Duke of Madness Motors: The Complete "Dear Friends" Radio Era is a book and data DVD set collecting the complete works of comedy group the Firesign Theatre's 1970s radio shows Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, Dear Friends, and Let's Eat.
The set includes a 108-page book containing a historical essay, interviews, original scripts, and collages by Firesign founder Phil Proctor.[1]
The data DVD contains more than 80 hours of material on MP3 audio, including 24 episodes of Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, 21 episodes of Dear Friends, 12 episodes of Let's Eat, and a 1972 series finale, Martian Space Party. The collections were digitally remastered and annotated by the group's archivist and producer, Taylor Jessen along with several contributors including longtime Firesign Theater archivist Mike McIntyre [2]Dear Friends and Let's Eat are each collected in both their original broadcast versions and later syndication edits.[3][4][5][6][7]
Production
The project took more than 10 years to complete.[7] Proctor told the Library of Congress in an interview that the material was gathered from archives in "our basements, garages, sheds" and "entire reel-to-reel recordings" made by fans during the original broadcasts.[8] Jessen recovered one tape from a shed which had been buried under a mudslide.[9]
The album was released on Seeland Records, the label run by experimental band Negativland; co-founder Peter Conheim cited Firesign Theatre as a direct influence on Negativland and hailed them as "pioneers of freely improvised radio".[10]
Related albums
The group's 1972 compilation album Dear Friends was collected from the same radio sessions gathered in Duke of Madness Motors.[11]
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