| The Tale Of The Giant Rat Of Sumatra |
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| 1974 albums | |
| tale of the giant rat of sumatra, the | |
| firesign theatre albums | |
''The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra'' is a Comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theatre and released in early 1974 by Columbia Records . TRACKS Side One - London #Chapter 1 - Not Quite The Solution He Expected #Chapter 2 - An Outrageously Disgusting Disguise #Chapter 3 - Where There's Smoke, There's Work Side Two - Chicago #Chapter 4 - Where Did Jonas Go When The Lights Went Out? #Chapter 5 - Pickles Down The Rat Hole! #Chapter 6 - The Electrician Exposes Himself! DETAILED TRACK INFORMATION AND COMMENTARY Following a rather disjointed string of solo projects and anthologies, this was the group's first album to consist entirely of a single cohesive narrative since their classic '' I Think We're All Bozos On This Bus '' from three years earlier. This began something of a second wind that would continue with '' Everything You Know Is Wrong '' and '' In The Next World, You're On Your Own '' before the group finally ended its association with Columbia. Philip Proctor plays detective Hemlock Stones ( Sherlock Holmes ) and David Ossman plays Flotsam ( Watson ), his "patient doctor and biographer" (which also can be heard as having commas between the words). The lighthearted tale is full of Puns , including a running gag in which Flotsam, eager to chronicle the adventure, tries to write down everything Stones says but mishears it all as something similar-sounding; for example, "rattan-festooned" is written down as "rat-infested." Allusions also are made to Sherlock Holmes's use of Cocaine (though it is referred to as Cocoa ), his Violin playing, and other familiar story elements. The members of the group take different attitudes towards this album. In the liner notes to '''' David Ossman is cheerful when discussing it and says that "I always thought it was the closest thing to the relentlessly pun-filled one-acts we did in clubs." Phil Austin , on the other hand says "The Sherlock Holmes album didn't do anybody any good . . . the general public was by that point beginning to tire of psychedelia anyway, and we were unfortunately always going to be associated with that." The review in 1983 's ''The New Rolling Stone Record Guide'' tends to agree with Austin and succinctly calls this album "A halfassed comeback containing only one good joke." ISSUES AND REISSUES This album was originally released simultaneously on LP and 8 Track.
It has been re-released on CD at least once
TRIVIA The title is derived from the Sherlock Holmes Short Story " The Adventure Of The Sussex Vampire ," written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1924 . : "Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson," said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. "It was a ship which is associated with the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared. But what do we know about vampires? Does it come within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation, but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms' fairy tale. Make a long arm, Watson, and see what V has to say." REFERENCES
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