Tag: Tim Booth

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Best tunes of 1993: #8 James “Laid”

<< #9    |    #7 >>

“This bed is on fire with passionate love, the neighbours complain about the noises above, but she only comes when she’s on top”

If there’s one song by Manchester-based alternative rock band, James, that you’re bound to know, it’s “Laid”. The title track off their 1993 album is their biggest hit outside of England, especially here in North America where it gained popularity when it was used for the trailers for the first two “American pie” films. Before that, though, it was featured on the first “Frosh” compilation, wildly popular here in Canada in the late 90s, so pretty much anyone of a certain age who was in university or college here around that time knows these first couple of lines quite well. And for sure, they shouted along with them on a packed dance floor or three.

For myself, I’ve been a huge fan of the band since the early 90s and still follow them closely today, as you might already have guessed if you’ve been around these parts before. “Laid” was actually the first album I owned by the band. I picked it up on CD from BMG* after seeing the video for an early single called “Sit down” on MuchMusic’s “CityLimits” and deciding to check them out further. That the album title was provocative didn’t even occur to me until I received my order and I noticed the band photo on the cover and its members’ various states of cross-dress. “Laid”, both the album and the song, became quick favourites of mine, with repeat listens and repeat listens, and remain favourites and see a lot of repeat listens, still, to this day.

“Dressed me up in women’s clothes
Messed around with gender roles
Line my eyes and call me pretty”

The only problem I really have with “Laid” (the song) is that it leaves you wanting more. It is way too short, coming in at just over two and a half minutes. Other than that, it’s pure pop perfection. Staccato and popping drumming, a wooly wall of sound instrumentation care of the massive band and Brian Eno’s intricate production, and, of course, the inimitable vocals of frontman Tim Booth. The words are a fun and hilarious companion to the dance-ready tune, a real floor filler, and creator of good times and good memories.

Go ahead now. Press play, turn it up, and I dare you to not to stomp your feet wildly to that rhythm, wave your arms above your head with abandon, and howl the title “Laid” loudly along with Booth at each chorus break.

*Those who know, know.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 1992: #22 James “Ring the bells”

<< #23    |    #21 >>

Now that Christmas is all wrapped up, I thought I’d remind you all what’s happening with my Best tunes of 1992 list before I wrap up the other two lists I’ve been blitzing this month. And this one is pure joy.

Those of you that are not new to these pages will know that I’m something of a James fanatic. I first heard them with their hit single, “Sit down”, and really got into them with the album, “Laid”. Between those two was their fourth album, “Seven”, an album the Mancunian alternative rock band struggled with from the beginning. Half of it was produced by Youth, and only half because they ran out of time with him and given the band’s unhappiness with the results of early recordings. The band produced the rest of the album themselves with some help from Steve Chase. It was finally released almost a year late and wasn’t given the time of day by the music press. However, the band was pleased with the final product and I’m right there with them. I picked it up on CD as one of my BMG music club picks shortly after immersing myself in “Laid” and quickly found my favourites on it, of which this tune is but one.

“Ring ring the bells
Wake the town
Everyone is sleeping
Shout at the crowd
Wake them up
This anger’s deeper than sleep”

“Ring the bells” appears as track two on “Seven” and it sounds like it should’ve been the lead off single, picking up with the uplifting joyous energy where “Sit down” left off. However, they waited and released two other singles prior to unleashing this one. It is frantic acoustic guitar strumming, accompanied by an explosion of sound that will pick you right up out of your seat and get you dancing in a way that you can’t possibly sustain for its five minutes in length. I don’t even know how the band does it. But somehow we find the energy deep within ourselves and lose ourselves to the pure joy that the sounds evoke. Meanwhile, Booth is singing on about losing faith in religion and the freedom that brings and wanting to share it with us all.

The fact that such a tune that I obviously love so much is placed low at number twenty-two should serve notice that the rest of this list is going to be great. Prepare yourselves. It’s all coming in the new year.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1992 list, click here.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 1991: #1 James “Sit down”

<< #2

Okay. I have likely stretched this list out longer than it needed to be, given that I started counting down these tunes well over a year and a half ago. And well, for those of you who have frequented these pages in the just over two years since I started this blog and know that I am something of a James fanatic, this post might seem somewhat anticlimactic. And yet at the same time, this song placing at number one for 1991 may still come as somewhat of a surprise.

“Sit down” was originally released as a single in 1989 but in that seven minute long form, it didn’t take a big piece out of the music sales pie. The song was later re-recorded to a shorter length, with some editing in the lyrics, and re-released in 1991. This is the version that I first heard, being my first ever exposure to the band, coming to me like many of the songs on this list, in the form of the video recorded off of CityLimits. This is the version that many people know best, definitely making a bigger mark with the buying public, and placing one spot short of number one in the UK singles charts in 1991. Neither version appeared on the original track listing of their 1990 album “Gold mother” but the re-recorded “Sit down” was included when the album was released in North America as “James” with a new cover, the white flower insignia on blue backdrop. And though this has ultimately become my favourite James tune, I actually had to go searching for the original to remember what it even sounded like in my research for writing this post.

So yes, for me, this tune is 1991 at its best. The re-recording is definitely punchier, tighter, and more succinct than the original, perhaps influenced by the acid house dance and psychedelia prevalent at the time with their fellow Mancunians. Frontman Tim Booth was certainly a willing and able dancer for the music they created, just watch the video for a hint of his ecstatic moves. And there is depth here as well. But I’m not just talking about the multiple layers of sound that the band’s players create, though that definitely contributes to the majestic beauty of their music. Nay, it’s Booth’s recognizable vocals and his lyrics that set the band apart from their peers.

“If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.”

“Sit down”, for its danceable beats and upbeat melody, seems to be a song about those lowest moments in your life when you feel like you’re all alone, Booth sounding like he’s coming from a place of experience and wanting to assure us all that, if nothing else, he’s there for us all. But it’s not just Tim, no, the whole band, sliding guitars and the punished drum kit and all. It’s a song my wife Victoria loves, just as much as I do, perhaps her favourite by the band as well. I’m sure she’ll correct me if I’m wrong. However, we’ve definitely sung along together the following lines, while driving in the car, just hanging around, or wherever we’re hearing it.

“Those who feel the breath of sadness
Sit down next to me
Those who find they’re touched by madness
Sit down next to me
Those who find themselves ridiculous
Sit down next to me”

Yep. I think I could listen to this song forever.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1991 list, click here.