George & James
George & James (subtitled American Composer Series - Volume 1) is the thirteenth album by The Residents,[1] released on Ralph Records on March 13th 1984. The first in the group's American Composer Series, George & James profiles the work of George Gershwin and James Brown (specifically, Brown's acclaimed Live at the Apollo album, a longtime favorite of the group).
The album was supported with the release of The White Single, featuring The Residents' take on another James Brown hit, "This is a Man's Man's Man's World". The American Composer Series - initially intended to continue into the year 2000, with each volume profiling two key figures of American music - was ultimately abandoned by The Residents after the release of a second volume, Stars & Hank Forever, in 1986.
In 1993, George & James was reissued on CD by Euro Ralph as part of an "infobook" package, also featuring two floppy disks featuring software designed to accompany the album. In June 2025, a newly remastered version of the album was included in the pREServed three disc CD set, American Composers Series 1982-1987.
History
The project had started off as a simple James Brown cover album, but eventually, as the American Composers concept evolved, the group decided to add three George Gershwin covers to it. Even if the body of work of these two artists had little in common, they were selected because of their interesting backgrounds and their role in evolving American music.[2]
Furthermore, The Residents had been fans of both artists since their pre-history. Gershwin had his work previously loosely covered on their 1970 demo reel The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger, which had a rendition of "Summertime"; and a member of the band even got an autograph from Brown after a concert in 1965.[2]
The James side of the album was based on the 1963 album Live at the Apollo, one of the first live albums and the most successful R&B album ever. The Residents' version of the album is condensed to fit one side of vinyl (skipping the medley on side two), with the Singing Resident portraying James Brown in a growling low-pitched voice described by Uncle Willie as "similar to the Angakok from Eskimo". The crowd noises on the James side are sampled from a radio broadcast of the Mole Show on June 4th 1983, and the song arrangements (including backing vocals) were assisted by part-time collaborator Joshua Raoul Brody under the pseudonym "Raoul N. Di Seimbote".
Recording likely began following the release of The Tunes of Two Cities in April of 1982, with frequent interruptions caused by The Mole Show tour throughout 1982 and 1983. Following The Mole Show, the group likely continued vocal work on the album without their Emulators, as they had been left in storage in London after the last Mole performance. Production had to be halted again in September, as The Residents' attention was shifted to their unfinished collaboration with Renaldo & The Loaf, Title in Limbo. In October, the group likely took a break to rehearse for The Uncle Sam Mole Show, with sessions continuing in November. From November 1983 to February 1984, the album was finally finished.
Cover art
George & James was the first Residents studio album to use computer-created graphics on its cover art, created on their Apple II computer with a Koala Pad graphics tablet. Computer graphics, as well as animation, would feature prominently in the next few subsequent releases from the group, including Ralph catalogs and home video releases.
The album's liner 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".
Release
George & James was released on vinyl in America by Ralph Records on March 13th 1984. Because of a miscommunication between the record plant and Ralph, who had yet to approve of the test pressings of the LP, the first 180 copies suffered from sound distortion at the end of the George side, and had to be left unused.
The White Single, released shortly after George & James, is generally considered a companion single for the album, its A-side being a cover of another James Brown song, "This is a Man's Man's Man's World". However, the B-side, "Safety is a Cootie Wootie" has no relation with the concept of the album, being an edited version of a suite recorded in 1983 for a Japanese comic project. Korova Records, months later, issued an alternate edition of the single in the UK; this version is known as "The Black Single" due to its black sleeve with white text, and the B-side is replaced with "I'll Go Crazy".
Korova also handled the manufacturing and distribution of George & James in Europe. They also produced a cassette release, exclusive to European regions, that included the "Man's World" single as a bonus track following the James side. This version also features more accurate writing credits than the LP: where the vinyl editions simply credit side one to Gershwin, and side two to Brown, the cassette edition credits the songs' co-writers, and in the case of "Think" and "Night Train", their correct songwriters.
Reissues
A limited clear vinyl edition was issued by Ralph Records in the spring of 1984, with only seventy-five copies available. It was also repressed as part of Ralph's 13th Anniversary reissue series in 1986, though this version is largely identical to the original release.
George and James would finally get a CD release in 1993, when Euro Ralph published it as the first in their line of re-releases. To promote this release, the label put out a very short run of promotional cassettes, with only 20 copies being made, alongside of an Infobook, consisting of two 3.5" floppy disks with contents related to the album. Information about these disks is scarce, and no screenshots from it have surfaced yet, but it's likely that they were similar to the Third Reich 'n Roll multimedia edition released the following year.
The album received a digital remaster in 1999, which was released in Japan by Bomba Records that same year, and in North America by East Side Digital (with slightly different biographies of both composers) in the year 2000.
Cherry Red Records announced a compilation of The American Composers Series as part of their pREServed campaign of Residents archival reissues, to be released somewhere around 2020. This package, initially titled The American Composers Box, would include an expanded edition of George & James. However, the box set was delayed several times because of licensing issues, and after a revision of the track listing, would only see its eventual release in June 2025, retitled American Composers Series 1982-1987.
Legacy
In early 2011, JB@45 was released via The Residents' digital music platform Robot Selling Device. This was a digitally edited version of the album's James side, meant to emulate how that side of the album would play at 45 RPM, instead of the standard 33 RPM of a typical vinyl LP. To do this, all of its tracks have been slightly sped-up, but with the pitch altered so that the deep vocals of the original are not lost.
