Charles Bobuck — Bobuck Plays The Residents
For those who don’t know Charles Bobuck was one of the main songwriters/ creative minds behind avant pop collective The Residents. In late 2015 he decided to depart the band due to his declining health. And Bobuck Plays The Residents is really his often bizarre, awkward, yet-highly creative, and surprisingly great tribute to the project he was part of for so many years.
The whole idea of a songwriter covering their own tracks may seem a little odd, unusually, and possible pointless. But the thing that makes this work is that Bobuck never sang any of the originals, which of course where mostly sung in that distinctive showy-to-unhidged southern US voice by Randy Rose, aka Mr Skull, aka The Singing Resident. By his own omission in the albums liner notes Bobuck admits he has a ‘feeble & wavering’ voice. And this along with his often drastically different musical re-take of The Residents songs make this album so rewarding.
Opening up the album we have "44"- the original Residents version was a raucous & meaty guitar based affair with Randy roaring over the top. For his version of the track Bobuck brings together tolling slightly eastern sounding string urgency, trip-hop beats, glitching vocals, and dramatic banks of operatic chorus.
Track three goes back to The Resident's early days with "Skratz" from the bands first 1974 album Meet The Residents. Bobuck switches from jarring horn wonk-iness & spastic cymbal pitter-patter of the original, for a blend mellow & dusky like organ pluses, wondering horn work, and a mix of feeble vocals & bizarre megaphone fed pronouncements.
Really each of the tracks managers to reinvent the originals in such a dramatic manner, that often you’ll have to second check what track it’s meant to be. Prime example of is the albums last track "I Hate Heaven", from The Residents 1998 album Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible. The original version was one of The Residents more poppy & approachable songs- bringing together Molly Harvey’s impassioned through playfully showy vocals, with a musical blend of wavering 50’s pop, choppy beat, female choir backing vocals, choppy beats, a twists of Cajun like accordion, and of course The Resident’s odd-ness. For his version he goes for a completely different & bizarre tact, bringing together a bounding slightly uneven piano riff, his weak & painfully warbling vocals. Along with the brief appearance of sudden building then disappearing dramatic beats, and dark simmer organ & backing chorus vocals. It not only completely re-thinks of the original, but finishers the album off in a wonderfully odd & awkward manner.
This is the second post Resident’s release from Bobuck I’ve been impressed with this year, so I do very much look forward to hearing what more he has to offer-up in 2017. I guess you’ll get the most of this you have to be fairly well versed in the eyeballed ones back catalogue, though that said I can also see it appeal to those who just enjoy awkward, wrong sounding, yet creative music too.