Over their fifty-plus-year career, The Residents- those infamous yet unknown avant-popsters have always created their own distinctive/ weird takes on others' material. Going from their noise up  ‘n’ churning take on the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction, though to their melted Dada take on 60’s pop that was The Third ‘n’ Reich and Roll album.

But their most focused attempt at covering popular music happened in the early to late 80s with the American Composer Series, which saw the project giving its take on the works of George Gershwin, James Brown,  Hank Williams, and John Philip Sousa. Here, as part of the pREServed series, is a three CD set compiling together the two original albums – George & James( 1984) and Stars & Hank Forever!(1986), plus a disc/plus worth of rare/ bonus tracks.

The three CDs come packaged inside an eight-panel mini card gatefold- with two of the CDs coming in their own slips. Also inside we have a sixteen-page inlay booklet- taking in a new write-up by Resident expert Jim Knipfel, a picture/ press release/ press cutting collage. And a write-up about the bonus/ extras material.

So on the first CD, we have 1984’s George & James plus six bonus tracks. One half of the record focused on covers of George Gershwin work, and the second half on covers of James Brown’s work in particularly his 1963 Live At The Apollo album. So the first up we get the Gershwin material- and initially I disliked this half of the record, as the covers just seem to drone & waver on ‘n’ on- though they have started to click/work with me. So there are just three tracks on this side- taking in “Rhapsody in Blue”, "I Got Rhythm", and "Summertime"- the first track runs at ten and a half minutes, and is all wailing/ wavering synth horn & darting/ plonking toy piano disquiet - all very prime uneasy listening. The second is a wondering/ wonky blend of electro keys/ vibe tones, twitching to bounding drum machines, and waving electro horn drones. And the third track is all icy key strikes, and wavy piping electro horn work. But really, the key/ weirdly wonderful jewels of the album come in the second half, and the James Brown material, which features oddly recreated audience noise/ textures.  This half of the album takes in seven tracks- these go from wavering- bounding bass line, electro synth horn, going off-key backing, slurred lead vocals of “I’ll Go Crazy”. Onto wonky synth bass chops, wiry guitar stabs, sways of recreated crowd noise, and lightly baying vocals of “I Don’t Mind”. Extra tracks on this disc include a 45/ normal speed version of the Brown tracks, which finds the Resident’s singer sounding more like his normal voice, and a few versions of the project's cover of  "It's A Man’s World", and live versions of tracks from the first half of the original album.

Moving on to disc two, we have the elven tracks from 1986’s Stars & Hank Forever!, plus twelve bonus tracks.  The first half of the album features Hank Williams covers- these go from the bounding synth bass, crashing percussion, and fiery Snakefinger guitar solo version of “Hey Good Looking”, onto the steady mournful/ bittersweet plod of “Six More Miles(To The Graveyard”. Though to the clip-clop percussion, hushed vocals, synth ambient sweeps & synth horn beeps. The second half takes six John Philip Sousa tunes- go from barrenly waltzing guitar, wavering Res vocals, and wonkily jaunting synth stringed take on “Stars And Stripes Forever”. Though to the piping organ tones, old man's singing vocals, and later jaunting synth string layers of “The Liberty Bell”. I guess of the two composer series albums- this is the more approachable, but it’s also nicely varied/ highly creative. The twelve bonus tracks are largely different versions/ mixes of album tracks.

The third disc is entitled DeComposed/ Recomposed, and takes in a total of seventeen tracks. Bringing together more different versions of album tracks from both albums, but the most fascinating are the rare/ unreleased tracks that show the project giving a go at covers of the work of others. Highlights include their version of four Sun Ra tracks- these go from dotting pluses, overloud vocal wooshes, plodding bass line, organ simmer of “Space Is The Place”. Onto stabbing electro tones, stretching/ bubbling electronic pitches,  zooming in purr, and churning synth horns of “Rocket #9”.  Or there’s their terminal wonky/ uneasy of Buddy Holly’s “That Be The Day” with blunt bass piping, and barren ohh-ahh backing vocals. It truly is great to hear these tracks, and really make buying the set worth it alone.

It is always wonderful to get another sonic chapter in the pREServed series, and once again, this is a splendid set. Yes, it may not be as bountiful with rare/ unreleased tracks as other earlier additions in the series- but there is some great never-heard-before stuff here, and of course the two previously released albums serve up lots of Rez sonic treats.