskimo for a long time, but Eskimo was very challenging and very demanding. So they would take a break from it and just do something else that seemed more like fun. But once again, these were just kind of instrumental backing tracks. And so when Ralph Records approached them to create this, well, they already had the backing tracks, all they had to do was write some lyrics, and once again, a lot of the time they had lyrics around. You know, somebody would be inspired and write some stuff down, and they had a box they would throw lyrics into. So ultimately, they had to write lyrics or match lyrics up, and then they had to do some solos, and get Snakefinger in to do solos... So once they decided to do it, it came together quite quickly." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022 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."So really Duck Stab! was created a lot because of Ralph Records and The Cryptic Corporation felt like we needed new Residents product. And you know, they were working on Eskimo... it took four years to create Eskimo. And so, you know, that's a long time for a record company to go without any cash flow, or without much cash flow... And we knew that The Residents had some fragments of songs that they had been playing around with during breaks in Eskimo and stuff like that. So ultimately we told them, we said, 'hey, we know you've got some material, why don't you just take this stuff and take a break from Eskimo, put in some time, and just have some fun, and give us something we can put out there and sell.'" - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022 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."The photo session that Graeme did was one of the earliest - maybe the earliest photo session The Residents ever did. They were in their studio, they had a bunch of weird costumes and stuff around, so Graeme came in, they just started, almost like a band jamming or something... that was one of the pictures that came out of it." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022 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.Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022 
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, 33⅓rpm 7" vinyl. As a result, The Cryptic Corporation began to consider adapting the EP into an album.
===Buster & Glen===
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."Did you know 'Buster & Glen' had the working title 'Goose Gouge'?" Richard Anderson, comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, November 20th 2023 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."That framed picture of the man and the dog, that picture was in the house of one of The Residents'... I think it was the grandmother of his wife, and he found this picture, and fell in love with it. And then, the grandmother of his wife died and they were getting rid of all of her stuff, and he said 'I want this picture, I've gotta have this picture'. And so, the story is that Buster and Glen - Buster is the dog and Glen is the guy... But the story was that Glen was a homeless person who at times had a bed in the basement of the grandmother's house, and sometimes he would get drunk, have no place to go, and he would crawl into that basement, and sleep on a bed in the basement. And then one day, just out of nowhere, they discovered his body on the beach. Nobody knew exactly how he died or what the situation was, but the dog, Buster, was guarding his body." - Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab!", January 13th 2022
==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)=====
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===
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)====
#Constantinople (2:23)
#Sinister Exaggerator (3:27)
#The Booker Tease (1:09)
#Blue Rosebuds (3:11)
#Laughing Song (2:14)
#Bach Is Dead (1:12)
#Elvis And His Boss (2:30)
====Side B - Buster & Glen (18:31)====
#Lizard Lady (1:54)
#Semolina (2:48)
#Birthday Boy (2:41)
#Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:11)
#Krafty Cheese (1:59)
#Hello Skinny (2:41)
#The Electrocutioner (3:20)
==="Classic Series" CD reissue (1987)===
#Constantinople (2:33)
#Sinister Exaggerator (3:27)
#The Booker Tease (1:09)
#Blue Rosebuds (3:11)
#Laughing Song (2:14)
#Bach Is Dead (1:12)
#Elvis And His Boss (2:30)
#Lizard Lady (1:52)
#Semolina (2:50)
#Birthday Boy (2:39)
#Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
#Krafty Cheese (2:00)
#Hello Skinny (2:40)
#The Electrocutioner (3:18)
#Disaster (3:52)
#Plants (3:16)
#Farmers (5:27)
#Twinkle (2:00)
=== pREServed CD edition (2018) ===
