Freak Show

* Original
* US Promo LP
* EU Promo LP
* Cassette
* Deluxe
* 1994 CD
* 13th Anniversary
* 2006 CD

***Freak Show*** is the eighteenth studio album (and twentieth album overall)  by The Residents, released in December 1990 on East Side Digital and Torso. *Freak Show* is a concept album following the stories of several different characters within a travelling carnival freak show.

Following the album's success, this concept was expanded to include multimedia projects such as a graphic novel and a CD-ROM. Expanded editions of the album were issued in 2003, 2006 and 2021.

## History and concept

### Development

In 1989, The Residents debuted their third touring show, *Cube-E, a* thought-provoking retelling of the history of American Music, presented in an hour-and-a-half performance that toured the world twice. Despite the critical praise and financial success, the group felt dissatisfied with the audience's reactions. They felt that even though the show was stunning, audiences could not see past the group's reputation as a 'weird' group. When back on tour in December, The Residents began conceptualising an album based around a circus, inspired by their dissatisfaction with this limited understanding of their show.

In the spring of 1990, the group held a jam session to generate material for their next album. Shortly afterwards, they began to develop their circus idea into one about Roller Skating Ponies within a circus. But this was quickly abandoned in favor of an album about a *Freak Show*.

The Residents started thinking about the traditional Freak Shows of years gone by, which members of the group had witnessed throughout the 1950s. They turned to Daniel P. Mannix's book *Freaks: We Who Are Not Like Others* and watched the 1932 Tod Browning film *Freaks* for inspiration.

*'Freaks: We Who Are Not Like Others'* is a detailed exploration of the American Freak Show, written by a man who had spent the 1940s working with them. The book was first published in 1976 in limited quantities but received a wider release in 1989.

Inspired by this, the group began to write lyrics and medleys based on their spring sessions. These songs grew into character studies; for example, the track "*Lillie*" is about a member of the audience who, despite being a "normal" person, is so disturbing that she manages to scare out the performers.

When sessions for the album proper began in July, The Residents sought the assistance of Laurie Amat, a female vocalist who had been working with the band since the end of the *American Composers Series**.* They also worked with Tony Janssen, who had previously helped the group with sound on their *Cube-E* tour, and newcomer female vocalist *Diana Alden**.*

Sessions for the album concluded in October of 1990, after which The Residents began their tour of Canada and the United States East Coast. The tour was halted after a performance in New York City when a speaker fell into the audience and caused a fire. Perhaps now feeling dissatisfied with the tour and getting an oh-so-familiar feeling that had plagued their minds in the final days of the Mole Show, The Residents mutually agreed never to tour again.

### Release

Freak Show was first teased in the October 1990 UWEB newsletter as the next Residents release through Enigma, alongside the Cube E live album. The album was released two months later in Europe by Dutch label Torso on CD, LP & Cassette, but the US release was delayed due to the collapse of Enigma. IRS Records was expected to pick up the album for release in April of 1991.

    By June of 1991, negotiations with IRS fell through, and The Cryptic Corporation began pressing their own copies to sell through mail order, on CD, LP & Cassette. They also produced several promo LP versions. Concurrently with the US release of the album, a VHS containing music videos for for *Everyone Comes To The Freak Show* and *Harry The Head* directed by John Sanborn & Jim Ludtke, respectively was released, and the Freak Show Comic Book entered production. The album was eventually given a wide release by East Side Digital on CD.

In November of 1991, The Residents performed a live show based on three songs from the Freak Show album, using props and costumes from both Cube-E and The 13th Anniversary Show.

The Freak Show comic book was released in 1992 through Dark Horse Comics alongside a CD single, *Blowoff*. The comic featured several influential artists.

Almost immediately following the release show of the book, the group started working with Jim Ludtke and The Voyager Company on a CD-ROM adaption of the album. It was released in 1994 and received high critical and commercial praise. After the CD-ROM's release, The Residents began writing a stage musical adaption of Freak Show, which debuted in 1995. The live adaptation of Freak Show was the end of the project, as the group turned their attention to its follow-up *Bad Day on The Midway*. Around this time, The Residents pitched an animated series to MTV but backed out when they realised this meant selling the character rights to the channel.

