Whiplash

Whiplash, a 1997 Studio Album by James.

Summary

After a long gap during which the band dealt with a number of personal and financial issues, they returned with Whiplash. It was released 27 years ago and featured a new, more electronic sound and delivered top twenty hits for James, including Tomorrow and She’s A Star.

Track List

Tomorrow / Lost A Friend / Waltzing Along / She’s a Star / Greenpeace / Go to the Bank / Play Dead / Avalanche / Homeboy / Watering Hole / Blue Pastures

Bonus tracks included with 1991 reissue:

Lost a Friend (live) / Greenpeace (live) / Homeboy (live) / Waltzing Along (Flytronix Mix)

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsListenVideosGalleryArticlesGigs


Release Name:	Whiplash
Artist Name:	James
Release Date:	24th February 1997
Format:	Studio Album
Catalogue:	LP – 534 354-1, CAS 534 354-4, CD 534 354-2; CD 548 788-2 (reissue)

Whiplash was an album two years in the making. The basic seeds of many of the songs came from sound-check jams during the 1994 US tour and a couple of weeks spent in a large barn close to Woodstock where James played at the anniversary festival in August.

The band congregated at Westside Studios in March 1995 with Brian Eno. Eno’s book “A Year With Swollen Appendices” documents these sessions – click on the link above to view excerpts of the diaries.

Following these sessions, the band did not even get together in the same room for six months. When they did finally get together on what became known as “Black Thursday” – November 16 1995, all hell broke loose. Larry announced that he was leaving the band to save his marriage. A tax bill for the past five years arrived which the band thought was covered. And Tim told the band that he was going to New York to record an album with Angelo Badalamenti.

James survived. Western Hotels used Born of Frustration for a TV commercial in the States which cleared the tax bill. An old school friend of Saul’s, Adrian Oxaal, previously of Sharkboy, was drafted in to replace Larry.

The band, minus Tim, convened at Dave’s house in North Wales where he had built his home studio, dubbed Cafe Mullet (apparently because Dave looks like a fish) to work on the tracks from the Westside sessions. Tim kept in touch with the band’s progress, sending contributions from New York. Slowly but surely, Whiplash fell into place, the electronic influences of the dance music many of the band were increasingly interested in more prominent than ever before.

On Tim’s return, the final vocal tracks were put in place and Stephen Hague was drafted in to add his “pop Midas touch” to the tracks with Eno helping out with advice and backing vocals.
Having been out of the limelight in the UK for almost four years, James were unsure of what reaction they would get. Three warm-up shows at the end of January were rapturously received. The first single She’s A Star was A-listed by Radio 1 and hit number 9 when released in February. The album was released two weeks later and also went to number 9, not up to the placings of previous albums but a meritable performance given the four year hiatus since Laid.

Press reaction to the album was not entirely favourable. Whilst the more conventional tracks were well-received, the more experimental electronic tracks were viewed less favourably, criticised for lacking structure and direction and the lyrical content not reflecting the nature of the music.

Tomorrow, rerecorded from the Wah Wah album, was released as the second single in April, and hit number 13. It coincided with the end of a UK tour which had sold out well in advance, confirming that James audience was still there. Another factor in the success of the single was the 3 CD format that had been employed for both Tomorrow and She’s A Star – one with new b-sides, one with live or session tracks and one with largely unsuccessful remixes.

Following the UK tour, James had scheduled a month and a half tour of America to promote the album. Tim injured his neck on the opening night in Vancouver and struggled to make it through two nights in Portland and Seattle before bowing to the inevitable. A week in traction in a very seedy San Francisco hotel followed. With Tim only half-fit and wearing a neck brace, the band tried to make amends for the cancelled tour, taking their place on the Lollapolooza tour next to Korn, Prodigy and Orbital. Unsurprisingly, this failed to give the album any kind of significant push.

Back in the UK, Waltzing Along became the third single to be released off the album, the rerecorded version hitting number 23 without any significant promotion as the band were still in America.

Lost A Friend was then being touted as a fourth single off Whiplash and a precursor to the planned Best Of album. B-sides were recorded and a set of remixes were commissioned. This was shelved as the record company decided James should record new tracks for The Best Of and promoting another single would delay the release schedule unnecessarily.

Tim doesn’t like the Stephen Hague production of the album, feeling that it is too big, bright and hollow for the songs.

The album was reissued in 2001 and again on double heavy 180g vinyl in 2017. Read about the 2017 reissue on EvenTheStars.

Songs related to this release: