George & James was originally released in March 1984. Stars & Hank Forever! emerged in October 1986. The two LPs were parts of – and, as it turned out, the only entrants in – a series of albums their creators, San Francisco’s Residents, designated the American Composer’s Series.
Side One of the first was dedicated to interpretations of the compositions of George Gershwin. The flip was a heavily distorted reconfiguration of James Brown’s 1963 Live At The Apollo album. Stars & Hank Forever! tackled, respectively, John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams. In keeping with previous Residents’ LPs like Mark Of The Mole and Eskimo, these were concept albums – but instead of centring on a self-devised story or situation, George & James and Stars & Hank Forever! reframed America’s music, seeing it through an eyeball-headed lens.
To a degree, this was nothing new for The Residents. They had long been deconstructing the music of others and reassembling it in close-to unrecognisable forms: on their 1976 album The Third Reich 'n Roll, where US pop from the Sixties was sliced-and-diced; the same year’s “Satisfaction” single; the 1977 The Beatles Play The Residents And The Residents Play The Beatles single. Their first album Meet The Residents shred perceptions of The Beatles. Its original sleeve image cannibalised that of a US Beatles album. This unrestrained repurposing was satirical, borderline savage. In contrast, the two Eighties American Composer’s Series albums were more straightforward, and felt like tributes rather than eviscerations.
The three-CD digi-pack set American Composer’s Series collects remastered versions of George & James and Stars & Hank Forever! which sound a lot more direct and warmer than original US LPs. They are teamed with live versions of tracks from the albums, remixes from singles and 14 previously unreleased tracks. The latter are especially interesting as they include three Sun Ra compositions: “Space is the Place,” Satellites are Spinning” and “Rocket #9.” These were recorded for a never-completed third American Composer’s… album with the proposed title Ray ’n Ra. It was to be devoted to Sun Ra and Ray Charles. The new set also includes covers of Buddy Holly’s “That'll be the Day” and a couple of Elvis Presley tracks. The latter seem out of place here as they more coherently relate to the 1989 Elvis-inspired album The King & Eye and the 1989 to 1990 world tour titled Cube E: The History of American Music in 3 E-Z Pieces. As the tour’s branding underlined, The Residents were continuously rejigging aspects of their own past for their various then-presents.
Of the two albums this reissue is concerned with George & James is the more enjoyable, sounding like it was more fun to make than Stars & Hank Forever! which, especially on its John Philip Sousa side, is a little harder going. The Hank Williams songs – especially "Kaw-Liga,” with its cheeky borrowing form Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” – come across as less stiff, bouncier. Revisiting each LP via this reissue stresses just what an effort it must have been to be The Residents, a band conceptualising every aspect of themselves, every move they made.
This, though, was made easier around this time as The Residents had acquired the digital sampling keyboard instrument The Emulator, which had been thoroughly road tested on their Mole Show tour of 1982 and 1983. Embracing new musical technology aided the creative process. Nonetheless, developing new themes for each album was obligatory, a way of working highlighted by the LP issued between George & James and Stars & Hank Forever! This was the Mole Trilogy related The Big Bubble, which sought to present music made by a band from this fictitious world.
Revisiting any Residents album is difficult as so much surrounds what’s in the grooves. Not just the ever-present question of “who are The Residents” but also the story telling, the self-referential narrative, the concepts associated with each record, the ever-spinning continuum…and so on. It helped if record buyers were in on it. Despite this, The Residents made albums which can be appreciated for what they are – American art rock at its most imaginative. George & James and Stars & Hank Forever! snugly fit this category. They stand alone just fine. The triple-CD American Composer’s Series is, ultimately, a fans-only package. Even so, irrespective of anything else, the two albums forming its nucleus are landmark LPs.
- Next week: The Beatles' "What's The New Mary Jane" gets the album treatment
- More reissue reviews on theartsdesk
- Kieron Tyler’s website
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