In July of 2003, to celebrate the album's 13th anniversary, an expanded version was released, which combined the original material with excerpts from the Blowoff single and a bonus disc of live re-interpretations of the songs. The expanded first disc became the album's standard version, featured on all re-issues until the pRESereved edition, which returned the first disc to its original format.

The final attempt at Freak Show was an animated feature co-directed by Jim Ludtke. Production on the film was held in secrecy until March of 2004 when Ludtke unexpectedly died. The Residents cancelled the project out of respect.

### Legacy

Freak Show has long since proven to be a favorite project by The Residents, with material from it appearing in all of the band's 'Greatest Hits' style live shows, *Disfigured Night*, *Icky Flix,* *The Way We Were, Talking Light, The Wonder of Weird, Shadowland,* &*In Between Dreams.*

Despite the love of live performances of the material, The Residents haven't felt the need to re-record much of the material in the studio, with *Harry The Head* & *Jelly Jack The Boneless Boy* being the only examples, both found on the Icky Flix DVD.

Three RMX's of Jack have been released, the first being a remix of a 1997 performance of the track released on 12 Days of Brumalia, the second being apart of the RMX album, and the third being a digital single released in 2014. All three of these are based on the 1997 live version.

## Track listing

### Original release (1990)

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (3:59)
2. Harry The Head (2:54)
3. Herman The Human Mole (3:57)
4. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:34)
5. Jello Jack The Boneless Boy (5:53)
6. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:07)
7. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:26)
8. Lillie (6:56)
9. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:50)

### Abridged CD-ROM Original Soundtrack (1994)

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (Abridged Edit) (3:02)
2. Harry The Head (2:56)
3. Herman The Human Mole (3:57)
4. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:37)
5. Jelly Jack The Boneless Boy (5:57)
6. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:07)
7. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:28)
8. Lillie (6:59)
9. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:47)

### Box set edition (1994)

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (3:59)
2. Harry The Head (2:54)
3. Herman The Human Mole (3:57)
4. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:34)
5. Jello Jack The Boneless Boy (5:53)
6. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:07)
7. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:26)
8. Lillie (6:56)
9. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:50)
10. Holy Kiss Of Flesh (Remix) (14:15)

### 13th Anniversary Special Edition (2003)

***Disc 1***

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (5:24)
2. Harry's Introduction (0:34)
3. Harry The Head (3:02)
4. Herman Watches TV (Mexican Porn) (2:38)
5. Herman The Human Mole (3:59)
6. Wanda Does Her Act (2:03)
7. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:38)
8. Jack Amuses The Crowd (0:46)
9. Jack The Boneless Boy (5:57)
10. Benny Bounces (0:34)
11. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:10)
12. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:39)
13. Lillie (7:00)
14. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:57)

***Disc 2 - Prague and Beyond***

*Tracks 1-10 performed by the Freak Show Band, featuring members of Už Jsme Doma* *live in Prague 1995.*

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (3:20)
2. Wanda (Ft. Andrea Nováková) (3:54)
3. Mickey (3:02)
4. Bridge (2:58)
5. Herman (Ft. Vladimír Gut) (4:20)
6. Harry (Ft. Wayne Doba) (1:14)
7. Jack (3:39)
8. Benny (Ft. Miroslav Matyáš) (6:44)
9. Wanda's Letters (Part 17) (Ft. Andrea Nováková) (10:07)
10. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (1:28)
11. Freak Show Remix (2001) (9:00)
12. Benny Live - Icky Flix Tour (2001) (10:09)

### Expanded edition (2006)

*The 2006 expanded edition used the same track listing as the 2003 13th Anniversary edition, except with the inclusion of a DVD which features a track listing as featured below:*

CD

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (5:24)
2. Harry's Introduction (0:27)
3. Harry The Head (2:58)
4. Herman Watches TV (Mexican Porn) (2:34)
5. Herman The Human Mole (3:55)
6. Wanda Does Her Act (1:59)
7. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:34)
8. Jack Amuses The Crowd (0:46)
9. Jack The Boneless Boy (5:53)
10. Benny Bounces (0:32)
11. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:06)
12. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:35)
13. Lillie (6:56)
14. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:57)

