A non review of a non performance

A night not really like any night I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to write a review on the basis of songs heard once fleetingly, so much of the intensity and expectation was of the moment. It truly was a night of the gap between crack and thunder, a moment that hung briefly in time, never to be repeated. If that sounds dramatic then it’s meant to be. It was a very special night.

Waiting outside during soundcheck and hearing sounds we’d never heard before was thrilling. We knew it was going to be different, but even so the frisson of excitement that came when we saw the setlist inside the venue, a setlist comprised entirely of new songs took me by surprise. It bravely did what we’d been told to expect, there were no concessions to even new songs we know like Upside. It also marks a crunch point for James. This is where the reunion really begins; the derailment of writing processes caused by the tour and festivals over the summer was part one of this story. This is part two, the part that counts the most, the part where these guys have to pull out the stops and play their cards. We’ve heard about these new songs all summer, now ladies and gentlemen, the show is really beginning….

What follows is my attempt to make some sense of the hungover notes I scrawled on the train home to Nottingham. I’ll go through my thoughts on each song and then add some comments at the end. Like the gig it’s a bit raw, a bit unstructured, but that seems to be the best way to describe such a strange and beautiful night.

CHILD TO BURN – Good start, not staggering, but I enjoyed it. I’d probably have preferred a slightly bolshier introduction.
GOOD MOOD SUNDAY – Loved the title when I saw the setlist, but not so sure about this one. That’s to say it got a seven… It wasn’t the most memorable track of the night.
OUT OF OUR HEADS – Gig gets rocking for me with this one. It’s catchy and gets me bouncing along merrily, always a good sign. Can’t help but sing along. I love the fine line James walk between throwaway and divinely inspiring. This one has potential to be one of those songs.
HEY MA – Been looking forward to hearing this, as I wasn’t at the Edinburgh gig. I liked it a lot. Couldn’t make out the lyrics clearly enough, and I can’t read backwards through the lyric stand. I could make out the ‘boys in body bags coming home in pieces bit’ which frankly is something that needs to be said. We seem to be living in an absurdly apathetic age, and no one is making music that makes a stand. The critics will probably pan it for the 9/11 thing, but who cares, I’d rather speak out than be one of the senseless party-goers as Rome burns around me. Aside from subject matter, musically it sounded excellent.
WATERFALL – Sounded good, probably more of an album track than a live one, like Fear.
PURE BEAUTY – Larry’s guitar sounded ace on this one, really ace.
I WANNA GO HOME – More guitar heaven from Larry. Had that yearning thing going on that I love. ‘In this bar I’m dying’ –love that line. I could quite easily have cried.
A/B – This one felt a bit rough, there’s something in there but I’m not sure where it’s headed right now. Loved the guitar, which was reminiscent of the reworked Chainmail - a favourite of mine, it was a bit funky and pulled together more could sound very good.
MOTHERS A CLOWN – I laughed at the title of this one. My Mum wouldn’t babysit for me because she was waiting in for a case of wine to be delivered. My Mum truly is a clown, but not in a good way. Apparently the song is about Mum’s being clowns in a good way. I’m hoping my own kids see me in the good category. Despite the way I keep abandoning them too run off to James gigs. I was trying to listen to the lyrics but couldn’t catch them clearly enough, my one complaint about Hoxton as a venue is that the vocals get lost a bit, to the point of inaudibility at times.
BETTER IN BLACK- I wrote down something about fish heads and stray cats on the original setlist that Larry nabbed off me. I really liked the vocal style on this one; it was punchy and really had something about it.
OH MY HEART – This one was epic, again Larry’s guitar was awesomely good. Oh My Heart? I thought it was going to burst.
FEAR? – I can imagine this as an awesome album track. I’d lie down and float off somewhere. Live it drifted a bit for me, but I think that was environment more than song. When you’re stood so close to the band it’s sometimes hard to know where to look, especially when Larry has his inscrutable sunglasses on.
WHITE BOY – The cow bell one. Great. It had a slightly manic feel, in that way James songs are a bit off kilter and not like anything else any other bands do. As keeps being said, focus track potential.
BUBBLES – At last a song I’ve heard before! This blew me away at Belladrum, and it blew me away again tonight. That chorus, I’m Aliiiive, it just does it for me in that James way. It is joy, it is celebration of life, and it is connection. It’s why I love this band so much.
BOOM BOOM – I was expecting some fireworks, but this seemed a bit of a flat way to end. I think there could be something good in there, but it’s not found its way to the surface yet.

Saul getting the violin out more was brilliant, I hope that continues, in fact I insist it continues.

There was also some awesome drumming from Dave on a couple of tracks, very old school James, one track reminded me a bit of Medieval, whichever song it was, it sounded really good and I hope that stays through to the final cut.

It was slightly disappointing not having an encore, Upside and Not So Strong would’ve really finished the night off for me, we were literally begging for more, and it would’ve been nice to have been finished off …

I really hope that the production is good on the new album. Lee Baker being involved cheers me greatly as I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. The songs on Monday were raw and unpolished, but I hope that the rawness shines through the final cut. So often James seem to get overproduced, songs seem to get perfected beyond perfection and the final result detracts from what James truly are, a band whose greatest strength is tightrope walking the fine line between anarchy and chaos. When James are on fire live they create a divinely beautiful spontaneity. I’m not sure how that can happen in the studio, I’m not a musician, but I really do hope Lee can tweak that out of them.

.

My strongest connection with James is lyrically, I just love the way Tim writes them. I can’t remember the exact quote but somewhere in my age addled brain is something Nietzsche said about music filling a gap that words can’t express. For me song lyrics do something poetry can’t, they express emotion and intensity perfectly. I am a text person, and for me to like music the lyrics have to stir my soul. On Monday some of the lyrics seemed a bit too reliant on repetition. It’s not too long before recording begins, and I was expecting something slightly more coherent by now. Not having been privy to such an opus in composition before, maybe that’s the way it always is. Maybe things magically come together, my personal writing processes are very unstructured and I guard my work in progress cautiously, so it’s a brave move to stand up and be counted when you’re only halfway there. This is not meant as a slight in any way, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how the songs evolve.

So really this is it, the bit where James have to do what they’ve been promising us, all that stuff about balls and risk taking is crucial now. The gigs so far this year have filled my heart with absolute joy, now I want to hear an album that does the same. On the evidence of what I’ve heard I’m feeling very positive. Do us proud boys!