James 'Laid'

Chart Peak: 25

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James, who were formed in Manchester way back in 1983, are "a cult group whose cult includes potentially everyone"... Singer Tim Booth describes the new single 'Laid' (due for release 1st November '93) as "daft and uplifting".

Jointly the lowest-charting single on Now 26, which might come as a surprise to some, as it's one of the better-known James songs even in Britain, and the closest they ever came to a hit in the US. It's also the title track from one of their most successful albums, famously one of two they recorded simultaneously with Brian Eno on production.

Knowing how long he's been in the business, it's probably a bit unfair on Tim Booth that he's long seemed to me to be a second-rate Bono, but on this track he seems more of a second-rate Michael Stipe, though it can only be a coincidence that this song shares the yodelling motif of R.E.M.'s 'Sidewinder'. It's arguable that this, no less coincidentally, anticipates the sexuality themes of R.E.M.'s next album, Monster. The trouble is that pop stars who try to stray into this sort of area usually seem to think they're being a lot more clever and edgy than they are, and actually singing the phrase "messed about with gender roles" shows how awkward his lyrics can be. The rest of the song has a slightly lopsided quality that's actually sort of endearing, but as is too often the case for me, Booth seems to get in the way. I bet he hated having to replace the word "comes" for the radio edit too.


Also appearing on: 20, 21, 36, 37, 41, 43
Available on: Laid

James 'She's A Star'

Chart Peak: 9

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James have been making melodious, lyrical and intimate music since way back in the early 1980s... 'She's A Star' saw them back in the UK Top 10 with a bang in early '97.

I'm not entirely sure what's supposed to be so "intimate" about this song, and if anything I'd call it rather the opposite - it has a stately quality that makes it seem a bit like they're trying to write a classic song self-consciously, as it were. And the result is that like a lot of James records it leaves me rather cold. There are parts of it I can admire: it's catchy, there's a nice slide guitar part and the little bit of wordplay where Tim Booth sings "She knows where to hide in the dark/She's nowhere to hide in the dark" is sort of cute. But is set against a backdrop that's fundamentally chugging and Booth's vocal mannerisms tend to irritate rather than charm me.

But like the sleevenote says, this did get them a massive radio hit and their third Top 10 appearance, starting something of a revival in the band's fortunes for the next few years. I just don't really get it.

Also appearing on: Now 20, 21, 26, 37, 41, 43
Available on: Whiplash

James 'Sit Down'

Chart Peak: 2 [original version 77 in 1989]

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The original version of this track, as released by Rough Trade, was almost their first ever Top 75 hit. Oddly, it didn't initially make the cut for their major-label comeback album Gold Mother, which brought them their first Top 40 hits. Eventually, though, commercial logic prevailed and the re-recording that appears here and on innumerable other compilations spend three weeks behind only Chesney Hawkes. Ultimately it was added to the album too, although it displaced another song, which is always an annoying thing for record companies to do.

The hit version of 'Sit Down' is one of those tracks that's so deeply familiar I find it hard to get purchase on it and get a fresh reaction, or any reaction at all for that matter. They're not a group I ever mustered much affection for; they've never shrugged off the sense of a poor man's U2 for me. I can appreciate this song a bit more as an adult than I could back in 1991, although I'm not sure whether realising that the lyric I'd heard as "those who find themselves religious" is actually "those who find themselves ridiculous" constitutes an improvement though. Even though there's japery in James, a lot of the time I still find them a bit self-important.

In all honesty though, even if I was ever going to like this song I'd be far too tired of it now.

Also appearing on: Now 21, 26, 36, 37, 41, 43
Available on: Epic