Not Available

Not Available is the second studio album by The Residents, and their fourth in order of release.Chronologically in order of release, Not Available is The Residents' fourth studio album. However, the group themselves regard it as their second, and it has often been referred to as such in press releases and promotional material, even in the years prior to its release. Supposedly recorded in secrecy between February and May 1974 during a period of interpersonal conflict within the group,Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents, 1992, page 55Nibbles liner notes Not Available was shelved upon completion, in accordance with Bavarian music theorist N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity.
Not Available is presented as an operetta in four parts with an epilogue, depicting a love triangle between Edweena and her two suitors, the Porcupine and the Catbird, which ultimately leads to a duel between the Catbird and the Porcupine's stand-in, the Enigmatic Foe. A fifth character, Uncle Remus, acts as a supposedly objective Greek chorus.
The unreleased album entered the ownership of The Residents' management company The Cryptic Corporation in 1976, and was ultimately released on Ralph Records on October 12th 1978, as a stop-gap following continual delays in the production of The Residents' ambitious project Eskimo.
Warmly received in the years since its release, Not Available has often been noted as one of The Residents' finest works and a common favorite among the group's fans. Despite supposedly meeting the album's unauthorized release with "a shrug", The Residents are known to be reluctant to discuss Not Available due to the "somber" memories they associate with it, and much of its history has been shrouded in myth and obfuscation.
== History ==
=== Background ===
By the time they released their debut album Meet The Residents in 1974, the loose assembly of friends and creatives which constituted The Residents had been living and working together at their Sycamore Street warehouse in San Francisco for two years, and had spent much of that time working on a long-running (and increasingly troubled) feature film project, Vileness Fats. 
During that time (and perhaps as a natural result of their intimate living and working conditions) certain personal, creative, and sexual tensions had developed, including the issue of a love triangle involving two members of the group,Jim Knipfel, "Some Answers That Are Guaranteed To Shake You Up", Not Available pREServed CD edition liner notes, 2019 and a woman associated with them who remains publicly unidentified.
Following the commercial failure of Meet The Residents (which sold only forty copies in its first year of release) the group's lead composer was in the midst of "a bit of depression" and, simultaneously coming to terms with the growing realisation that he was gay, spent a great deal of time alone in The Residents' studio, writing and recording "somber melodies" with an old piano which he later called his "best friend" at that time.Charles Bobuck, "Bobuck History", Hacienda Bridge, 2017
=== Therapeutic rehearsals and personae ===
The tensions which had developed among the members of The Residents peaked in the summer of 1974, supposedly culminating in a "horribly embarrassing" food fight in a Chinese restaurant.Matt Groening, "The True Story of The Residents", The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book of The Residents, 1979 The food fight, which Matt Groening referred to as "The Great Dim Sum Riot of 1974" in his 1979 biography "The True Story of The Residents", is sometimes considered apocryphal by fans, as it has rarely been mentioned in later materials about the album. Instead of allowing the group to splinter, The Residents isolated themselves, conducting "rehearsals" as a form of group therapy. Through these rehearsals (inspired by psychodrama, a psychotherapy method in which participants act out their emotions through interpersonal interaction within a stage-like setting), a stylized and surreal narrative began to develop.
The primary roles in these rehearsals were acted out by the actual parties involved: the central figure Edweena, her lover Porcupine, his rival Catbird, a Greek chorus in the person of Uncle Remus (inspired by the fictional narrator of a series of collections of African-American folk tales of the same name), and The Enigmatic Foe, whose role only became clear as the players acted instinctively, leading the drama towards a wholly unexpected conclusion. A sixth character, Nobody, was ultimately removed from the plot by The Residents after they deemed him to be "too negative"."Nobody's Nos" liner notes, 2021 Two minor characters, referred to only as "Young Girl" and "The Son of the Know Thing", appear briefly during the prologue and epilogue of the operetta, respectively.Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
=== Recording ===
While these rehearsals were ongoing (and unbeknownst to the other members of the group), one member of The Residents saw potential in the idea of turning the developing drama into a musical operetta. The lyrics to the operetta had mostly written themselves naturally through the psychodrama process; "Ship's A'Going Down" directly referenced the abyss the group was facing, and it is said to be the only track The Residents have ever recorded in which the voices of all four members of the group can be heard.
