Toronto - James is a funny band, they have always been around (22 years since they first released their album) , they have had a few smash hits (Sit Down, Laid, Sound, Tommorrow) and yet they have never been at the forefront or heavily mentioned. I guess they are always that reliable and consistent band, always in the background, always putting out stellar music. The Ron Francis of britpop, I guess.

Speaking of Ron Francis, when I was a kid and obsessed with the Penguins (an obsession that has yet to cease), I wrote a fan letter to Ron Francis, and he (or his assistant) freakin wrote back and gave me an autographed card. No drug has ever gotten me as high as I felt that day. I actually wrote to him cos I was a massive Penguin fan and I figure that Mario gets about two billion emails a day, Jaromir probably couldn’t read English so I was like well, Francis is kinda quiet guy, maybe he’d like a letter. Anyways, he’s one of my favorite all time hockey players.

Back to James. It has been a long 7 years since they have released an album. The last one ‘Pleased to Meet You’ was rather good (my friend Dwayne swears that the title track is the best James song ever, or something). Since then, Tim Booth has released a crappy album and that’s about it. So I guess it was a bit of a surprise that 2008 rolled around and there they are, fresh with their 10th album.

So how is it? It’s pretty decent. At first listen, I couldn’t really pick out anything overly catchy. However, once I gave it a good listen - all the similar things I liked about James was there - soaring choruses, a hint of optimism, grade 6 lyrics. Tim Booth’s voice is still as solid as ever and there are definiately some strong single songs on there, including Hey Ma and Waterfalls. Its been so long since I heard a new Britpop album that it took me awhile to recognize what I was listening to. Once I did, I was rewarded with a decent album from a band whose music quality has not declined through the ages.

3.5/5

 

 James - Waterfall: Play Now