> (In response to the James review in the July 14 issue)
This is befuddling. Even during the hey-day of "Madchester" (ala the band's Gold Mother), the band rarely -- if ever -- used the same acid house and 60's guitar pop that so defined the era. Citing that JAMES "employed trademark Madchester rhythms and pyrotechnics" is not only contradictory to the actual music they created, but also very unpersuasive as an argument since no specifics are even mentioned. It's easy to lump the band into the baggy movement, especially since they rose around the same time and the same area as the genre "dictated," but as you said yourself, JAMES were never truly attached to the style in the first place (one could possibly make the case with the horn-led ecstasy of "Come Home" and its various remixes, but the band at that time rarely employed anything more "baggy" than that). Plus, one is hardly convinced they ever went in a similar direction even as a *diversion* in their career because the similarities to the "diversionary" style are too hard to come by.
Wah Wah is a highly divisive album, nothing to decry here, but to single out "Walking The Ghost" is peculiar. If anything, one would have to lump in songs like "Top Of The World" or "Lullaby" as they go for extremely similar goals (i.e. what's so atypical and bizarre about a song like "Walking The Ghost"?). The reason (for some notable omissions) is because the vast majority of the songs picked for The Best Of... were not only from the Polygram and Sire years, but from their biggest hits to date. The only song that was never a big chart success (i.e. not a single) was "Out To Get You," and I'm sure the band had to coax the label to get that non-single on there. Tim Booth clearly admits that the collection is not technically a Best Of... since the band don't necessarily agree with the picks, and the whole shebang is obviously more of a greatest hits package than anything else ("It's not the Best Of...but it's fucking good.") But applause for even mentioning the acoustic version of "Protect Me"...it's miles above any studio version and one of the most poignant moments in the band's entire career.
There is more to JAMES than an offspring of a nearly ten year-old genre, and more to their history and progression than how they "survived" such a tie. JAMES are a gem, to be sure, but it's Manchester -- not "Madchester" -- that should be proud. - D.C., Los Angeles, CA
