The Residents – The Tunes Of Two Cities

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Label:	Ralph Records – RZ-8202, Ralph Records – RZ 8202
Format:	Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:	US
Released:	Mar 10, 1982
Genre:	Electronic
Style:	Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

Tracklist

A1	Serenade For Missy Guitar – Snakefinger Saxophone – Norman Salant	3:17
A2	A Maze Of Jigsaws	2:52
A3	Mousetrap	3:25
A4	God Of Darkness	3:10
A5	Smack Your Lips (Clap Your Teeth) Guitar – Snakefinger	3:52
A6	Praise For The Curse	2:46
B1	The Secret Seed	2:45
B2	Smokebeams Guitar – Snakefinger	2:44
B3	Mourning The Undead	3:05
B4	Song Of The Wild	3:24
B5	The Evil Disposer	3:18
B6	Happy Home (Excerpt From Act II Of "Innisfree") Vocals – Nessie Lessons	4:45

Companies, etc.

Manufactured By – Ralph Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Cryptic Corporation
Copyright © – Cryptic Corporation
Published By – Pale Pachyderm Publishing
Lacquer Cut At – Sonic Arts

Credits

Cover – Poorknow Graphics*
Lacquer Cut By – LKIKS*
Sampler [Uncredited] – Philip Perkins
Written-By, Performer [Played By] – The Residents

Notes

First release with "444 Grove Street" address on back sleeve, bottom left. It has also the "10th Anniversary" logo on the bottom right, and the mention "Special special thanks to E-Mu Systems for the fabulous Emulator" just under.

The sleeve was re-printed in 1985 with new address, Cryptic logo, but no mention of thanks to E-Mu System. However the disc is the same with same matrix numbers.

Location recordings: P. del Scrappio

Manufactured by Ralph Records / 444 Grove Street / San Francisco, CA 94102 / © 1982, The Cryptic Corporation

Published by Pale Pachyderm Pub (BMI)
℗ © 1982 - The Cryptic Corp.

Sleeve notes:
"The Tunes Of Two Cities" is the second part of The Residents' Mole Trilogy which began with "Mark Of The Mole" in 1981. While the first LP is an elaborately told story of political and social struggle, "Two Cities" is a documentation of the music of these two different cultures as they were before fate threw them into turmoil.
The tracks on this record alternate between societies. First one culture...then the other...making its point, not just by what is said...but by the listener's willingness to understand the globe wrenching power of "DIFFERENCE".

Runouts are hand etched except for the Sonic Arts "⊏◯⊐" stamp.

Track durations are not printed on the release.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Rights Society: BMI
Matrix / Runout (Side A label): RZ 8202 A
Matrix / Runout (Side B label): RZ 8202 B
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): RZ 8202 A Re2 LKIKS ⊏◯⊐
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): RZ 8202 B Re2 LKIKS ⊏◯⊐

Other Versions (5 of 14)

View All

	Title (Format)	Label	Cat#	Country	Year
New Submission	The Tunes Of Two Cities (Cassette, Album)	Ralph Records	RZC 8202	US	1982
Recently Edited	The Tunes Of Two Cities (LP, Album, Reissue, Repress)	Ralph Records, Ralph Records	RZ-8202, RZ 8202	US	1985
Recently Edited	The Tunes Of Two Cities (CD, Album, Reissue, PDO Germany)	Torso	TORSO CD 418	Netherlands	1988
	The Tunes Of Two Cities (CD, Album, Reissue, PDO)	East Side Digital	ESD 80282	US	1988
Recently Edited	The Tunes Of Two Cities (LP, Album, Reissue)	Torso	TORSO 40018	Netherlands	1988

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Reviews

miss.erica Mar 6, 2024
Probably their best - and best sounding, at least this first vinyl edition.
Iven_Dean_Michael Jan 14, 2024
Im new to The Residents and I don’t know which albums are considered real studio albums, is this one?
MEllODrOnE Feb 10, 2020
Edited 4 years ago
This recording sounds so good. Found a sealed copy of this recently complete with the Ralph Records 10th Anniversary sticker on the cover. Residents on vinyl sound excellent. The orchestration on this album is legit. The sax on the first track cuts just as hard as on the audiophile jazz releases I own. Quite possibly my favorite Residents album next to Mark of the Mole. It seems their albums were recorded and mastered really well because every original release I own from them has great fidelity, enhanced depth and clear, defined sound. The vinyl version of this record gives the music a little more breathing room than the CD and adds a nice analog warmth and a wide soundstage that really pulls you into these oddball electronic experiments. Other formats of this album don’t even come close to they way this sounds on vinyl. Residents on vinyl is the way to go.
Alaindexe Oct 10, 2016
'Tunes of Two Cities' continues the trilogy begun with 'Mark of the Mole', but in a much lighter atmosphere. It is less successful. We can feel that they are running out of steam and that there’s a drop in intensity. As if The Residents we’re trying to “muzakified” their bizarre universe. It’s not a bad album but it’s based on gimmicks that forecast their – simplified – creative process ahead. As the guitarist Snakefinger told me when I interviewed him in 1986, The Residents now had emulators and were no longer obliged to make so much effort to produce interesting sounds. From now on, this technological facility mark the work of The Residents and I’ve lost some of my interest in the band. It must be said that there was a lot going on on the music scene in the early 1980s and I had less time to devote to a band that required all the attention to be fully appreciated.

© Alain Cliche 2016
Beyond_John May 9, 2015
The last great Residents album (that I know of). This, Eskimo, Not Available (unextended), Fingerprince, Intermission, and the Satisfaction single... top shelf. Duck Stab, Commercial Album, Meet the Residents, Mark of the Mole, and Third Reich & Roll, almost top shelf. Can't stand any release I've heard since, but I've in no way heard them all. One of the most interesting bursts of dark hilarity, poking rock 'n' roll pomposity in the eye, to come out of the seventies and early eighties. Then...O' inevitable calamity, they took themselves seriously or something worse. Judging from the impression that one guy was singing all the songs afterwards, I suspect half or more of the heads under the skulls and eyeballs went off to skip rope after the Mole Show ambitions and were replaced with heads equally ambitious in the realm of what was left of eye-eyed Rockdom. They were still weird, but dull. Anyone know of any great Residents albums since Tunes of Two Cities? If so, please share... I'd love to hear it. Love the use of the E-Mu on this one. On first listen, back when it was new, I couldn't make out what the hell instruments were being played... things from another world. Love it.
phaks May 16, 2014
One of my absolute favourites of the Residents. The pure essence of their genius. Great strange sounds and melodies, drama vs irony. Mostly instrumental, it's a wide spectrum from faked jazz to absurd march music, from ambient to tribal electronics. Sounds absolutely fresh in 2014.
voikarl Jan 11, 2008
This album (part two of The Mole Trilogy) was derived from a concept which grew out of the early Mark Of The Mole recording sessions and was then recorded concurrently with the latter half of that of the two conflicting races in the Mole Story, (Moles and Chubs), by offering six examples of each style. Happy Home is an excerpt from the end of Act II of Innisfree, a musical drama conceived by The Residents, which is yet to be completed. (or begun)
The Tunes Of Two Cities was the first album ever recorded to feature music produced on a Emulator (from E-mu Systems), a special type of keyboard instrument which digitally samples any sound for later modification and playback. The second was Peter Gabriel.