Stars and Hank Forever

Rev. Syung Myung Me: The American Composer Series actually was a cool idea, and this album is much, much better than the first one. (Though it'd be hard not to be – though this album is actually good.) The first side is Hank Williams, Sr., and has perfect covers of "Jambalaya" – taking a happy, upbeat song and turning it in to a swampy song about the death of the singer's beloved and the wake – and the really dancy "Kaw-Liga", which was another one of the Residents' dance floor hits (an EP actually came out of remixes by The KLF). The other side is John Philip Sousa (labeled "Sousa-Side", versus the "Hank Side"), and takes the form of a marching band performing the songs, with applause and crowd noise taken from the Residents' concerts. I prefer the Hank side, but the Sousaside is really good as well. It seems pretty clear that they learned from the misstep of George and James.