Voice-Less Midnight

The Voiceless Midnight is an instrumental album by The Residents. Recorded in 2007 and released digitally in 2010, It is an early instrumental version of the group's 31st studio album, The Voice of Midnight.
== Background ==
=== Recording ===
When The Residents set out to create their 2007 adaptation of E.T.A Hoffmann's Der Sandmann, somewhere along the line, they formed an entirely new band, The UGHS!. The UGHS were, unlike The Residents, free to experiment in ways that only a new band without any preconceived notions of its sound could. 
As The UGHS!, The Residents began 'recording loose and spontaneous music night and day,'The Voice of Midnight - Historical - The Residents which was later edited into The Voice of Midnight, released on October 23rd, 2007. But two years later, The Residents rediscovered The UGHs' recordings, and released a selection of them as The UGHS!; as the first shelved studio recordings by The Residents to be given a wide release in over 30 years.
=== Release ===
A year following The UGHS!, The Residents again returned to the same recordings, and began to craft a second demo album out of the leftovers, known now as Voice-Less Midnight.
Voice-Less Midnight was released on August 15th, 2010. Unlike The UGHS!, which had a wide release, Voice-Less Midnight was a digital exclusive; available only to fans who knew The Residents even had a download site.
Although the title may lead one to assume that this is simply an instrumental version of The Voice of Midnight, the variations are numerous, with two exclusive songs elsewhere unreleased. Its title was likely chosen to represent that the material more closely represents the final product of The Voice of Midnight, than that of The UGHS!.
The release notes seem to do something rare for The Residents; acknowledging criticism of their work. The liner notes mention that with the original Voice of Midnight 'many complained about the talking on top of it,' which may have prompted this duology of instrumental outtakes from the sessions.
== Track Listing ==
# Telephone Call (The Sandman Pt.1) (3:17)
# Mental Decay (The Sandman Pt.2) (2:47)
# Campus Stroll (2:07)
# Poem To Claire (Mental Decay) (2:05)
# Caligary (3:11)
# Sandman Watches (In The Dark) (2:15)
# Olympia (The Telescope) (4:52)
# Beautiful Dreamer (True Love) (5:38)
# The Tower (4:17)
# Epilogue (3:20)
== Liner Notes ==
"A collection of the more-nearly-orchestral music from The Voice Of Midnight. It is only about 34 minutes ... much of the music from that album was covered by The UGHS! already. Good opportunity to hear some of the compositions on the album since many complained about the talking on top of it."
== Ratings ==
* Discogs Rating: 4.22 / 5
* RateYourMusic Rating: 2.68 / 5
== See Also ==
* The UGHS! 
* The Voice of Midnight
* Tabsasco
Category:2007
Category:2010
Category:Albums Produced by The Residents‏‎
Category:Instrumental albums‏‎
Category:Robot Selling Device
Category:The UGHS!‏‎
Category:The Voice of Midnight
Category:Digital releases