THE AMERICAN COMPOSER SERIES
GEORGE & JAMES
George & James consists of covers of works by George
Gershwin (1898-1937) and James Brown (1933-2006). The album
notes include a brief introduction to the American Composer
Series concept followed by brief biographies of the two
artists and of The Residents, describing them as "a group
of pseudo-artists who freely indulge themselves in the
Great American Culture". It was also the first Residents
album to use computer-created art on the cover and in the
promotional video, It's a Man's Man's Man's World.
The James Brown side is based on Brown's Live at the
Apollo, one of the first live albums and the most
successful R&B album ever. The Resident's version
simulates the live sound of the Apollo concert with crowd
noises taken from the Mole Show performance in Utrech,
Holland (the same show used for the The Mole Show: Live in
Holland recording). James Brown's part is taken by The
Residents' lead singer, who transforms the Godfather of
Soul into a growling voice reminiscent of the Angakok from
Eskimo.
STARS & HANK
In the notes to this album the band describes themselves as
being interested in making music about music because of
their respect for music as content as well as form. Here,
they cover works by Hank Williams, Sr. (1923-1953), and
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932).
Sousaside, the Sousa side of the album, is a simulated
marching-band parade. One band approaches, fading in, then
fades out as the next fades in. The music is surrounded by
crowd noises, airplanes flying over, and the like. The
album ends with an anticlimactic fade-out as the last band
marches off, just like a real parade. Sousaside combines
the trademark Residents covering style with the
soundscaping ideas the band first developed for Eskimo.
The Hank Williams songs are handled in a very different
manner than James Brown's had been on George & James.
The Residents' Brown had been completely unintelligible,
sounding much like the shaman character on Eskimo. Hank
Williams, on the other hand, comes through very clearly on
this album and the songs are much more accessible, more
like what most people expect in a cover rather than the
extreme deconstruction The Residents usually do. The
version of Jambalaya is downright understated.
Stars &
Hank Forever did much better than George & James had
due to a large part to accessibility of the Hank Williams
side. Stars & Hank did so well, in fact, that Torso
Records in Europe remixed the Kaw-liga track into a couple
of singles. The Sousa music, while well done, was not so
well received by the critics, probably due to the extreme
contrast in style with the Hank Williams side.