Making good on its recent efforts to do right by The State’s legacy, the comedy troupe will follow the DVD issue of its MTV sketch-comedy show with the release of Comedy For Gracious Living, the fabled “lost” album it recorded in 1996 over two weeks in the Bahamas, and which was subsequently shelved by Warner Bros. According to group member Kevin Allison:
"It was a freeing experience because no one was watching over us, there were no ‘adults’ around. We'd swim and drink and gamble all day and record the silly ideas we’d had that day up into the wee hours that night like kids making tapes in the basement. If you listen, you can hear the ice clinking in the rum drinks we had in hand at all times. I don't think any of us realized it was the last time we’d all be in the same place for an extended period of time working on a project that would actually see the light of day. Much of it was improvised by a group of people with no improv training whatsoever. We always assumed that one of the reasons it wasn’t released back then is because so much of it is so insane for back then.”
Bootleg copies of the record have been floating around for years now (even Michael Ian Black once tweeted a download link, that anti-corporate rapscallion), but we’re guessing those will start disappearing soon in anticipation of its official Sept. 14 release on Rhino, which continues to be the resurrector of cultishly adored yet canceled comedy. You can pre-order it now at the Rhino website, as well as check out streaming samples of all 25 tracks. (We recommend “Laurie Anderson Song.”)