By April 1974, the group had recorded what would become "Never Known Questions", and in May they recorded what became "The Making of A Soul".Please Do Not Steal It! liner notes, 1979 The original recording sessions had concluded by October of that year. The Residents gathered a number of the previously recorded "somber melodies" and other sketches (including music intended for their film Vileness Fats) into a demo reel which was given the provisional title X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion). Their friend Sally Lewis (who also appeared as Weescoosa in Vileness Fats) took a minor role on the album, appearing as "Young Girl" in the operetta's opening section "Edweena".
During this time, the Resident who had first compiled the recordings had become an adherent of Bavarian music theorist N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity, which posited that an artist does their best work in isolation, free of the influence of an audience; to this end, the Resident began to believe that the completed operetta should be withheld from release. Having now mostly resolved their differences, the other Residents were happy to keep the tapes in the archive - they considered the recordings far too personally revealing to ever be released to the public - and unanimously decided to shelve the operetta and begin work on their next project, The Third Reich 'n Roll.
A recording date of 1974 has been featured on all releases of Not Available, and has been repeated in all official writings on the album. However, The Residents' spokesperson Homer Flynn has since played this down as "embellished truth", explaining that while parts of Not Available were recorded during a dark time in the group's history in 1974, the album was completed at a later time when the group had overcome their interpersonal tensions, as "a reinforcing project of things coming back together again." 
==Plot==
The plot of Not Available is focused on a love triangle involving three main characters, Edweena (an unseen character who is often described and discussed but never actually appears), the Porcupine (Edweena's lover), and the Catbird (the Porcupine's rival). The narrative often features observations from the apparently distant observer Uncle Remus.
As the story unfolds, the escalating events push the Porcupine to a breaking point, ultimately leading to a climactic duel between the Porcupine and the Catbird. However, the Porcupine's intended role in this dramatic confrontation place in the operetta's climactic duel scene is assumed by The Enigmatic Foe, a figure whose role in the unfolding tale has been hitherto unknown.
At the height of the operetta's tension, The Catbird and The Enigmatic Foe face each other with pistols drawn, while the Porcupine hides in a bush. Finally, both adversaries realize that Edweena, the mutual object of their affections, has eloped with the "independently wealthy" Uncle Remus. The tension is diffused by The Porcupine, who emerges from the shrubbery to paraphrase Shakespeare.
With romantic illusions shattered, the Porcupine, Catbird and Foe are able to forgive, embrace and even welcome Remus back to the fold, upon his return from an unanticipated honeymoon.
== Release ==
The earliest reference by The Residents to an unreleased second album can be found in the liner notes of the group's third album (second in order of release), The Third Reich 'n Roll, in 1976. Judging from this and other promotional material from around this time, the official word was that the group had no intention of ever releasing this mysterious album, claiming that, in strict accordance with N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity, the work must strictly remain "literally, not available" until its creators had forgotten its existence.
The Cryptic Corporation, a multi-media company founded by four friends of the group to manage The Residents and Ralph Records, took ownership of the unreleased album following the company's incorporation in July 1976. Originally developed under the working title Edweena, by February 1977 the album was being referred to by the seemingly provisional title (NOT AVAILABLE). At this point, Cryptic continued to withhold the recordings "simply on the basis of good faith", although they hoped to eventually arrange a release date with the group's blessing, considering it to be "an album worthy of close study".
The eventual publication of the album came about following a disagreement between The Residents and The Cryptic Corporation in 1978, when their much-touted (and already delayed) upcoming concept album Eskimo failed to meet its deadline for release. The members of The Residents disappeared to England with the Eskimo master tapes, where they sought refuge with their friend, percussionist Chris Cutler. 
