Music Arcades: James: Wah Wah

I heard the new James single Whiteboy on the radio on Monday. Not sure yet about the song as a whole, but the lyrics were smart in that self-deprecatory way. Something about "my mum says I look like Yul Brynner / Too old for Hamlet, too young for Lear" and other stuff I can't remember.

Apparently Tim from James was unhappy with Wah Wah because he thought his improvised vocals were too rough and ready, and wanted a chance to re-record them. Irrespective of that, it may be my second favourite studio album by James, after Laid. It was recorded in parallel with that album, after Brian Eno (as producer) persuaded the band to record an evil twin companion to the main(stream) work.

I guess the idea was to create a channel to let the musicians blow off some steam. And as Tim writes in the sleevenotes, "Every song we've ever created was spawned from improvisation. We'd go in a room and make a racket."

Obviously it's uneven, but it has many enjoyable movements. Basic Brian was a favourite on this listening, and, to my ears, there's something in the intro to Burn the Cat that anticipates Eno's extracurricular work with U2 a couple of years later on Original Soundtracks 1.

Let's hope the new album improves on this one. I may have to pre-order it.

p.s. Just seen a photo of the current James line-up in this month's Word magazine: Andy, what have you done to yourself?