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
==== Disc 1====
Duck Stab! + Buster & Glen remastered + Duck Buster Ephemera
#Constantinople (2:24)
#Sinister Exaggerator (3:28)
#The Booker Tease (1:07)
#Blue Rosebuds (3:12)
#Laughing Song (2:14)
#Bach Is Dead (1:14)
#Elvis and His Boss (2:32)
#Lizard Lady (1:55)
#Semolina (2:53)
#Birthday Boy (2:42)
#Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
#Krafty Cheese (2:03)
#Hello Skinny (2:40)
#The Electrocutioner (3:24)
#Guylum Bardot '78 (*) (1:06)
#Soulful Sax (*) (2:19)
#Ow Boutthat (*) (0:49)
#When Johnny Comes Marching (*) (traditional) (1:37)
#Unlisted (*) (1:59)
#Santa Dog '78 (1:51)
====Disc 2====
Duck Buster Ephemera
#Bach Is Dead (1982 Rehearsal) (1:21)
#Birthday Boy (1982 Rehearsal) (3:41)
#Constantinople (1982 Rehearsal) (2:10)
#DS/BAG Suite (Tromso, Inconvenienced, 1986) (*) (13:21)
##Lizard Lady
##Semolina
##Hello Skinny
## Constantinople
#Semolina (Live, 1986) (3:56)
#Hello Skinny (Icky Flix Version) (3:06)
#Constantinople (Icky Flix Version) (2:27)
#Lizard Lady / Hello Skinny (Live 2005) (5:09)
#Semolina (Live 2011) (3:46)
#Lizard Lady (Live 2011) (3:42)
#Blue Rosebuds (Live 2014) (3:07)
#Weightlifting Lulu (Live 2014) (3:29)
#Blue Rosebuds RMX (3:23)
#Booker Tease (Re-Imagined) (2:24)
#Weight-Lifting Lulu (Re-Imagined) (3:16)
#Constantinople (Adobe) (1:54)
#Bach Is Dead (Re-Imagined) (2:26)
#Laughing Song (Re-Imagined) (2:23)
#The Electrocutioner (Re-Imagined) (2:38)
#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!=====
#Constantinople (2:24)
#Sinister Exaggerator (3:28)
#The Booker Tease (1:07)
#Blue Rosebuds (3:12)
#Laughing Song (2:14)
#Bach Is Dead (1:14)
#Elvis and His Boss (2:32)
=====Side B - Buster & Glen=====
#Lizard Lady (1:55)
#Semolina (2:53)
#Birthday Boy (2:42)
#Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12)
#Krafty Cheese (2:03)
#Hello Skinny (2:40)
#The Electrocutioner (3:24)
==== Disc 2 ====
=====Side C=====
#Shitty Rock 'N Roll RDX Suite (*)
=====Side D=====
#Santa Dog '78 (1:51)
#Guylum Bardot '78 (1:06)
#Soulful Sax (2:19)
#Ow Bout That (Instrumental) (0:49)
#When Johnny Comes Marching (traditional) (1:37)
#Unlisted
#Bach Is Dead (1982 Rehearsal) (1:21)
#Birthday Boy (1982 Rehearsal) (3:41)
#Constantinople (1982 Rehearsal) (2:10)
==Liner notes==
===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',Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Cherry Red Books, 2016 'Blue Rosebuds' & 'The Electrocutioner' Please_Do_Not_Steal_It!#Credits
**Musician on 'Lizard Lady' & 'Hello Skinny'Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses
==Release history==
Year	Label 	Region 	Format 	Length	Notes
1978	Ralph Records 	USA 	LP 	34:37 	Two Variants
1980	Ralph Records 	USA 	LP 	34:37 	Test Pressing
1985	Ralph Records 	USA 	LP 	34:37 	13th Anniversary pressing
1987	Ralph Records 	USA 	LP 	34:37 	Two variations, on Red and Black vinyl.
1987	Ralph Records 	USA 	Cassette	34:37 	
1987	East Side Digital 	USA 	CD 	34:37 	Bonus tracks from Diskomo
1987	Torso 	NL 	LP 	34:37 	
1987	Torso 	NL 	CD 	34:37 	Bonus tracks from Diskomo
1995	Euro Ralph 	EU 	2xCD 	34:37 	Each side represented on one disc
1997	East Side Digital 	US 	CD 	34:47 	
1997	Bomba Records 	JPN 	CD 	34:32 	
2005	Euro Ralph 	EU 	2xCD 	34:37 	Each side represented on one disc
2005	Euro Ralph 	EU 	LP 	34:37 	Red Vinyl
2005	Cryptic Corporation 	DU 	LP 	34:37 	
2008	Mute 	US / EU 	CD 	35:06 	30th Anniversary Pressing
2010	Birdsong, Hayabusa Landings	JPN 	CD 	34:32 	Bonus tracks from Diskomo
2012	MVD Audio 	US 	CD 	34:58 	
2012	Ralph Records 	US 	LP 	34:58 	
2018	Cherry Red, New Ralph Too 	US / UK / EU	2xCD 	35:07 	pREServed CD edition. 40th Anniversary.
2021	Cherry Red, New Ralph Too 	EU 	2xCD 	35:07 	pREServed CD edition.
2023	Cherry Red, New Ralph Too 	US / UK / EU	3xLP 	35:07 	pREServed vinyl edition.
2023	Psychofon Records 	EU 	2x12" 	35:07 	Classic Series collectors vinyl edition, two single-sided 12" EPs with etchings. Unique white cover art color variant.
== Cover Art Gallery ==
==== MVD CD, 2012 ====
File:Duck Stab Outer Cover.jpg|Outside of booklet
File:Duck Stab Inner Cover.jpg|Inside of booklet
File:Duck Stab Back.jpg|Back cover art
File:Duck Stab CD.jpg|Disc art
== 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
== Notes ==
==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
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Category:Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen
Category:PREServed
Category:1978
Category:Albums Produced by The Residents
Category:Dog Stab!
Category:Duck Stab! Alive!
Category:Buster & Glen
Category:Duck Stab!