The Firesign Theater: Waiting For the Electrician Or Someone Like Him CD Track Listing
The Firesign Theater
Waiting For the Electrician Or Someone Like Him (1968)
2001 Columbia/Legacy\nOriginally Released 1968\nRemastered Edition Released December 4, 2001\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: When Firesign Theatre graduated from free-form FM radio to the album format, they brought a lot of their radio experience with them. This included a thorough knowledge of media and the willingness to skewer anything and everything. Album opener "Temporarily Humboldt County" takes square aim at America's shoddy treatment of its aboriginal peoples, and scores a bulls-eye, with not a wasted word. "Beat the Reaper" is a funny game-show spoof. Much of the rest of the album drifts into less notable territory, with many references to the drug culture and being "hip" and "groovy." There's a lot of great wordplay, but quite a bit of the material doesn't date very well. -- Sean Carruthers\n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nFiresign's classic debut. A very funny time capsule., December 20, 2001 \nReviewer: A music fan from Los Angeles, CA USA \n"Electrician" is the debut album from the Firesign Theatre and, while (overall) a bit more conventional than their later releases, it is still very funny. It's sort of a notebook of things to come. The first half of the CD presents looks at the past, present (then, 1968), and future. The Past is a look at the American Indians exploitation by the Spaniards and Europeans, the Present is a stroll through a hippie commune, and the Future is presented as the counterculture becoming the Mainstream (where everyone is "groovy"). Okay, a bit quaint and dated, but still real funny... and idealistic (which can't be said for most of today's cynical comedy). The second half is Firesign's first extended piece which starts out as a Berlitz language tape and transforms into a Kafka-esque trip through a politically volatile and nameless Eastern-European country. Peter Bergman, Phil Proctor, Phil Austin, & David Ossman all essay several roles each and, indeed, this may be their most impressive (or, at least, most varied) vocal performance of any of their releases. This title has been out of print for nearly 10 years, so grab one now, you won't regret it. And, check out laugh.com, where the balance of Firesign's other classics (i.e., "Not Insane," "In the Next World, You're On Your Own") are finally being released on CD for the first time! \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nSony Goofed, December 14, 2001 \nReviewer: A music fan from USA \nOn the copy I received, the title track is missing the first seventeen seconds. This eliminates enough material to affect the overall structure of the piece, and as their fans know, the Firesign Theatre are all about structure, even if the jokes are what you notice first. Their work is tightly organized, and they're never sloppy. Wish I could say the same for their old record company. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nSony Goofed, December 14, 2001 \nReviewer: A music fan from USA \nOn the copy I received, the title track is missing the first seventeen seconds. This eliminates enough material to affect the overall structure of the piece, and as their fans know, the Firesign Theatre are all about structure, even if the jokes are what you notice first. Their work is tightly organized, and they're never sloppy. Wish I could say the same for their old record company. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nGood, but a tad weird, December 11, 2001 \nReviewer: William M. Feagin from Knoxville, TN, USA \nMessrs. Ossman, Austin, Bergman and Proctor, collectively known as the Firesign Theatre, were the kings of psychedelic comedy, using the LP as their primary medium along with free-form FM radio, still in its infancy when the Firesigns first began broadcasting on Radio Free Oz in 1967.\nThat said, this first album gives the listener an initial taste of what these four gentlemen (who have since said they were seeking to be the "Beatles of comedy") were capable of. It kicks off with "Temporarily Humboldt County," a pointed look at the exploitation of the Native American Indian tribes as the "manifest destiny" of white European explorers and settlers gradually forced them West into the deserts, and finally shows how badly represented the 500 Nations have been by Hollywood and TV. We then follow the group through a parody of an Eastern spirituality ashram--a brilliant and funny skewering featuring one of the group's many Beatles references--and "Le Treinte Huit Cunegonde," a parody of all things "groovy." ("He's groovy...all spades are groovy.")\nThe second half of the album is the title cut, a bizarre and dark bit of comedy that begins as a Berlitz language lesson and becomes one man's trip through a third-world nation pursued by admirers, secret police and plague-ridden natives. On the whole, "Waiting for the Electrician" is quite the head-trip. I admit that, on first listening, I wasn't at all certain just what I should make of this album, and it took some time to grow on me. But quite honestly, I am very happy to see that Columbia has finally reissued this, along with "How Can You Be...," "Don't Crush That Dwarf..." (previously unavailable on CD), and "I Think We're All Bozos on This bus" on CD. These were long overdue! \n\nHalf.com Album Credits\nJack Lattig, Engineer\nTom May, Engineer\nGary Usher, Producer
This misc cd contains 4 tracks and runs 46min 20sec.
Freedb: 260ada04
Buy: from Amazon.com
Category
: Music
Tags
: music songs tracks misc Comedy
- The Firesign Theater - Temporarily Humboldt County (09:12)
- The Firesign Theater - W.C. Fields Forever (07:39)
- The Firesign Theater - Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde (07:22)
- The Firesign Theater - Waiting For The Electrician Or Someone Like Him (22:03)
