Tourniquet of Roses

Fingerprince started out as Tourniquet of Roses, which was to be the world's first three-sided album. This idea was abandoned due to impracticality.
In the end, the band put only two-thirds of the music on the album and put the rest on an EP called Babyfingers which was then several years later once again merged into Fingerprince.
Fingerprince and Babyfingers have similar structures: each has one side of short songs with a single longer work on the second side. Walter Westinghouse, on the EP, is a sort of mini-opera, while Six Things to a Cycle on Fingerprince was originally written as a ballet. The piece is similar to an early conceptual piece of improvisational orchestra called Number One. The Residents created a work about how "man, represented by a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly" for Maurice Bejart, who used music by The Residents for a dance piece performed on a barge moving down the canals of Venice. The Residents created a shortened version of the ballet for this album and performed an even shorter live rendition at a concert called Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! Can't You See That It's True; What the Beatles Did to Me, "I Love Lucy" Did to You presented as part of the 5th Anniversary celebrations for Rather Ripped Records in June, 1976.

The piece draws on many influences: Indonesian Gamelan (percussion) music, the Minimalist Movement (Philip Glass, Steve Reich, etc.), and most of all, Harry Partch. Partch was an American composer who was known for inventing his own instruments, music theory, and languages. The Residents indulged in similar experiments, using invented languages not only in Six Things, but also later on Eskimo and The Big Bubble. The Residents later acknowledge Partch's influence with the song Death in Barstow, on Babyfingers, a reference to Partch's death in Barstow, California, in September, 1976.
EuroRalph has also released a CD version of Fingerprince. It consists of two CDs, one full-length, one with the original album contents, and the other a 3" CD single of Babyfingers as a salute to the original structure.


Side 1 flac

Fingerprince was conceived as the world’s first three sided album (apparently, they weren’t aware of the fact that Monty Python had already made one; their Matching Tie and Handkerchief LP of 1973). The Residents never specified whether it would be a double record with one side blank, or a single album with two concentric grooves on one side. They probably toyed with the idea of making it triangular!
However they’d planned to do it, Ralph Records decided the albums would be uneconomical to manufacture, so Fingerprince became a conventional two-sided LP. The leftover songs were relegated to a proposed EP, Babyfingers. Due to considerable artistic distractions (the most notable being Eskimo), Babyfingers was not released in the actual EP format until 1979, but four of its five songs had appeared on The Residents Radio Special cassette in 1977.
Babyfingers was Fingerprince’s miniature twin, since both records consisted of several short songs on side one and a side-long composition on side two.
Fingerprince was an important transitional album for The Residents. It bridged the gap between their early, primitive music and virtually all the original compositions the band would eventually create.
The songs whose importance would become apparent soon were “You, Yesyesyes,” “Tourniquet of Roses” and the songs jettisoned to Babyfingers, which point the way towards the wacky, sinister pop of Duck Stab, Subterranean Modern, etc.
The album includes the long form composition “Six Things to a Cycle.” It was the first stepping stone on the path towards Eskimo, Mark of the Mole and their other long form works.
It even includes a 60 second song (and a 58 second song) anticipating The Commercial Album.
Less developed in the gestation of The Residents creativity are a tongue-in-cheek attempt at religious philosophizing “God Song” and an attempt at narrative on “Walter Westinghouse” (a Babyfingers track). Both these concepts would later be fleshed out to epic proportions on God in Three Persons. At the time Fingerprince was released, the full possibilities of these concepts were still light years away in The Residents' creative development.
Fingerprince and The Third Reich ‘N’ Roll were The Residents' most seminal albums. Fingerprince provided the blueprints for their future original compositions, while Third Reich suggested their creative approach to playing cover versions. Together the two albums planted the seeds that generated The Residents’ entire universe. Fingerprince may not be a great album, but it’s a historically important album for The Residents none the less.
- Sinister Scratcher


Side 2 flac


Plot Outline for 6 THINGS TO A CYCLE A BALLET BY THE RESIDENTS (1976)

The curtain rises. Predawn blue spills across the sky silhouetting a jungle of thick vegetation. A fire burns in the foreground casting shadows upon a ring of strangely dressed and postured figures. The jungle breathes a primitive rhythm into the figures who become animated while watched by large birds who devour them as the sun rises. The birds form a line dancing from side to side as multi-colored geometric shapes fall from their mouths. The shapes grow until the jungle is pushed entirely off the stage and replaced by pulsating and occasionally flashing clouds of smoke. The shapes revolve around a central axis which grows higher against a smoke-filled backdrop. On top of the central shape is a figure heavily draped with layers of bright silk cloth each slowly being lifted by invisible threads attached to the four corners and pulled tight so that each cloth slowly becomes a square forming a backdrop for the dancer. As this happens other figures appear at the base of the shape and call to the mysterious image. As the figure is reveled in its true state, the geometric shapes open offering forth the dream of Utopia.


