After a year long break, the Residents have returned to the pREServed Edition Series. The latest entry, The American Composer’s Series, is a box set of three CDs devoted to the group’s short-lived and abandoned project. As to be expected, there’s a slew of bonus tracks and unreleased content that make this another solid entry in the series.
A Little History
By the end of 1983, the Residents had ended their Mole Show Tour. While the shows are seen as creative high points in the group’s career, the shows cost a lot of money and the group didn’t make a lot of it during the tour. Many of the group’s long-serving employees at Cryptic Corporation left the company and the ones left had to move their offices to a smaller location. The group had to also abandon their planned third part for The Mole Trilogy. For the time being, the group released a home video of their unfinished Whatever Happened To Vileness Flats movie. This would also result in a soundtrack to the VHS tape, which was released around the same time.
When thinking of new ideas for their next project, the group decided to write down the names of twelve American composers. An idea was laid out: for the group’s next few albums, they would cover the work of two composers. With each album, one side of the vinyl record would be devoted to that composer. As fate would have it, the group would only album two albums in this series: George and James (1984) and Stars & Hank Forever (1987).
The Albums
Of the many album released by the Residents, the American Composer’s Series albums aren’t usually considered to be top tier albums. Compared to Third Reich N Roll, which was an onslaught of deranged cover tunes, the songs featured on these two albums are fairly tame for the most part.
The first album, George and James, sees the Residents taking on the music of George Gershwin and James Brown. The Gershwin side is probably the strong side of the two, with “Rhapsody in Blue” being a highlight. Whereas the original was full of life and optimistic, the Residents’ take on the tune is eerie and creepy. The James Brown side is a medley from his legendary Live At The Apollo , complete with fake audience sounds. While this gets old quickly, these are all fine and the group sounds tight.
The second album, Stars & Hank Forever, has the group reinterpreting the music of John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams. Both sides are quite strong, making this the better album of the two. As you can imagine with an artist like Hank Williams, the Residents’ renditions of the songs are drastically different. Of them, their rendition of “Kaw-Liga” stands out the most due to it sampling from Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” The Sousa side is presented in a single 23 minute track, filled with six different songs. They all seamlessly flow together, sounding like a wacky parade.
The Bonus Tracks
The two main albums have a few bonus tracks on each disc. These tracks come in the form of alternate mixes, live version and bonus singles. The George and James disc probably has one of the group’s best known tunes with their version of James Brown’s “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” which is mostly memorable due to it’s kooky music video.
The third disc, however, might be more of interest for diehard Residents fans. Along with featuring session outtakes and alternate versions of songs, there’s some demo recordings of the abandoned third part in the series, which would’ve covered the songs of Ray Charles and Sun Ra. These have never been released before and are being released for the first time.
Conclusion
The American Composer’s Series box set is yet another solid release from both Cherry Red Records and MVD. While this is solid entry, the music from this time period pales in contrast to the other work already heard in the pREServed Edition Series. Neither of these albums are particularly great nor are they top tier albums from the group. Despite this, the American Composer’s Series is an important part in the career of the Residents. One could see it as a pre-cursor to their Cube-E shows and The King & Eye album. As such, this set does this portion of the group’s career justice.
The Albums: 6/10
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.