DVD

1. Mute Film Presents (0:21)
2. The Cryptic Corporation (0:07)
3. Intro Title (0:42)
4. Herman The Human Mole (2004) (3:26)
5. The Freak Show Press Release including Harry The Head (1992) (7:57)
6. Jelly Jack Video (1992) (4:19)
7. Benny The Bouncing Bump (NEC) (1991) (5:05)
8. Freak Show Live (Prague) excerpt (1995) (2:06)
9. Benny The Bouncing Bump (2004) (4:57)
10. Pickled Punks (2004) (0:16)
11. Introduction (0:53)
12. Joseph Merrick - The Elephant Man (3:14)
13. Chang & Eng - The Original Siamese Twins (3:30)
14. Johnny Eck - Half Man (3:32)
15. Prince Randian - The Human Torso (3:19)
16. The Hilton Sisters - Chained For Life (3:23)
17. Conclusion (1:17)

## pREServed edition (2021)

*Freak Show* was released in a three-disc expanded and remastered edition by New Ralph Too, Cherry Red Records and MVD Audio on March 26th 2021 as part of The Residents' pREServed series. The release was originally announced for February 26th but was later delayed by a month for unspecified reasons. The set briefly appeared on streaming platforms (including Spotify) on its original release date before quickly being removed.

The pREServed edition of *Freak Show* contains a new remaster by Scott Colburn of the original nine-track edition of the album with related contemporary material, a full disc of unreleased studio jams and work-in-progress material, and a live disc featuring a new restoration of the Ty's Freak Show performance and live versions of every song on the original album dating from 1995 through 2018.

### Track listing

*(\*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased.*

#### Disc 1

***Freak Show* + Bonus Tracks**

1. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show (4:02)
2. Harry The Head (2:57)
3. Herman The Human Mole (3:57)
4. Wanda The Worm Woman (4:37)
5. Jack The Boneless Boy (5:57)
6. Benny The Bouncing Bump (6:07)
7. Mickey The Mumbling Midget (4:28)
8. Lillie (7:02)
9. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (5:50)
10. The Mutes (5:40)
11. Blowoff (13:38)
12. All Tha' Freaks (1:04)
13. The Eyes Scream (2:25)
14. Jelly Jack (Icky Flix) (4:21)
15. Harry The Head (Icky Flix) (2:57)
16. Jelly Jack RMX (3:39)

#### Disc 2

**The ***Freak Show*** Evolutions** (\*)

*All tracks previously unreleased.*

1. Spring 1990 Jam 1 (4:52)
	1. Herman Watches TV
	2. Harry's Introduction
	3. Herman Watches TV
2. Spring 1990 Jam 2 (9:55)
	1. Wanda The Worm Woman
	2. Jack The Boneless Boy
	3. Herman The Human Mole
	4. Wanda The Worm Woman
	5. Wanda Does Her Act
	6. Blowoff
	7. Everyone Comes To The Freak Show
3. Spring 1990 Jam 3 (8:52)
	1. Benny The Bouncing Bump
	2. Willie's Theme / Anganok
4. Rough Mix 1 (1:42)
5. Rough Mix 2 (Jack Amuses The Crowd) (2:35)
6. Rough Mix 4 (Jack The Boneless Boy) (2:13)
7. Rough Mix 7 (5:19)
	1. Nobody Laughs When They Leave
	2. Mickey The Mumbling Midget
8. Rough Mix 10 (1:16)
9. Rough Mix 12 (Wanda The Worm Woman) (1:42)
10. Rough Mix 13 (Lillie) (1:48)
11. Rough Mix 14 (Mickey The Mumbling Midget) (2:59)
12. Rough Mix 16 (1:21)
13. Rough Mix 19 (0:50)
14. Rough Mix 21 (0:44)
15. Pony Rink 1 (Lillie) (0:44)
16. Pony Rink 3 (Lillie) (2:54)
17. Pony Rink 4 (Lillie) (2:22)
18. Pony Rink 5 (1:55)
19. Pony Rink 6 (Herman The Human Mole) (1:59)
20. Pony Rink 9 (Jack The Boneless Boy) (2:12)
21. Pony Rink 10 (Jack The Boneless Boy) (2:37)
22. Pony Rink 11 (Lillie) (1:54)
23. Pony Rink 13 (Wanda The Worm Woman) (1:21)
24. Pony Rink 17 (Wanda The Worm Woman) (2:01)
25. Pony Rink 20 (Lillie) (2:32)
26. Pony Rink 23 (Mickey The Mumbling Midget) (3:03)
27. Pony Rink 26 (Blowoff / Everyone Comes To The Freak Show) (2:58)

