Demons Dance Alone

* Standard edition
* Special edition

 ***Demons Dance Alone*** is a concept album by The Residents, released in a two disc special edition in June 2002 by Euro Ralph and Ralph America, and in its single disc standard edition in September by East Side Digital.

Inspired by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th 2001, *Demons Dance Alone* was warmly received as one of The Residents' finest albums in years and a welcome return to form.

## History

### Development

In September 2001, The Residents were performing their Icky Flix live show in Hamburg, Germany. On the same day as this performance the group learnt that the New York City Twin Towers had been collapsed via a terrorist attack. At the same time group had been writing material for their then untitled *Animal Lover* album, but shelved the material in favor of a more timely feeling concept.

The Residents decided their next album would be about grief and how if not reacted to appropriately, could lead to demonization. Following the conclusion of the Icky Flix tour in October, the band began working on the album, tentatively titled *Tales of the Eyeball Buddha*.

In the studio, the group were assisted by what was becoming their regular team of assistants: Molly Harvey, a vocalist who had worked with them consistently since Gingerbread Man. Isabelle Barbier, co-producer Homer Flynn's daughter, had also appeared on the Gingerbread Man album. Vocalist Carla Fabrizio, who had worked with them since Wormwood, as well as Nolan Cook and Toby Dammit, who had joined the team on the Wormwood tour. The album was produced by The Cryptic Corporation; Hardy Fox and Homer Flynn. Homer Flynn also created the album artwork.

*Demons Dance Alone* is split into three main parts, "Loss", "Denial", and "The Three Metaphors", bookended by the tracks "Tongue" and "Demons Dance Alone", and interspersed with a number of untitled transitional instrumentals. The untitled "Tongue" tracks all feature samples from *Slow Bob In The Lower Dimensions*, a 1990 short film scored by The Residents.

## Release

To support the release of the album, a compilation album titled *Petting Zoo* was released in April 2002. This album opened with two tracks from *Demons Dance Alone*, "Betty's Body" and "Wolverines".

The first release of Demons Dance Alone was an expanded two disc edition, in June 2002 by Euro Ralph and Ralph America. Following this, the standard edition was released in September by East Side Digital, whilst the Japanese edition was released on October 9th, 2002 by Bomba Records.

The release of *Demons Dance Alone* was supported by a live tour which ran from October 2002 to September 2003 and also saw the release of the *Demons Dance Alone* live DVD in 2003, and the live album *Demonic! Demons Dance Alone Live In Oslo* in 2012.

On March 16th, 2016, MVD Audio re-released the album. This version includes the original untitled tracks as uncredited outros. It is 30 seconds longer.

## Reception

### Contemporary

Freelance music reviewer Mark Prindle reviewed *Demons Dance Alone* in September 2002, summarizing it as "a Residents Broadway musical on the subjects of loss, denial and emotional pain", noting the "undeniably emotional and instantly catchy" melodies of some songs, and comparing others to the "self-pity" of the work of Leonard Cohen.

## Legacy

### Tour

* *See: Demons Dance Alone (Tour)*

As was becoming tradition for the group, The Residents planned an extensive tour to support the album. The show featured mostly songs from the album, with a brief suite of songs from the 1980s. The line-up of additional musicians was nearly identical to those featured on the Wormwood and Icky Flix tours, with one major change, The Keyboardist Resident had been replaced with Eric Drew Feldman, who had worked with Snakefinger all throughout the 1980s. This change was not permanent though, and the keyboardist had returned by their 2005 tour of Australia. Also introdcued on this tour is Desmond Shea, as

### Live Versions

Outside of the 2008 'Bunny Boy' mini-tour and the recent 'In Between Dreams' tour, live performances of Demons Dance Alone material has been entirely consistent. The 2005 '*Way We Were*' tour featured a medley of '*Mr. Wonderful'* and '*Betty's Body',* the Talking Light tour featured the album's title track performed up until halfway through the final leg, as well as '*The Sleepwalker*' which was featured exclusively on the 2xCD edition of the album, Wonder of Weird featured '*Honey Bear*' and finally, Shadowland featured '*Betty's Body*', '*Caring*', and '*Mickey Macaroni*'.

### Studio Reworkings

'*Betty's Body*' and '*The Sleepwalker*' were both re-recorded in 2004 for the album '*Twelve Days of Brumalia*', which featured the same line-up as the Demons Dance Alone tour. An instrumental version of 'Make Me Moo' was also featured in the 2008 Bunny Boy intermission music and in 2011 'The Sleepwalker' was re-reworked for the album Lonely Teenager. Later on a remixed version of '*The Weatherman*' was released as a digital single in 2013, a version of '*Betty's Body*' re-recorded by *Charles Bobuck* was featured on the 2016 album *Bobuck Plays The Residents,* the song '*Still Needy?*' from Intruders is a re-recording of the song Neediness, and on '*I Am A Resident!*', the songs '*Hanging By His Habit*' and '*Freaky Wake*' both feature excerpts from Demons Dance Alone songs. On the 'And So Are We...' bonus disc, '*The Weatherman*' was re-recorded by Danny Spiteri and Jason Hallyburton. A separate re-recording of The Weatherman also featured on the LP version of the album, this time re-recorded by (the) baby born massacre.

