Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog (box set)

The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog is a limited edition box set of five 7" singles, featuring demo recordings by Dyin' Dog and the Mongrels, an obscure and short-lived Louisiana blues group featuring singer Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow and guitarist Roland Sheehan. It was released September 28th 2019 on Psychofon Records. 
The box set was a precursor to The Residents' Dyin' Dog cover album, Metal, Meat & Bone, which was released in July 2020. The vinyl and CD editions of the album both include the nine demo tracks featured in the box set (and one additional track) on a bonus disc.
==History ==
The demo recordings featured on The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog were recorded in the mid-1970s in Louisiana by Dyin' Dog and the Mongrels, a short-lived blues band featuring singer Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow and guitarist (and early collaborator with the group who would later become The Residents) Roland Sheehan.
Dyin' Dog and the Mongrels recorded ten demo tracks which would remain largely unheard as Snow ultimately disappeared completely following a series of personal tragedies, ending the band and resulting in the demo tracks being left shelved.
Sheehan rediscovered these tracks around 2018 and showed them to his former collaborators The Residents. The Residents had long considered the idea of recording a "blues album" but had never found a concept strong enough to support the idea. After hearing the Dyin' Dog demo tapes, they decided to record an album of interpretations of these tracks. This album, Metal, Meat & Bone, was released in July 2020 on Cherry Red/MVD.
==Release==
Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog is a limited edition vinyl-only release, printed by Psychofon Records in three vinyl color variants (black, white and multi-colored), in a total of 350 copies.
Aside from the five singles (one of which features a blank side) the 10" box also contains 13 reproduced Polaroid photos of Dyin' Dog from around the time when the recordings featured on the set were made.
The Dyin' Dog demos were made more widely available in July 2020 with the CD and vinyl editions of The Residents' Metal, Meat & Bone, both of which feature the complete set of demos on a bonus disc, including an additional track, "Dead Weight", which was not included in the box set.
==Track listing==
Record 1
#Bury My Bone (2:15)
#River Runs Dry (2:12)
Record 2
#Die! Die! Die! (4:03)
#Pass For White (3:50)
Record 3
#Hungry Hound (2:08)
#The Dog's Dream (3:09)
Record 4
#I Know (3:25)
#Tell Me (2:39)
Record 5
#Mamma Don't Go (2:02)
==See also==
*Dyin' Dog
*Roland Sheehan
*Metal, Meat & Bone
==External links and references==
*The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dogat Psychofon Records
*The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dogat Discogs
*"Lost In The Blues: The Search for Dyin' Dog" by Paul Lyllyde at The Chiseler (archived via archive.org)
Category:Metal, Meat & Bone
Category:Box sets
Category:Compilations
Category:Demo tapes
Category:Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow
Category:1975
Category:2019