''Our Finest Flowers'' is an album by American
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...
group
the Residents
The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...
, released in 1992. For their 20th anniversary, instead of releasing a
greatest hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...
compilation, they decided to release an album of new songs created by combining various components of different past songs. The Residents borrowed from not only their own past original songs, but some of their known cover songs and songs by frequent collaborators
Snakefinger
Philip Charles Lithman (17 June 1949 – 1 July 1987), who performed under the stage name Snakefinger, was an English musician, singer and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, he was best known for his guitar and violin work and his collab ...
and
Renaldo and the Loaf
Renaldo and the Loaf are an English musical duo formed in 1977 consisting of David "Ted the Loaf" Janssen and Brian "Renaldo Malpractice" Poole. The two released six full-length albums, one live album, and three self-produced demos.
Sound
Ren ...
. The liner notes refer to the album as "Celebrating Twenty Long Dreary Years of Obscure Stardom".
Description from Liner Notes
The liner notes from the original album explain the album as follows:
:''What's a group to do when its twentieth birthday rolls around; when the only comparable lasting musical units are the Grateful Dead or The Rolling Stones, and they both have had members die, for christsake. Some people thought a nice collection of "greatest hits" would be a suitable observance. So The Residents tried to write down their "greatest hits" until suddenly one of the guys got a stomach ache and threw up on the song listing. The guy that made the mess had to wash the list off and in the process pretty well smeared the ink all around the paper. Everybody thought it was funny so they started reading the words, or at least what the words looked like. "Perfect Goat," one said. "I think we should put that on our album"''
:
:''They knew the vomit was no accident, it was an omen. They tore the paper into little pieces and dropped them onto the floor. It was still wet. Some of the pieces you couldn't read anymore, but they didn't seem to care. Somehow, ideas came from those torn slips. And sure enough, "Perfect Goat" did make it on the album, along with fifteen other tracks that Dr. Frankenstein would have surely been proud to have stitched together. Yes, these are new songs. Just like all good pop music, there is something familiar about them, something friendly. But as you listen, never forget that vomit is at their core: twenty long years of painful regurgitation.''
Track listing
Notes
The Residents albums
1992 albums
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