James Album: “Wah Wah”

the concept of Brian Eno working with James seemed a surprising stretch when Laid came out back in 1993. I mean, Sit Down, was a massive hit and they had the critical plaudits, but what was it that Eno (he of high-art-music like Low, Music for Airports and My Life in the Bush with Ghosts) had seen in them? Well, Laid itself was a hit, but I can't help imagining that it's Wah Wah that contains the real gold that Eno was after.

James had always been open to improvisation and the story of this album is writ large across the results. After a day's pop recording, James (the band) would retire to a dimly lit studio to improvise free-form riffs and lyrics late into the night. Only two of the tracks on the entire album are not sourced from completely free-form improvisation.

Having amassed a wealth of found sounds and half-formed songs, Eno and his sidekick Marcus Dravs split the results and mixed this album from the hours of tape they had collected. The result is twenty plus ambient guitar-based tracks that capture the feeling of 3am about as well as any album I could name. Don't expect the expansive anthemic pop that James made their trademark in the 90's - it bears almost no relation to anything James did before or since and so I've never worked out whether the magic was James's or Eno's. Does it even matter?

I think the solution is that the sum eclipsed the parts, and this very unique and (I think) special album is the result. Any description of the music does it no credit - I guess the typical track has a looped guitar riff, coupled with Tim Booth's stream-of-conciousness lyrics and a clearly soldered-on-in-production electronica beat. The nearest relative I can think of is Aphex Twin's SAW1, but "Wah Wah" hums with warmth, life and has an intimacy that can keep you company until the small hours.

In ten years, what will make James stick out from Coldplay, or U2? While Laid was a success and their other projects were good what is it that really sets them apart? Wah Wah is the breakthrough, a project to free the band of both free time, and the usual constraints when attempting to improvise. The result is an album of 23 songs that are really on the fringe of an otherwise conventional art-pop band. Now an album of improvisation can call to question quality but in this case perhaps the subconscious has real merit. Wah Wah is a real gem of strange, but beautiful music taking some unexpected turns and filled with a refreshing sense of wonder.

"Wah Wah" is the result of a number of sessions recorded in parallel with the 'official' sessions for James' legendary album "Laid", which were also produced by Brian Eno. The result is an album that has some moments of brilliance and free form, as it's mostly made up of jams and improvisational tracks. In it you can hear the "Laid" sound in between the lines, but overall I think of it more as the practicing background that helped the band perfect their sound to the point of delivering "Laid" with the sound it had, rather than an album that had a life of its own. I give it four stars. There are more fundamental albums in the discography of the band. I'd recommend this one only for hardcore James fans.

Basically a side project with Brian Eno, Wah Wah is basically a collection of odd ball half-baked songs that would have been album rejects. It is best listened to drunk and with pretzels, if that's not your everyday listening mode you will find this release too inconsistent for full length album listening. There are a few good songs but if you have all of James CD's and are looking to expand your collection just hunt down the b-sides of their many singles. I highly recommend that you look for any James b-sides off their CD singles from Laid up to the recent Pleased To Meet You CD before you invest in this project.