Side 3 flac


Recorded in 1976, Fingerprince is The Resident's fourth album. However, when it was being recorded it was not called "Fingerprince". In 1976 it was called "Tourniquet of Roses" and was so long that it would have consumed three LP sides. The record company, Ralph Records, insisted that the record be cut back to the standard length of two sides, which was renamed "Fingerprince". The remaining side was eventually released in limited numbers as Babyfingers. The two pieces to note here are "Walter Westinghouse" and "Six Things to a Cycle", which is a ballet. The plot outline was provided by The Residents reads: "Man, represented as a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly".

"Walter Westinghouse", on the other hand, is noteworthy as a kind of mini-opera with characters and dialogue interaction, a trend which points towards much of The Residents 'later work. Thanks to the convenient length of Compact Discs, we are happy to finally present the original "Tourniquet of Roses" as it was conceived. True, the title "Fingerprince" is still on the cover in attempt to prevent confusion, but this is the real thing, folks. Dig it.
--- The Cryptic Corporation.


The first taste of the Residents' 'sound', taking the experiments of previous 6 years and forging them into something vaguely familiar.
Where MtR and 3R'n'R are both albums of two sides, Fingerprince is an album of three. The third side, Babyfingers, contains the very popular Walter Westinghouse — always a delight to hear and scratch your head over. On the face of it, less weird than its predecessors (and a little less frantic/frenetic) but still 'strange'. Not immediately compelling, I found, but it pays off repeat listenings.

The third side of (what would have been) the "Tourniquet Of Roses" album was released three years later, as the Babyfingers EP. The first side of Fingerprince is taken up with short and snappy tracks, like the exotic You Yesyesyes, which has some wonderful slide guitar playing by Snakefinger. The second side of the album is taken up by a single track, Six Things To A Cycle, an instrumental score to a non-existent ballet. Lashings of primitive percussion, vibes, and xylophones give way to a haunting passage. Strange and beautiful.
Bach Is Dead






Lyrics

PRESSINGS:
1st pressing: 1000 copies - dark brown cover, "First Pressing" written on back
2nd pressing: Lighter brown cover

The first pressing only has the run out groove etching 'RR1276',
while the second edition also has 'Re77' etched into the run-out.

3rd pressing: Repackaged in color (front and back)
4th pressing: First 500 copies on purple vinyl

Cassette copies of this release dubbed on Maxell tapes with no accompanying artwork were also offered in the Ralph Records catalogue.

The FIRST pressing on East Side Digital is: Cat# rESiDe 4 - Light green ink on silver disk.
The SECOND pressing on East Side Digital: Cat# esd 80062 - Dark green and black ink on disk.
Rereleased on LP (1987) and CD (1988) by Torso
Rereleased on CD in Japan by Bomba Records (1997)
Remastered on East Side Digital CD (1997)
EuroRalph issued CD/Mini CD in 1995

7" Babyfingers on Ralph Records (1979)
Originally "Fingerprince" (Ralph Records, RR 1276) was intended to be a three-sided album. However, the money ran out and Side 3 was released in limited quantities under the name Babyfingers EP.
A limited quantity was also released that same year by the Residents' old fan club W.E.I.R.D. but they too ran out of money.
The left-overs were then re-re-issued by Ralph. As a result these also had the W.E.I.R.D. catalogue numbers rather than the Ralph catalogue number.

Note also that the first 1979 edition was 35-40 copies with no artwork. About 10 of these were later hand decorated in 8 colours with felt tip pens, packaged in modified Santa Dog '78 sleeves (as documented by unofficial fan-site Rrroar) and sent to people who had been waiting more than 2 years for their Third Reich 'N' Roll Collectors Box. The 1981 edition released by The Residents Fan Club WEIRD (We Endorse Immediate Residents Deification) was a limited run of 1500 copies in black and pink cardboard covers (the more well-known image of the pink baby with numerous hands and fingers). The 1985 Ralph Records re-release was a limited edition of 250 copies on Pink vinyl and clear plastic sleeves.

7" Babyfingers on W.I.E.R.D. (1981)
This record was made available through W.E.I.R.D. in a limited edition of fifteen hundred copies.

Catalog number RR 0377 appears on the run-outs of both sides. Side B run-out includes the inscription, "Bye-Bye W.E.I.R.D." Although not listed, "Monstrous Intro" is included as part of the A1 track.

Original copies of the vinyl LP also came with a letter-sized 'application form' for the Ralph Records 'Weirdo' mailing list. It is full of nonsense. The other side is blank. This leaves plenty of room for the potential subscriber's own nonsense.