In the meantime, Cryptic pulled "some old tapes" off the shelves and "reprocessed" them,Not Available pREServed edition liner notes, 2019 and formally announced the release of the resulting album, now officially titled Not Available, on Ralph Records. Cryptic treasurer and Ralph managing director Jay Clem reported at the time, "they violated their contract by not delivering Eskimo, so we have released Not Available - because we have to have something to ensure the future viability of our company."Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, 2015 A promotional campaign, announcing "Now It Can Be Sold" (echoing the famous DEVO slogan "Now It Can Be Told") accompanied the release. 
The Residents are said to have reacted to the unexpected release of Not Available with "a shrug", arguing that with the passage of time since the original recordings, and as they had not intentionally released it themselves, the release did not affect the philosophical conditions under which the album had originally been recorded. However, it has also been reported that the Resident who had composed the music was "furious" about the "underhanded" release. 
The initial pressing of 5000 copies with purple-colored labels suffered from a prominent mastering flaw in the first track of Side B, "Ship's A'Going Down", leading to the pressing being recalled (after many copies had already been distributed and sold). The unsold copies of the recalled pressing were sent to landfill, and two improved pressings - 10,000 copies with orange labels and 10,000 with green labels - were distributed. 
===Reissues===
Not Available was first reissued by Ralph Records in 1983, during a period of upheaval for the label which saw them move from their long-time headquarters on Grove Street to a smaller space on Minna Street (a change reflected in a second printing of this edition, with an updated address). 
Not Available was first released on CD in 1988 by Torso in the Netherlands and East Side Digital in the US, as part of the "Classic Series" of expanded CD releases. This edition also included six selections from The Residents' 1983 collaborative album with Renaldo & The Loaf, Title in Limbo, as bonus tracks. Torso also reissued the album on vinyl at this time. 
Not Available was next reissued on CD by East Side Digital in 1997, and on vinyl and CD in 2004 and 2005 by Euro Ralph. The Euro Ralph reissues also introduced a number of early 1970s photographs by Denise Byroads to the album's artwork; the photographs would continue to be included in future editions of the album.
In 2011, The Cryptic Corporation released a newly remastered, extended version of Not Available, which restored approximately seven minutes of previously unheard material to the running time of the album. This material includes an extended instrumental introduction to "Edweena", and the pieces "Soundtrack Music Piece 17" and "Asonarose" (which are integrated into "Ship's A'Going Down" and "Never Known Questions" respectively).
==== Not Available pREServed ====
===== CD edition (2019) =====
Not Available was initially not included with the rest of The Residents' "classic era" albums in phase one of their pREServed CD reissue campaign, in order to "pREServe" the Theory of Obscurity which guided the album's composition. It was, however, listed and crossed out in the liner notes to the reissues of Eskimo and Commercial Album in early 2019, even being designated a catalog number, NRT007.
The pREServed CD edition of Not Available was finally released in November 2019, alongside the 1971-1972 compilation set A Nickle If Your Dick's This Big. It includes the original 1978 release of the album on disc one, with bonus live versions of the album's tracks recorded between 1982 and 2014, and a second disc containing "reprocessed" versions of selections from "X Is For Xtra", the previously unheard 1974 demo reel which eventually became Not Available.
The second disc features slightly longer versions of "Asonarose" and "Soundtrack Music Piece 17" than the edits previously heard on the 2011 extended version of Not Available. The pREServed edition does not include the extended "Edweena" from the 2011 edition, or the piano instrumental section "Available Piece" previously heard on the Beautiful Eyes compilation in 2010 (though part of the latter is audible in the background of the track "New Mexico Dream").
An unlisted bonus track, a pump organ version of "Rest Aria" entitled "Russian Love Song" is featured at the end of the second disc. Richard Anderson of Cherry Red Records has noted that this is the earliest known recording related to the Not Available project. An additional outtake, "Available Nonsensical", was first included in a promotional YouTube video announcing the release, and was released by The Residents for free on their official website shortly thereafter. The group explained that they found this outtake too late to include it in the pREServed set before it was printed. 