Track listing
Original release (1984)
George Side (17:37)
- Rhapsody In Blue (10:30) (George Gershwin)
- I Got Rhythm (3:02) (George/Ira Gerswhin)
- Summertime (4:05) (Heyward/George/Ira Gerswhin)
- I'll Go Crazy (2:42) (Brown)
- Try Me (0:40) (Brown)
- Think (2:15) (Pauling)
- I Don't Mind (2:29) (Brown)
- Lost Someone (5:52) (Brown/Stallworth/Byrd)
- Please, Please, Please (1:17) (Brown/Terry)
- Night Train (3:25) (Forest/Simpkins/Washington)
Euro Ralph CD reissue (1993)
- Rhapsody In Blue (10:31) (George Gershwin)
- I Got Rhythm (3:04) (George/Ira Gerswhin)
- Summertime (4:09) (Heyward/George/Ira Gerswhin)
- Live at the Apollo (0:55) (Brown)
- I'll Go Crazy (1:45) (Brown)
- Try Me (0:50) (Brown)
- Think (1:57) (Pauling)
- I Don't Mind (2:39) (Brown)
- Lost Someone (5:40) (Brown/Stallworth/Byrd)
- Please, Please, Please (1:19) (Brown/Terry)
- Night Train (3:38) (Forest/Simpkins/Washington)
Bomba CD reissue (1999)
- Rhapsody In Blue (10:31) (George Gershwin)
- I Got Rhythm (3:04) (George/Ira Gerswhin)
- Summertime (4:09) (Heyward/George/Ira Gerswhin)
- Intro (0:54) (Brown)
- I'll Go Crazy (1:46) (Brown)
- Try Me (0:50) (Brown)
- Think (1:57) (Pauling)
- I Don't Mind (2:40) (Brown)
- Lost Someone (5:39) (Brown/Stallworth/Byrd)
- Please, Please, Please (1:19) (Brown/Terry)
- Night Train (3:38) (Brown/Terry)
Liner notes
Original release (1984)
America, in its relatively short history, has produced an astounding number of talented individuals in the field of music. The Residents are deeply indebted to the American composer for the spunk it has given the melting pot.
This series is to be recorded during the final 16 years of the 20th century (1984-2000). While each record will be released upon completion, the work, as a whole, will not be available until 2001 and will contain the works of not less than twenty composers.
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 25th, 1898. At 21 he had his first hit with "Swanee". In 1922, Gershwin wrote a one-act opera, "135th Street", which paved the way for his 1924 premier of "Rhapsody In Blue". Few pieces written before that time had both the quality and general Americana of "Rhapsody", and it made Gershwin famous throughout the world of music.
After that he split his time by writing both for Broadway and the concert hall. Other works are: "An American In Paris", "Porgy and Bess", "I Got Rhythm", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "Somebody Loves Me", and many other '30s pop tunes. He died in 1937 of a brain tumor.
James Brown (1933- )
Overcoming a childhood of poverty, Brown rose to become America's first successful black artist. His first record was "Please, Please, Please" (1956). In 1962, he recorded one of the first live albums, "Live at the Apollo". It immediately became the most commercially successful R&B album ever recorded.
James has had over 20 singles that sold a million, including "It's A Man's Man's Man's World", "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud", "Papa's Got Brand New Bag", "Prisoner of Love", and "Sex Machine".
The Residents are a group of pseudo-artists who freely indulge themselves in the great American culture. While the results have been of debatable value, for over a decade The Residents have munched away at music with the enthusiasm of a grasshopper.
Their major contributions to society have been "Eskimo", an album of enviromental soundscapes; "The Third Reich 'n Roll", a survey of twisted Rock and Roll sentimentality; and "The Mole Trilogy", of which this is not part three.East Side Digital CD reissue (2000)
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York. At 21 he had his first hit song, "Swanee". At 24, Gershwin wrote a one-act opera, "135th Street", which paved the way for the 1924 premiere of "Rhapsody in Blue". "Rhapsody" combined elements of European classical music with jazz, which was gathering much interest at the time.
One of America's most prolific songwriters, Gershwin wrote for Hollywood, Broadway and the concert hall before succumbing to a brain tumor at the age of 39.
James Brown (1933- )
Overcoming a childhood of poverty, Brown rose to become America's first successful black artist with his recording of "Please, Please, Please" in 1956- Six years later he recorded "Live at the Apollo", which became the largest selling R&B album of the time.
James Brown has had over 20 singles that sold a million copies and is still regarded as "The Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business".Credits
Original release (1984)
- Performed by: The Residents
- Produced by: The Residents
- Computer art cover produced by: Pore Know Graphics
- The Residents are personally managed by: Bill Gerber
- The Famous Flames on "James" portrayed by: Raoul N. Di Seimbote
- The audience on "James" portrayed by: the "Mole Show" audience in Utrecht, Holland.
- George side written by: George Gerswhin
- James side written by: James Brown
Additional Credits (Featured on later pressings)
- "I Got Rhythm" written by: George & Ira Gerswhin
- "Summertime" written by: DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gerswhin
- "Think' written by: Lowman Pauling
- "Lost Someone" written by: James Brown, Lloyd Stallworth & Bobby Byrd
- "Please, Please, Please" written by: James Brown & Johnny Terry
- "Night Train" written by: Forrest / Simpkins / Washington
Release history
| Year | Label | Format | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Ralph Records | LP | US |
| Korova | EU | ||
| UK | |||
| Cass | EU | ||
| 1986 | Ralph Records | LP | US |
| 1993 | Euro Ralph | Cass/CD | EU |
| CD | |||
| 1999 | Bomba Records | JP | |
| 2000 | East Side Digital | US | |
| 2017 | Cherry Red Records | DIgital | UK |
See also
Resources
External links and references
- ↑ "Despite 13 albums in 11 years..." People, May 1984
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dave Warden, The Cryptic Guide to The Residents, Bach's Decay, 1986