## Track listing

***Demons Dance Alone***

1. I. Tongue (1:10)
2. Mr Wonderful (3:47)
3. The Weatherman (3:03)
4. Ghost Child (2:53)
5. Caring (3:47)
6. Honey Bear (4:11)
7. The Car Thief (3:56)
8. Neediness (4:08)
9. (0:25)
10. (0:44)
11. (0:06)
12. Thundering Skies (2:51)
13. Mickey Macaroni (2:41)
14. Betty's Body (3:28)
15. My Brother Paul (3:04)
16. (0:17)
17. Baja (2:29)
18. (0:26)
19. (0:31)
20. (0:04)
21. The Beekeeper's Daughter (2:50)
22. (0:08)
23. Wolverines (2:45)
24. (0:04)
25. Make Me Moo (2:51)
26. (0:34)
27. (1:02)
28. II. Demons Dance Alone (3:43)

### Ralph America Expanded Edition

***Disc One***

1. I. Tongue (1:11)
2. Mr Wonderful (3:50)
3. The Weatherman (3:06)
4. Ghost Child (2:56)
5. Caring (3:49)
6. Honey Bear (4:14)
7. The Car Thief (3:58)
8. Neediness (4:08)
9. (0:25)
10. (0:44)
11. (0:06)
12. Thundering Skies (2:54)
13. Mickey Macaroni (2:44)
14. Betty's Body (3:31)
15. My Brother Paul (3:07)
16. (0:18)
17. Baja (2:28)
18. (0:26)
19. (0:32)
20. (0:04)
21. The Beekeeper's Daughter (2:53)
22. (0:09)
23. Wolverines (2:58)
24. (0:04)
25. Make Me Moo (2:41)
26. (0:35)
27. (1:03)
28. II. Demons Dance Alone (3:42)

***Disc Two***

1. Sleepwalker (2:55)
2. Hidden Hand (Instrumental) (1:44)
3. Black Cats (1:20)
4. Weatherman (2:02)
5. Make Me Moo (2:15)
6. The Car Thief (1:34)
7. My Brother Paul (1:26)
8. Caring (1:11)
9. Honey Bear (1:41)
10. Wolverines (1:35)
11. Mickey Macaroni (2:05)
12. Demons Dance Alone (1:10)
13. Happy Thanksgiving (2:24)
14. Hidden Hand (Vocal) (2:25)
15. Vampire (3:09)
16. Tortured (3:10)

### 2016 MVD Re-Issue

1. Tongue 1 (1:14)
2. Mr Wonderful (3:52)
3. The Weatherman (3:09)
4. Ghost Child (2:59)
5. Caring (3:54)
6. Honey Bear (4:17)
7. The Car Thief (4:02)
8. Neediness (4:30)
9. Tongue 2 (0:42)
10. Thundering Skies (3:01)
11. Mickey Macaroni (2:43)
12. Betty's Body (3:33)
13. My Brother Paul (3:09)
14. Baja (3:14)
15. Tongue 3 (0:42)
16. The Beekeeper's Daughter (3:01)
17. Wolverines (3:11)
18. Make Me Moo (3:29)
19. Tongue 4 (1:06)
20. Demons Dance Alone (3:43)

## Credits

**Performed By:**

* The Residents (Vocals, Keys)
* Molly Harvey (Vocals)
* Isabelle Barbier (Vocals)
* Carla Fabrizio (Vocals, Various)
* Nolan Cook (Guitars)
* Toby Dammit (Assorted Noises)
* Desmond Shea (Trumpet)

## Release history

In 2002 two versions of this album were released, the standard released by Euro Ralph & East Side Digital, and the Special Edition, featuring a bonus CD of studio outtakes, released by Ralph America. In 2005, Euro Ralph released the album in Russia, and in 2016 MVD released a shortened version of the album, removing the various untitled tracks.

 2005
 2016

## External links and references

1. ↑ "Fifty Years Of Weird & Wacky Wonderfulness", Musique Machine, March 23rd 2022
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20020930003119/http://www.residents.com/
3. ↑ Mark Prindle, "What's new on the Prindle site", Mark's Record Reviews, September 28th 2002 (archived via archive.org)
4. ↑ Mark Prindle, "Demons Dance Alone", Mark's Record Reviews, September 28th 2002

**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