A further outtake supposedly dating from the Not Available era, "Nobody's Nos", was featured on a single-sided 7" vinyl single included as a bonus item with the Melodic Virtue coffee table book The Residents: A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1 in January 2022.
===== Vinyl edition (2023) =====
Following the release of the pREServed two CD edition of Not Available in 2019, further releases related to the album were considered for release (in particular a separate vinyl release of the bonus disc X Is For Xtra) to be sold exclusively through mail-order. Instead, a vinyl sub-series of expanded pREServed editions of the "classic" era of Residents albums began in January 2023 with the release of a three LP edition of Meet The Residents, and a double LP Third Reich 'n Roll set.
Not Available, the fifth edition in the series, was released as a double LP set (with the second LP containing X Is For Xtra) on June 9th 2022. Early copies of the vinyl edition from the Cherry Red Records website were sold with a bonus white label 7" single, Not Available (Work in Progress), which was also sold separately in limited numbers via The Residents' official online store.
==== "Classic Series" collectors' vinyl edition (2023) ====
Not Available was released as the fourth instalment in Psychofon Records' collector vinyl "Classic Series", in a special edition of 200 copies pressed on "blacklight" (transparent, orange and green) three-color vinyl, with each copy housed inside a black "Classic Series" branded tote bag. The "Classic Series" edition of Not Available went on pre-sale on July 1st 2023 via the Psychofon website, and was released July 29th.
===== Deluxe vinyl box set edition (2023) =====
Released alongside the Psychofon "Classic Series" edition of Not Available on July 29th 2023 was a deluxe box set edition of the album, in an even more limited edition of only twenty-five pieces. 
The box set contains the "blacklight" vinyl pressing of the album, with special interior box art that glows under blacklight, with five art cards depicting the photographs of the operetta's characters, and a special printed plastic sleeve.
== Cover art ==
The Residents originally intended to accompany Not Available with a plain black "anti-cover" sleeve design, apparently with no credit or album title displayed anywhere on the package.Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The ResidentsRalph Records Catalogue No. 1, February 1977The Third Reich 'n Roll promotional poster, 1976 The Residents enacted their "anti-cover" concept on several occasions many years after the release of Not Available; first in 2005 for the Mute deluxe CD reissue of The Third Reich 'n Roll, and again in 2018, 2019 and 2022 for the pREServed Record Store Day vinyl "trilogy" of their long-unreleased early recordings, The W***** B*** Album, B.S. and Warning: Uninc. - Live and Experimental Recordings 1971-1972. Ultimately, The Cryptic Corporation opted for a more elaborate design by Pore-Know Graphics, prominently featuring a painting of the album's central figure Edweena, based on a drawing by "a Resident". The original "Edweena" sketch was shown publicly in 2011 at Johansson Projects in Oakland, California, in an exhibition of art by Homer Flynn and The Residents.The Residents at Johansson Projects
The back cover of the album features an image of the Atomic Shopping Carts on the bridge set from The Residents' unfinished film Vileness Fats - an intentional nod from The Cryptic Corporation to the true origin of some of the recordings which comprise the finished album. This image is actually a photo-montage derived from two separate photos; one horizontal shot of the set, and a vertical shot of the group in the Atomic Shopping Cart costumes ("graciously 'provided' by Safeway")."Portfolio Info Continued", Evidence of Residents Volume 1, 2004
=== Denise Byroads photos ===
A series of photographs of The Residents in costume, taken by Denise Byroads between 1972 and 1974, have become associated with the primary characters of Not Available in recent years, beginning with the 2004 reissue of the album. One of the earliest of these images, a "curious photo" from 1972 which apparently depicts the Porcupine,Post to The Residents' official Instagram page, March 12th 2020 had featured as the cover graphic for one issue of Ralph Records' Buy Or Die! newsletter in February 1978 (eight months prior to the release of the album). 
Otherwise, these photos remained unseen to the public until they were featured in the album art of the 2004 and 2005 reissues of Not Available, where they were incorrectly credited to the group's other regular photographer during this period, Graeme Whifler; Whifler was again erroneously credited in the liner notes of the extended 2011 edition. The photos were later credited to Byroads in the acknowledgments of the 2022 Melodic Virtue coffee table book A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1. 