#### Disc 3

**Live Freaks**

1. Ty's Freak Show Restoration (1991) (18:08) (\*)
2. Everyone Comes To The Freakshow (1997) (2:29)
3. Harry (2014) (3:04)
4. Herman (2014) (3:18)
5. Wanda (1995) (4:50)
6. Jack (1997) (5:53)
7. Benny (2001) (6:44)
8. Mickey (2018) (4:14)
9. Lillie (2011) (5:59)
10. Nobody Laughs When They Leave (2001) (3:25)

## Credits

* Written & Performed By: The Residents
* Produced By: The Cryptic Corporation
* Featuring: Diane Alden, Laurie Amat, & Tony Janssen.
* Mixed By: Tony Janssen & The Residents
* Mastered By: John Acoca, Rocket Lab S.F
* Cover Art By: Pour No Graphics
* Photography By: Henrik Kam
* Package Design By: Rex Ray

## See also

* Freak Show (graphic novel)
* Freak Show (CD-ROM)
* Freak Show Live
* *Gingerbread Man*
* *Bad Day on the Midway*

## External links and references

* *Freak Show*at The Residents Historical
* *Freak Show*at RZWeb
* *Freak Show*on Discogs

1. ↑ "Freak Show started out to be about a circus, then it was about a pony circus. A roller skating pony circus"

'Mondo 2000 #5 interview with The Cryptic Corporation,
2. ↑ Freak Show 2021 pREServed booklet, Jim Knipfel
3. ↑ UWEB newsletter (Volume 3 #1, March 1991)

## Notes

1. ↑ The April 1991 Press Release refers to it as such

**Ralph Records (1972 - 1987)**
*Meet The Residents* (1974) · *The Third Reich 'n Roll* (1976) · *Fingerprince* (1977) · *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen* (1978)*Not Available* (1978) · *Eskimo* (1979) · *Commercial Album* (1980) · *Mark of the Mole* (1981) *The Tunes of Two Cities* (1982) · *George & James* (1984) · *The Big Bubble* (1985) · *Stars & Hank Forever!* (1986)
**Ryko and Enigma (1988 - 1989)**
*God In Three Persons* (1988) · *The King & Eye* (1989)
**East Side Digital (1990 - 2002)**
***Freak Show*** (1990) · *Our Finest Flowers* (1992) · *Gingerbread Man* (1994) · *Have A Bad Day* (1996) *Wormwood* (1998) · *Demons Dance Alone* (2002)
**Mute Records (2004 - 2007)** *Animal Lover* (2005) · *Tweedles!* (2006) · *The Voice of Midnight* (2007)
**MVD Audio (2008 - 2015)**
*The Bunny Boy* (2008) · *Lonely Teenager* (2011) · *Mush-Room* (2013)
**MVD Audio and Cherry Red (2016 - present)** *The Ghost of Hope* (2017) · *Intruders* (2018) · *Metal, Meat & Bone* (2020)

**Fan club / off-label albums**
*Buckaroo Blues* (1989) · *The 12 Days of Brumalia* (2004) · *Night of the Hunters* (2007)*Hades* (2009) · *Dollar General* (2010) · *Night Train To Nowhere!* (2012)
**Soundtrack albums**
*Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?* (1984) · *The Census Taker* (1985) · *Hunters* (1995) · *Icky Flix* (2001) *I Murdered Mommy!* (2004) · *Postcards From Patmos* (2008) ·  *Strange Culture/Haeckel's Tale* (2010)*Chuck's Ghost Music* (2011) · *Theory of Obscurity Soundtrack* (2014) · *Sculpt* (2016) · *Music to Eat Bricks By* (2019) · *Triple Trouble* (2022)
**Collaborative albums**
*Title In Limbo* with Renaldo & The Loaf (1983) · *I Am A Resident!* with You? (2018)
**Live in the studio**
*Assorted Secrets* (1984) · *Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions* (2000) · *Talking Light Live In Rehearsal, Santa Cruz, California* (2010)*Mole Dance 82* (2021) · *Duck Stab! Alive!* (2021)
**Related articles**
The Residents discography (W.E.I.R.D., 1979) · Ralph Records discography