GEORGE SIDE:
Rhapsody in Blue
I Got Rhythm
Summertime
JAMES SIDE: Live at the Apollo
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I'll Go Crazy
- Try Me
- Think
- I Don't Mind
- Lost Someone
- Please, Please, Please
- Night Train
GEORGE & JAMES
Album
| GEORGE SIDE:
JAMES SIDE: Live at the Apollo
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The Mole Show of 1982-83 had taken a terrible toll on the Residents, nearly bankrupting Ralph Records and driving away two members of the Cryptic Corporation—some say two original members of the band. The band needed a way to regroup and recover: one that would be less creatively draining, would be an educational experience, and above all would have nothing to do with the Moles.
To that end, in 1984 the Residents announced they were breaking ground on the American Composer Series, planned as a series of ten albums, each exploring the music of two composers—one per record side.
George & James was the first, reinterpreting the music of George Gershwin and James Brown. The idea was to get past the mythology and personae of the artists and get straight to their musical concepts. This, however, was lost to many critics who complained that the Residents were being irreverent and disrespectful to the originals. Others complained that George & James offered nothing new—which was also part of the point.
The Residents released a cover of "This is a Man's Man's Man's World" as a single to promote George & James.
RATING: 6
Well, it's pretty good, is George & James. Not great, but, you know...pretty good.
I almost always take the George side over the James side. The Residents' treatments of Gershwin make for dark and stormy music. "I Got Rhythm" is probably the best, playing like a cold and paranoid set of variations on a short musical statement. The others are kinda fascinating, too: "Rhapsody in Blue" shows you just how many musical themes Gershwin could incorporate into a single-movement piece, and "Summertime" takes him most beautiful and romantic song and turns the beauty inside out in a manner that strips away the romance and makes it menacing. That's a neat trick, you have to admit, for Gershwin tunes.
The James Brown side suffers tremendously by comparison. The Residents freely admit to being huge Brown fans, and I think they hold him in too much awe to follow their own muse and ignore the persona. Why else would they choose to cover a truncated Live at the Apollo, whose whole point was to show off James Brown's stage presence and command of his audience? They do muster up a faintly cartoonish interpretation, mostly by slowing down the singer's voice (which does make it laugh-out-loud funny at times), but in general their versions are very faithful, even through the trademark Residents textures and instruments. Even the ad-libs and stage banter are almost word-for-word. Doesn't make for much insight, but it sounds all right.
So—pretty good. There's little to add to that.