== Reception ==
=== Retrospective ===
Not Available has remained popular among The Residents' fans and associates in the years following its release, and is often cited as one of their finest releases.Will Rothers, "Favorite Top 10", The Last Word, December 5th 2007Will Rothers, "Favorite Top Ten", The Last Word, February 1st 2009 As of June 2024, it has an average user rating of 4.5/5 on AllMusic,Not Available at AllMusic 3.8 on RateYourMusic,Not Available at RateYourMusic and 4.53/5 on Discogs.
Writing for AllMusic, Michael G. Breece called Not Available "one of the strangest and most interesting recordings in rock history" and a "highly underrated and forgotten achievement", describing it as "such an incredible recording to experience that it simply and truly cannot be classified as being like another." Awarding it 8/10, freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle described the album as "among the most 'normal' music that The Residents have ever made", praising its "dark, moody little melodies", while also warning that The Residents have "a really strange (bad?) sense of humor, so you always get the feeling that there's something going on that you're not quite getting."Mark Prindle, "Not Available", Mark's Record Reviews, ca. 1996-2001
== Legacy ==
Perhaps due to the "somber" memories associated with its recording, The Residents and their representatives have often remained reluctant to discuss Not Available in detail, generally preferring the album to maintain its long-held air of mystery."Fifty Years Of Weird & Wacky Wonderfulness", Musique Machine, March 23rd 2022 Despite this, it has been noted as a favorite of both fans and Cryptic associates,Big Brother, "Favorite Top Ten", The Last Word, December 5th-14th 2007Big Brother, "Favorite Top Ten", The Last Word, February 1st 2009 and the group have frequently revisited the album's material in the years since its release.
Due to the complexity of its tracks, The Residents have rarely performed songs from Not Available live in their entirety,New Ralph Too, Not Available pREServed vinyl edition liner notes, 2023 instead usually opting to play segments. The only complete live performance of a Not Available track was in October of 2010, when Randy Rose and Už Jsme Doma performed "Never Known Questions" during a one-off concert in the Czech Republic.
When the group was planning their aborted 10th Anniversary show in 1982, they created a three minute abridged arrangement of "Ship's A'Going Down", which was later adapted for the 13th Anniversary tour in 1985, where it was segued between "Eloise" and "The New Machine (Success)". The group would later adapt a segment from "The Making Of A Soul" into "Mourning Glories" for their Shadowland tour between 2014 and 2016. 
"Ship's A'Going Down" was also the basis for the track "Ship of Fools" from the group's 20th Anniversary "mash-up" album, Our Finest Flowers in 1992. The Residents later performed "Ship of Fools" live during The Way We Were tour in 2005, and one year later, created a remix of it that would eventually appear on the 2009 album RMX. It was also performed during the Shadowland tour, as the finale to the main set.
In October 2014 Charles Bobuck digitally released solo versions of "The Making Of A Soul" and "Never Known Questions", both featuring Nolan Cook on guitar. The success of these newly-recorded renditions ultimately led Bobuck to record a full album of solo versions of Residents songs, Bobuck Plays The Residents, in September 2016.
== Track listing ==
All tracks composed by The Residents except where otherwise noted.
==== Original release ====
=====Side A (19:22)=====
# Part One: Edweena (9:27)
# Part Two: The Making Of A Soul (9:55)
=====Side B (15:54)=====
# Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down (6:34)
# Part Four: Never Known Questions (6:59)
# Epilogue (2:21)
==== "Classic Series" CD reissue (1988) ====
Tracks 6-11 composed by The Residents and Renaldo & The Loaf.''
