Best known for modern rock hits such as \u201cBorn Of Frustration\u201d and \u201cLaid,\u201d James had hit a rough patch by the time this album came out. The band\u2019s previous record, Whiplash<\/i>, while decent, hadn\u2019t hit the way it was hoped and the band retreated back to the studio to lick their wounds. They had lost their American contract and consequently, this record was only released in the U.K. and was available in America on import. Which is a damn shame because it\u2019s an amazing record.<\/p>\n
Joined by a new guitarist, Adrian Oxaal, James decided to strip back their sound from the overabundance of electronics heard on Whiplash<\/i>. The result is an astounding piece of work. The opening track, \u201cCrash,\u201d is one of those great pop songs with killer melody that lodges itself in your head, begging for infinite repeat. The vocals and the music meld so well together that it makes the song feels like a massive improvement over the simplicity of \u201cLaid.\u201d \u201cI Know What I\u2019m Here For\u201d is the type of song that would combat all the pop fatigue people were feeling in 1999 from the likes of Britney, LFO, and the Backstreet Boys.<\/p>\n
The two most eye-opening moments of the album lie with \u201cHello\u201d and \u201cSurprise.\u201d They are surely two of the most amazing songs James ever recorded, \u201cHello\u201d is the type of breakup ballad dripping with regret and loss that sticks with you. \u201cSurprise\u201d is a beautiful song loaded with piano and great background vocals courtesy of the band. It\u2019s probably one of the most beautiful tracks the band ever made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re Going To Miss You\u201d is another one of those tracks seemingly full of loss, but the band\u2019s musical ability lifts it out of the abyss to a field of optimism. Listening to this album, one gets the feeling of musical euphoria, a feeling that doesn\u2019t come across all that often. All in all, this is a damn fine album that deserved its chance to be heard in America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":32341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9617],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-44093","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-james","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44093"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}