Wikipedia sums it up well:
"The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra is a comedy album recorded by The Firesign Theatre and released in early 1974 by Columbia Records.
"Following a rather disjointed string of solo projects and anthologies, this was the group's first album to consist entirely of a single cohesive narrative since I Think We're All Bozos on This Bus. This began something of a second wind that would continue with Everything You Know Is Wrong and In the Next World, You're on Your Own before the group finally ended its association with Columbia.
"Philip Proctor plays detective Hemlock Stones (Sherlock Holmes) and David Ossman plays Flotsam (Watson), his 'patient doctor and biographer'.
"The lighthearted tale is full of puns, including a running gag in which Flotsam, eager to chronicle the adventure, tries to write down everything Stones says but mishears it all as something similar-sounding; for example, 'rattan-festooned' is written down as 'rat-infested.' Allusions also are made to Sherlock Holmes's use of cocaine (though it is referred to as cocoa) 'Stones,you snowball!', his violin playing, and other familiar story elements.
"The members of the group take different attitudes towards this album. In the liner notes to Shoes for Industry: The Best of the Firesign Theatre David Ossman is cheerful when discussing it and says that 'I always thought it was the closest thing to the relentlessly pun-filled one-acts we did in clubs.' In fact, an earlier bootleg version is not only closer to the spirit of their nightclub performances, but is strikingly reminiscent of The Goon Show, which was one of the group's main inspirations. It bears almost no resemblance to the version that was finally committed to vinyl.
"Phil Austin, on the other hand, says 'The Sherlock Holmes album didn't do anybody any good . . . the general public was by that point beginning to tire of psychedelia anyway, and we were unfortunately always going to be associated with that.'
"The review in 1983's The New Rolling Stone Record Guide tends to agree with Austin and calls this album 'A halfassed comeback containing only one good joke.'"
Actually it's much better than that, but it is also very much of its time.
Roger
Replies
Here for your enjoyment are the earliest versions of this tale, as they appear on the album "Pink Hotel Burns Down," as well as a shortened version broadcast on the FST's XM Radio Show.
Predecessors to "The Giant Rat of Sumatra"
Ooh! Thanks, Bob. I'm looking forward to this.
Roger
The PHBD version is quite different from the later "Giant Rat" which i find a bit over the top. It seems like they are trying too hard.
The original is sillier, but more in the FST vein.
Bob
Roger