#Part One: Edweena (9:25)
# Part Two: The Making Of A Soul (9:56)
# Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down (6:30)
# Part Four: Never Known Questions (7:05)
#Epilogue (2:25)
#Intro: Version (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (1:22)
#The Shoe Salesman (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (4:08)
#Crashing (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (1:40)
#Monkey & Bunny (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (4:57)
#Mahogany Wood (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (4:09)
#The Sailor Song (with Renaldo & The Loaf) (6:00)
==== Extended edition (2011) ====
===== Side A (20:58) =====
# Part One: Edweena (10:55)
# Part Two: The Making Of A Soul (10:03)
===== Side B (21:25) =====
# Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down (10:10)
# Part Four: Never Known Questions (8:54)
#Epilogue (2:21)
==== pREServed CD edition (2019) ====
(*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.
===== Disc 1 =====
Not Available + Available Live
#Part One: Edweena (9:27)
#Part Two: The Making Of A Soul (9:52)
#Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down (6:33)
#Part Four: Never Known Questions (6:59)
#Epilogue (2:35)
#Ship's A'Going Down (1982 Rehearsal) (2:36)
#Ship's A'Going Down (Live, 1986) (4:14)
#Mourning Glories (Live, 2014) (3:58)
===== Disc 2 =====
X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion)
#Mehico Ron Devoo (*) (3:04)
#Theme From X (With Roman Overtones) (*) (2:29)
#Theme From X (Pt 2) (*) (1:44)
#Salome And Goiter (*) (1:47)
#New Mexico Dream (*) (5:09)
#Ho Ho Bumped His Toe (*) (0:49)
#Where To Begin? (*) (4:22)
#Fairly Well (*) (4:09)
#Love Sprong (*) (2:47)
#Ah, Spare Us Gus (*) (2:09)
#Slow Texture (*) (2:17)
#Tennessee Williams (*) (2:06)
#Little A (An Authentic Folk Song) (*) (2:19)
#Asonarose (*) (2:30)
#Anaconda Montana (*) (2:53)
#Tune Of The Unknown (*) (1:31)
#Soundtrack Music Piece 17 (*) (1:54)
#Oh Solo Meow (*) (3:35)
#Mehico Ron Devoo Finale (*) (2:31)
#Russian Love Song (*) (4:33) (unlisted)
==== pREServed vinyl edition (2023) ====
===== Disc 1 - Not Available=====
======Side A======
#Part One: Edweena (9:27)
#Part Two: The Making Of A Soul (9:52)
======Side B======
#Part Three: Ship's A'Going Down (6:33)
#Part Four: Never Known Questions (6:59)
#Epilogue (2:35)
===== Disc 2 - X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion) =====
======Side C======
#Mehico Ron Devoo (3:04)
#Theme From X (With Roman Overtones) (2:29)
#Theme From X (Pt 2) (1:44)
#Salome And Goiter (1:47)
#New Mexico Dream (5:09)
#Where To Begin? (4:22)
#Fairly Well (4:09)
#Love Sprong (2:47)
======Side D======
#Ah, Spare Us Gus (2:09)
#Slow Texture (2:17)
#Tennessee Williams (2:06)
#Little A (An Authentic Folk Song) (2:19)
#Asonarose (2:30)
#Anaconda Montana (2:53)
#Tune Of The Unknown (1:31)
#Soundtrack Music Piece 17 (1:54)
#Oh Solo Meow (3:35)
#Mehico Ron Devoo Finale (2:31)
==Liner notes==
==== Torso CD edition (1988) ====
While there are a million stories about The Residents, one of the more intriguing concerns the recording of their second LP, Not Available. Early in the career of the band, the "theory of obscurity" was introduced to them by the German avant gardist, N. Senada. The plan called for the creation of complete projects that were literally not intended to be heard by anyone other than its creators. The Residents realized the truth in this ideal: that music really was difficult to record without considering the audience. They thought the experience gained by completing such a project would prove worthwhile toward achieving an independent attitude toward music. N. Senada had also been quick to point out that such a project reduces the amount of artistic clutter that is quickly swallowing the planet.
