Duck Stab / Buster & Glen (1978)

Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen is the fifth studio album by the American experimental rock band the Residents, released in November 1978 on Ralph Records.

It is named after the first side of the album, Duck Stab!, a seven-song EP released earlier in 1978; Buster & Glen, the B-side of the album, was intended to follow Duck Stab!. After the first pressing of Duck Stab! quickly sold out, which was an oddity for the band, they decided to re-release it as one side of an album, with the unreleased Buster and Glen as side two. This was also in part due to the poor audio quality of the original Duck Stab! EP. The album was later renamed Duck Stab.

The shorter length of the songs made the album more accessible for fans who had recently heard the band's cover of "Satisfaction", and songs like "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny" helped cement the band's cult following. Some noted that the Residents were approaching commercial elements with this EP, but they were purposefully avoiding others, such as a traditional chorus/verse structure. This album features guitar by Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman.

Critical reception

Duck Stab was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2018, Andy Gill of The Independent wrote that "as nursery rhymes, [the songs on Duck Stab] blend the sinister with the simple; and as cartoons, they’re the musical equivalent of Tex Avery, constantly playing with their medium and breaking the frame."

Personnel

• The Residents – arranger, producer
• Snakefinger – vocals, electric guitar

Ruby – vocals on "The Electrocutioner"

• G. Whifler – photography
• Pore No Graphics – cover art

Covers

"Blue Rosebuds" was covered by Shock Headed Peters on the compilation album Devastate to Liberate in December 1985.

Primus released a medley of the songs "Hello Skinny" and "Constantinople" on the Caroline Records compilation promotional CD On the Nineties Tip... in 1990, and included it as a bonus track on the 2002 reissue of Frizzle Fry. Shortly afterwards, they covered "Sinister Exaggerator" on their 1992 EP Miscellaneous Debris. In the UK, it was on the CD single "Making Plans for Nigel (Cheesy EP 2)".

"Bach is Dead" was covered by Idiot Flesh on their 1997 album Fancy.

"Hello Skinny" and "The Electrocutioner" was covered by Flat Earth Society on their 2000 album Bonk.

Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People covered "Blue Rosebuds" on their 2010 album The Sacred Prune of Remembrance.