One Of The Three - The James Band Archive

Tag Archives: 1997

Whiplash Interview with James CD

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James : Interview CD, a 1997 promo by James.

Summary

Interview disc of pre-answered questions including track-by-track talk about Whiplash

Track List

Interview

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsGallery
Release Name: James : Interview CD
Artist Name: James
Release Date: 1st February 1997
Format: Promo Album
Catalogue: WHIP2

Interview disc of pre-answered questions including track-by-track talk about Whiplash

    No content found.

Whiplash Canadian promo CD

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Whiplash Canadian promo CD, a 1997 promo by James.

Summary

Full Canadian promo of the Whiplash album.

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

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsGallery
Release Name: Whiplash Canadian promo CD
Artist Name: James
Release Date: 1st February 1997
Format: Promo Album
Catalogue: tbd

Full Canadian promo of the Whiplash album.

Songs related to this release:

Whiplash (promo)

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Whiplash (promo), a 1997 promo by James.

Summary

Full album promo in card sleeve.

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

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsGallery
Release Name: Whiplash (promo)
Artist Name: James
Release Date: 1st February 1997
Format: Promo Album
Catalogue: WHIP1

Full album promo in card sleeve.

Songs related to this release:

January 1997

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James make their eagerly awaited live return with Adrian Oxaal’s live debut at three low-key shows at Sheffield Leadmill, Bristol Fleece And Firkin and London Camden Dingwalls.

London Camden Dingwalls – 27th January 1997

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Setlist

Laid / Sometimes / Honest Joe / Homeboy / Tomorrow / Out To Get You / Five-O / Johnny Yen / Lost A Friend / Greenpeace / Sit Down / She's A Star / Sit Down / PS / Come Home

Support

n/a

More Information & Reviews

None.

Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997

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Setlist

Laid / Sometimes / Honest Joe / Lost A Friend / Tomorrow / PS / Five-O / Homeboy / Greenpeace / She's A Star / Sit Down / Out To Get You / Come Home / Johnny Yen / Laid

Support

Perfume

More Information & Reviews

Adrian Oxaal’s first show with the band.

Lost A Friend

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Lost A Friend is track two off the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It was planned as the fourth single off the Whiplash LP and the band had recorded b-sides for the release and commissioned remixes before the plan was shelved because of the promotion required and the need to write some new material for the Best Of.

Tim said at the time that this was the most successful track in Whiplash in terms of what the band were trying to achieve. Producer Stephen Hague apparently tried to coax Tim into changing the lyrics to make them more romantic, the first time anyone had dared suggest this.

The lyrics deal with films such as Seven and Heat where the main element of the entertainment is watching people getting killed and the song is a reaction to that.

A Radio 1 session version of the track appears on the Tomorrow single and the 2001 reissue of the Whiplash album.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
My TV's staring at me
It says 'go to sleep, go to sleep'
Turns me into a Siamese twin
Where do I start
The TV screen begins
Plugs me into some holy geek
His point in life is incomplete
My TV is telling me that only money will make me happy

Hold the course and then sail
Hold the course and then sail

Across the satellite beams
Across the oceans and seas
To the lighthouse I could be
I see some soldiers with guns
And they are killing for fun
They are killing to entertain me

Caught between that world and this
I'd sell my soul for a Bond girl's kiss
Caught between that world and this
I'd sell my soul for a state of bliss
My TV's telling me that all our money goes into the military

Hold the course and then sail
Hold the course and then sail

Across the satellite beams
Across the oceans or seas
to the lighthouse I could be
I see some soldiers with guns
And they are killing for fun
They were dying to entertain me

And then I heard your name
As the spaceman came
He came right through my screen
And then his lifeline broke
He began to choke
Jump cut to another scene
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)
We lost a friend to the sea
(Your health taken, your health taken, your health taken away)

Aloof Remix

Song:Lost A Friend
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

She’s A Star

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She’s A Star is track three and the lead single from the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It is described by Tim as being about “a woman coming out into her power” and was Tim’s first song written from the viewpoint of a woman, having tried to sing the song as I, you and he, before settling on She’s A Star. Early demos of the song were entitled Whatever The Sound.

