Released 1977 Genre Comedy Label Butterfly Records | Recorded December 1976 Length 39:49 | |
Producer Philip Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Philip Proctor | ||
Just Folks . . . A Firesign Chat is a 1977 comedy album by The Firesign Theatre. It was the only record the group made under a new contract with Butterfly Records.
Contents
Side one
- "Hello, What's Happening? I Die Every Night . . ."
- "A Stiff Idiot Is The Worst Kind!"
- "The Truck Stops Here"
- "Ben Bland's All-Day Matinee, Part One"
Side two
- "Ben Bland's All-Night Matinee, Part Two (Tudor Nightmare Village and Confidence in the System™)"
- "Any More Rocket Fuel For You Hardhats?"
- "Pass The Indian, Please" [3]
Description of the album
This album consists primarily of a series of sketched conversations taking place within the context of a TV news program airing in "Ducktown." There is an ad included for "Confidence in the System™" and also a trip to "Jimmy Carterland."
Much of the recording is excerpted from the group's "Dear Friends" radio series of a few years earlier. These extracts can be heard in that context on the limited-edition "Dear Friends" 12-album set (but not on the Columbia double album of that name). Other portions were extracted from the followup "Dear Friends -- Let's Eat" radio series which aired in 1971–1972 on radio station KPFK in Los Angeles. The "Dear Friends -- Let's Eat" material was never officially released on record. Although only a small portion of the material was written especially for this album, much of the older material was given overdubs and editing to fit into the concept of the album.
The "Ben Bland" segments are among the few items of new material written for the album. These segments parody the old hosted afternoon ("Dialing for Dollars") movies. Host "Blend---Ben Bland" comes off as utterly high, stoned, or perhaps senile, desperately trying to act straight, and unable to resist free association. He earnestly corrects errors in his public service announcements with even more errors: "Just send ... to ... Barn C, Crabapple, Maryland; that's Born Free ... Marineland ..." And in an eerily prescient ad, Ben Bland informs aliens that "marrying an animal can mean citizenship for you; just listen to these success stories from your U.S. Animal Husbandry Service."
The album ends with the track "Pass The Indian, Please," a skit from several years earlier. Like the track "Temporarily Humbolt County" (sic) from Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him, it is concerned with the European expansion into North America and the displacement of the Native Americans. In 2002 The Firesign Theatre re-recorded the final track on this album, "Pass The Indian, Please," for NPR's news program, All Things Considered. The NPR re-recording of "Pass The Indian, Please" is included on their 2003 album All Things Firesign.
This was the first album released on the newly formed Butterfly Records. Butterfly Records would become known primarily as a disco label. [4]
On the inner sleeve of this album there is an ad for an official Firesign Theatre belt buckle and T-shirt. The ad copy reads "Yes, dear bozos, you two can have a remarkable T-shirt and/or cast iron belt buckle for a mere pittance" (sic).
The album cover references Le Chef D’Oeuvre, a painting by René Magritte.
Issues and reissues
Citations
- ^ Marsh, Dave, and Greil Marcus. "The Firesign Theatre." The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Ed. Dave Marsh and John Swenson. New York: Random House, 1983. 175-176.
- ^ Smith, Ronald L. The Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide. Iola: Krause, 1996. 124-127.
- ^ a Firesign Theatre. Just Folks . . . A Firesign Chat. Butterfly Records, 1977.
- ^ Lopez , Bernard F. "A. J. Cervantes of Butterfly Records (Interview)." Discomusic.com. 15 May 2003. Discomusic.com. 16 February 2006 <http://www.discomusic.com/people-more/56_0_11_0_C>.