Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him

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''Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him''
Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him cover
Studio album by The Firesign Theatre
Released 1968
Genre Comedy
Label Columbia
Producer(s) Gary Usher and The Firesign Theatre
Professional reviews
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide [1]
2/5 stars
The Goldmine Comedy Record Price Guide [2]
1.5/4 stars
The Firesign Theatre chronology
Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him
(1968)		 How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All
(1969)


Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him was the first comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theatre. It was originally released in 1968 by Columbia Records.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

  1. "Temporarily Humbolt County"
  2. "W.C. Fields Forever"
  3. "Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde"

[edit] Side two

  1. Waiting for The Electrician or Someone Like Him [3]

[edit] Detailed Track Information and Commentary

As originally programmed on vinyl, side one consisted of three short pieces:

  • "Temporarily Humbolt County" [sic] is a compressed timeline of the European expansion into North America and the displacement of the Native Americans, a theme the group would revisit often. (The group had been told by friends in Humboldt County, California, that the local Indians added "Temporarily" to the county's name as a way of saying no one could really own the land.)
  • "W. C. Fields Forever" is a plotless series of vignettes satirizing hippie culture and philosophy, through a parade of characters at a commune (referred to by a narrating character as "The Lazy Ol' Magic Circle Dudes Ranch and Collective Love Farm") who variously take drugs, eat "natural" foods, and embrace Eastern religions. The commune's spiritual leader, "Tiny Doctor Tim", who speaks as if he is very drunk, appears to be a parody of counter culture figure Timothy Leary. The title appears to be a take off on the Beatles song Strawberry Fields Forever.
  • "Le Trente-Huit Cunegonde" imagines what the world would be like if the counterculture of the 1960's were the mainstream. People are arrested for not possessing drugs, politicians use the word "groovy" in their speeches, and bomber aircraft drop copies of Naked Lunch.

Side two consisted of one 18 minute long track:

  • "Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him" is a Kafkaesque fantasy of paranoia in which an unnamed innocent (played by Phil Austin) is manipulated by mysterious strangers and authority figures into situations beyond his control. (In the written script, the character is called simply "P." for Phil, a reference to Kafka's use of "K." in The Castle.)

A highlight of side two is the "Beat the Reaper" sketch, a mock game show in which the contestant is injected with a disease and must guess what it is before being given the antidote. This segment, included on both the Shoes for Industry: The Best of the Firesign Theatre and Forward Into The Past compilations, probably comes closest to being a self-contained bit that can be successfully separated from the rest of the story.

[edit] Issues and reissues

Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him was originally released on Mono LP, Stereo LP, and 8-Track. [4]

  • Mono LP - Columbia CL-2718
  • Stereo LP - Columbia CS-2718
  • 8 Track - 18C-09518

It has been re-released on CD at least three times

  • 1992 - Mobile Fidelity MFCD-762 [5]
  • 2001 - Sony
  • 2001 - Laugh.com LGH1071 [6]

The Sony re-release includes one bonus track "Chakras and Mantras" which is not included on any other Firesign release.

Some of the Sony CDs are defective and omit material that should be included. For more information about the defective copies see: http://www.firesigntheatre.com/albums/wfte_bad.html

[edit] Miscellanea

On this album only, the group's name was spelled "The Firesign Theater."

On this and the three subsequent albums, a different member of the quartet would assume the lead role on the title track.

One of the producers of this album, Gary Usher, was primarily known as a producer of "Surf Rock" and produced songs and albums by "Surf Rock" artists such as The Surfaris, Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, as well as songs and albums by other 60s icons such as The Byrds and Frankie Avalon.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Citations

v • d • e
The Firesign Theatre
Performers
Phil Austin • Peter Bergman • David Ossman • Philip Proctor
Albums
Commercial
Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him • How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All • Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers • I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus • Dear Friends • Not Insane or Anything You Want To • The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra • Everything You Know Is Wrong • In the Next World, You're on Your Own • Forward into the Past • Just Folks . . . A Firesign Chat • Nick Danger: The Case of the Missing Shoe • Fighting Clowns • Lawyer's Hospital • Shakespeare's Lost Comedie • The Three Faces of Al • Eat or Be Eaten • Shoes for Industry: The Best of Firesign Theatre • Anythynge You Want To • Back from the Shadows • Pink Hotel Burns Down • Give Me Immortality or Give Me Death • Boom Dot Bust • Bride of Firesign • Radio Now Live! • Papoon For President • All Things Firesign
Non-commercial
Dear Friends - Syndicated Radio Program • A Firesign Chat with Papoon • Let’s Eat - Syndicated Radio Program • The Proctor-Bergman Report • The Cassette Chronichles
Related to Firesign Theatre
TV or not TV • How Time Flys • Roller Maidens From Outer Space • What This Country Needs • Give Us A Break • Daily Feed 1988 Newsreel - The Daily Feed • The George Tirebiter Story Chapter 1: Another Christmas Carol • George Tirebiter's Radiodaze • The George Tirebiter Story Pt.2 Mexican Overdrive / Radiodaze • A Capital Decade Daily Feed 1989 Newsreel - The Daily Feed • The George Tirebiter Story Pt.3 The Ronald Reagan Murder Case • Down Under Danger • Tales Of The Old Detective And Other Big Fat Lies • David Ossman's Time Capsules
Bibliography
The Firesign Theatre's Big Book Of Plays • The Firesign Theatre's Big Mystery Joke Book • The Apocalypse Papers, a Fiction by The Firesign Theatre • Backwards Into The Future: The Recorded History of the Firesign Theatre
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