While Bobuck and Randy have been releasing material throughout the year, The Residents themselves have been rather quiet aside from several reissues. It turns out they’re gearing up for a full length album, titled The Ghost of Hope, due in early 2017. Instead of making us wait in bated breath, they have decided to release a single as a preview for the upcoming LP. A huge difference between this upcoming album and previous material is that Charles Bobuck, one of the original songwriters for The Residents, left the group earlier this year in order to work on his solo career. Eric Drew Feldman, who has worked with a ton of musicians including: Fear, Captain Beefheart, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Pere Ubu, and Club Foot Orchestra (which also featured the one and only Snakefinger!), will help perform on the album in Bobuck’s absence. It’s said that Bobuck did write some material for the album, so I’m curious to see if anything he wrote makes the final release.
While they aren’t a “singles band” in the traditional sense, The Residents have released some of their most important material as 7″ records. In fact, their very first official release, Santa Dog, was released as a double single in 1972 and they have consistently been making music ever since. A recent project they’ve done is called Radio Thoreau where tunes were remixed and released as digital singles. Rushing Like a Banshee / Train vs Elephant takes us back to the traditional 7″ format in style. There are several different color variations including: red, white, marble, silver, and black.
I went with black and it came with the “official product” button you can see below. Only the first 100 black copies came with it and I’m not sure if there are any left. I also bought a Rushing Like a Banshee button which is now sold out as well.
The A side, Rushing Like a Banshee, clocks in at around 2 minutes and 20 seconds. It sounds a lot like 2008’s The Bunny Boy because of its relatively short structure, vocal delivery, and background vocals. I’m a huge fan of The Bunny Boy, so this is a huge plus for me. The album is themed around trains and it definitely shows here. The song chugs along at high speeds and has a definite sense of momentum. The version released here is different than the upcoming album version so there’s another incentive to have this in your collection. It also has its own music video you can watch here.
The B side is closer to 5 minutes. It begins with field recordings that totally remind me of an excellent train centered field recording I heard several years ago. The song is instrumental aside from some shouting and elephant sounds. I really dig the synthesizers used in the background of this song. I’m not sure if this song is going to be on the album or not, but it definitely could be! It doesn’t have that “throwaway” feeling some B sides have.
I personally think this is a well put together single. The A side is shorter and catchier while the B side is longer a bit more abstract. I can’t wait to hear the album in full next year – hopefully we hear more about the specific release date soon!