David Janssen and Brian Poole met each other at school in the spring of 1970, when they bonded over a love for Tyrannosaurus Rex and began to play guitar.
During their correspondence with Rough Trade, Geoff Travis suggested that the duo invest in a good multi-track tape recorder, a piece of equipment that would become essential to the sound of their debut album, Struve & Sneff.
They were both heavily inspired by the popular synthesizer bands of the time, but were unable to afford keyboards themselves, and so recreated synth-like noises using tape effects and treated guitars.
[11] Prior to the album's release, Poole and Janssen travelled to San Francisco in late February[12] to film their Songs For Swinging Larvae music video in March.
[14] The video, directed by Graeme Whifer,[15] would combine three songs recorded during the album's sessions, Spratt's Medium, Lime Jelly Grass, and an outtake, Melvyn's Repose.
After the session, The Residents suggested that they record an album together in the remaining three days of their visit, by taking the jam and adding overdubs.
[12] Songs For Swinging Larvae, along with the music video, were released in the US through Ralph Records on April 10, 1981,[18] and in the UK two months later in June.
[19] Following the release of Songs For Swinging Larvae, the two began working on their third demo tape, titled 'The Serious Collection', which was sent to Ralph after its completion in July 1982.
[21] It was completed in January 1983,[10] and was the first album by Renaldo & The Loaf to feature a guest musician, violinist Dave Baker, who was a friend of Brian Poole's.
Unlike Songs For Swinging Larvae and Struve & Sneff, the album would not have a U.K release, and would have had to have been imported from Ralph in the US by British fans.
Unfortunately, Janssen was unable to get time off to visit San Francisco and so Brian went by himself, taking with him tape loops created by Dave, a Bouzouki, a Rababa, and a reed instrument known as a Mesmer.
Sessions for the album continued over three weeks, with The Residents' usual equipment being in transit[23] from their Leicestershire Mole Show performance in July.
[25] Title in Limbo had made more money than any of their previous projects and gave the duo the budget they needed improve their recording set up.
Brian Poole created a home studio which, unlike Janssen's bedroom, featured full mixing equipment.
With their previous albums, Poole and Jansseen would begin work on the follow-up as soon as the master tapes had been sent to Ralph, but in this case, the duo were not pleased with the proposed artwork created by Bizarre and had to take new photographs to be used instead.
[31] In 2005, he was asked by director and multi-instrumentalist Alex Wroten to collaborate on the end credits music for his film The Human Elbow.
[44] In 2021, Klanggalerie released Hardly Gurning While The World Is Turning, a reworked version of Gurdy Hurding, featuring remixes from various artists such as Cult With No Name, Eric Drew Feldman, Andrew Liles, Section 25, Transglobal Underground, and The Residents.
[45] Albums Compilations EPs Singles On March 8, 2022, Well Dang Productions released Renaldo & The Loaf – 23rd Century Giants.