Not Available was completed in 1974 and stored. Several years later, in 1978, The Residents were severely over schedule on their opus, Eskimo. The final release deadline set by the record company arrived only to find that The Residents had fled to Europe and taken Eskimo with them. In desperation, the record company pulled Not Available from the masters room and released it. Surprisingly, The Residents were not upset by this fact since it in no way violated their original intent. Eventually Eskimo was retrieved from the bank vault in London but... well ... that's another story.
== Credits ==
* Composed, Arranged, Recorded & Produced By: The Residents
* Reprocessed By: Ralph Records
* Cover Art by: Pore-Know Graphics
** Based on a drawing by a Resident
* Musician: Sally Lewis Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses
* Narrator: Reed Paulsen 
== Release history ==
Year	Label 	Format	Region	Length*	Notes
1978	Ralph Records 	LP 	US 	35:16 	Initial pressing of 5000 copies with purple labels; recalled due to a mastering flaw
1978	Ralph Records 	LP 	US 	35:16 	Replacement pressing with orange and green labels (10,000 copies of each)
1983	Ralph Records 	LP 	US 	35:16 	
1985	Ralph Records 	LP 	US 	35:16 	
1988	East Side Digital 	CD 	US 	35:42 	10th Anniversary CD, bonus selections from Title In Limbo.
1988	Torso 	CD 	NL 	35:21 	10th Anniversary CD, bonus selections from Title In Limbo.
1988	Torso 	LP 	NL 	35:16 	
1997	East Side Digital 	CD 	US 	35:34 	
1997	Bomba Records 	CD 	JP 	35:31 	
2004	Euro Ralph 	LP 	GR 	35:46 	
2005	Euro Ralph 	CD 	EU 	35:23 	
2005	Euro Ralph 	LP 	EU 	35:46 	Clear vinyl
2005	Euro Ralph 	CD 	RU 	35:26 	Part of Russian series Indie ВИД
2010	MVD Audio 	LP 	US 	42:23 	Extended edition containing an additional 7 minutes of material
2010	Birdsong/Hayabusa Landings 	CD 	JP 	35:31 	Includes bonus selections from Title In Limbo
2010	Euro Ralph 	CD 	RU 	35:23 	Box set with Meet The Residents
2011	MVD Audio 	LP 	US 	42:23 	Extended edition containing an additional 7 minutes of material
2019	New Ralph Too/Cherry Red/MVD	2xCD 	US/EU 	35:26 	pREServed CD edition; includes X Is For Xtra and other bonus tracks
2019	Solid Records 	2xCD 	JP 	35:26 	pREServed CD edition; includes X Is For Xtra and other bonus tracks
2023	New Ralph Too/Cherry Red/MVD	2xLP 	US 	35:26 	pREServed vinyl edition; includes X Is For Xtra
2023	Psychofon Records 	LP 	EU 	35:26 	Classic Series collectors' vinyl edition of 200 copies on transparent orange and green splattered "blacklight" vinyl
2023	Psychofon Records 	LP 	EU 	35:26 	Classic Series collectors' vinyl "blacklight" box set edition of 25 copies on transparent orange and green splattered vinyl
*Not including bonus tracks
== Cover Art Gallery ==
===== MVD, 2010 =====
File:Not Available Outer Booklet.jpg|Outside of booklet
File:Not Available Inner Booklet.jpg|Inside of booklet
File:Not Available Back.jpg|Back cover art (reverse side is blank)
File:Not Available CD.jpg|Disc art
== See also ==
* X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion)
* Vileness Fats
* Eskimo
* "Available Piece"
* "Available Nonsensical"
* "Nobody's Nos"
* Not Available (Work in Progress)
== Buy Or Die! ==
* Not Available at MVDShop (US)
* Not Available pREServed CD edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
==== Listen online ====
* Not Available (2011 extended edition) on Spotify
* Not Available pREServed edition on Spotify
== Notes ==
== External links and references ==
* Not Available at The Residents Historical
* Not Available at RZWeb
* Not Available at Discogs
* Not Available pREServed edition at Discogs
Category:Albums
Category:Not Available
Category:Vileness Fats
Category:PREServed
Category:1974
Category:1978
Category:Albums with extended versions