As James first release for three years, it hit Number 9 on its release as a single in February 1997 and was used as the theme tune to a TV drama and later as the backing music to a television campaign advertising the Midland Bank’s name change to HSBC.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Whenever she's feeling empty
Whenever she's feeling insecure
Whenever her face is frozen
Unable to fake it anymore

Her shadow is always with her
Her shadow could always keep her small
So frightened that he won't love her
She builds up a wall

Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star

She's been in disguise forever
She's tried to disguise her stellar views
Much brighter than all this static
Now she's coming through

Oh no, she knows where to hide in the dark
Oh no, she's nowhere to hide in the dark
She's a star
She's a star

Don't tell her to turn down
Put on your shades if you can't see
Don't tell her to turn down
Turn up the flame
She's a star
She's a star

It's a long road
It's a great cause
It's a long road
Its a good call

You got it
You got it
She's a Star

Andrea’s Biosphere Dub

Dave Angel’s PAT Mix

Live In Extraordinary Times

Orchestral Version

Live At The Acropolis

Song:She's A Star
Released:10th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Greenpeace

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Greenpeace is track five on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It began life as a “folky protest song” before being taken to Dave’s home studio by Dave, Saul, Mark and Jim and turned into a brutal jungle song after days of not knowing what to do with it.

It was “donated” to Greenpeace, although they appear to have made no use of it to date.

It was played extensively on debut in 1997 and then again on the 2014 La Petite Mort tour.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
I don't like the world I see
So I'll avert my gaze to the TV
I'm too cool to get involved
Someone else can change the channel for me

Gonna suck the juices out of this world
Gonna treat her rough
It's all she deserves
She's so cold to me
Gonna rape this world
With my straight lines
Gonna straighten her out
Because nature is just history

There's a hole in my heart
You're so cruel to me
There's a hole in my heart
From your industry
There's a hole in my heart

It's no use to get involved
You'll never stop the world from turning
I just want to rest in peace
I can't stop the world from burning

Gonna test my bombs wherever I want,
Gonna 'poon the whale
Gonna drain the swamp
It's money to me
Gonna fuck with genes
I am what I am
Much more than a God
Much less than a man of industry

There's a hole in my heart
You're so cruel to me
There's a hole in my heart
From your industry
There's a hole

Song:Greenpeace
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable

Homeboy

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Homeboy is track nine on the 1997 James album Whiplash.

It is another song where Tim’s technique of using phonetics to mark lyrics stuck, apparently he didn’t even know what a Homeboy was at the time. The track was originally titled Homeboy or Girl and the verses were completely different until Tim took sections of a track called Fishknives and threw the lyrics into the chorus of Homeboy.

Performed live, the track gained an upbeat pulsing intro and was a particular crowd favourite on the Whiplash tour. A live version recorded at Shepherds Bush Empire in London by BBC Radio 1 was released on the b-side of the Waltzing Along single.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
You're a late child
You're a love child
It's enough, child
That you're so appealing

You're appealing, you're appealing
To a need that we all have been feeling

You don't fit where you've been put
They're so straight
Straight out of some book
Tried to fake it with the real men
Tried to fill your father's size ten

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl

Don't let them wear you down
What a wonderful ego
You should be so proud
Far out is the life for you
Not just a life, but you must make do

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl

Nothing is certain,
Every things changed
More than just words when it's you who's in pain
You hold the chalice, you hold the plane
Bring them together and see what you've made
Facing the future inside a cocoon
Feel in control when you've been so abused

Alone in this world
You're not a boy or a girl
You're not alone in this world
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl
(Homeboy, boy or a girl)
You're not a boy or a girl

Song:Homeboy
Released:24th February 1997
Main Associated Album (or Single):Whiplash
First Heard Live:Sheffield Leadmill – 25th January 1997
Played at:
Unavailable