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Laid is James’s fifth album and a follow up to Seven. It features a more stripped-back sound and contains the US breakthrough single Laid. It was released 31 years ago in 1993, reissued with 2001 with additional tracks, and reissued again in 2015 with a second CD of b-sides, radio sessions, demos and jams.
Out To Get You / Sometimes (Lester Piggott) / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / P.S. / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving
Laid (live) / Sometimes (live) / Five-O (live) / Say Something (remix)
America (Live In The US, September / 1992) / Building A Charge / Wah Wah Kits / The Lake / Seconds Away / Say Something (New Version) / Jam J / Assassin / Laid (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Five-O (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Sometimes (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Say Something (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Low Low Low (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Tomorrow (BBC Session, London / 1993) / Dream Thrum (Rehearsal) / You Were Born (Early Version Of “One Of The Three” / Outtake) / Bruce Jam 1 (Early Version Of “Knuckle Too Far”) / Carousel
| Release Name: | Laid |
| Artist Name: | James |
| Release Date: | 27th September 1993 |
| Format: | Studio Album |
| Catalogue: | LP – 514 943-1, CAS 514 943-4, CD 514 943-2; CD 548 787-2 (re-issue); Deluxe Edition 2xCD 0602547095947 |
Following the success of Seven, Andy Diagram left the band to pursue other musical interests, taking the distinctive trumpet sound of the album with him. The acoustic tour of America with Neil Young had a profound influence on the band’s sound, playing acoustically focusing the band on producing a more simple “stripped and naked” sound.
The other distinctive factor in the sound of Laid was the appointment of Brian Eno as producer. Where Seven sounded like a band striving for perfection, “Brian encouraged us to improvise, encouraged us to use takes where we didn’t know what we were doing. He made us realise that this imperfection was a good thing.” (Jim, Q 1993).
Most of Laid was recorded over a six-week period in the spring of 1993 at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. Using two separate studios, one for the album “proper” and one for jams, the band recorded over fifty tracks, which also spurned the double album Wah Wah, which was released in 1994. The band did actually also try to record a live album at the same time playing a one-off gig at the Moles Club in Bath, but had underestimated their ability to play the new material live. Present at the show however was Peter Gabriel who approached the band to join the US WOMAD tour that summer.
Unlike previous albums, very little of Laid had been played live before it was recorded – Say Something had been in the set since April 1992 and Low Low Low had began life as a six-minute improvised trumpet epic. Read Tim’s track-by-track commentary on the album by clicking on the above link.
Laid received mixed but generally positive reviews in the music press. The stripped-down sound was seen as a welcome return to the band’s folky roots and a step back from the perceived stadium rock sound of Seven. The two singles released around the album, Sometimes and Laid, received surprisingly positive reviews, but only achieved moderate chart success.
The album peaked at Number 3 in the UK charts. Internationally, the band’s German record company initially refused to promote the album, claiming that without an obvious lead track and single it would not sell. The album went to Number 1 in Portugal. But the major breakthrough of Laid was in America where the album peaked at number 68, but sold over 600,000 copies as the band spent most of the first half of 1994 touring, starting with a number of support slots with Duran Duran followed by two headline tours, culminating in an invitation to play Woodstock 2 in August in front of 300,000 people.
Japanese version of Laid with OBI sleeve and lyric booklet in Japanese and English.
Out To Get You / Sometimes / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / PS / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving / The Lake / America
| Release Name: | Laid (Import, Japan) |
| Artist Name: | |
| Release Date: | 27th September 1993 |
| Format: | Studio Album |
| Catalogue: | PHCR-68 |
Japanese version of Laid with OBI sleeve and lyric booklet in Japanese and English.
Promo tape of the UK version of the Laid album
Out To Get You / Sometimes (Lester Piggott) / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / P.S. / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving
| Release Name: | Laid - UK album promo tape |
| Artist Name: | |
| Release Date: | 1st September 1993 |
| Format: | Promo Album |
| Catalogue: | tbd |
Promo tape of the UK version of the Laid album
Promo tape of the Japanese version of the Laid album – also features The Lake and America. Track titles in Japanese.
Out To Get You / Sometimes (Lester Piggott) / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / P.S. / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving / The Lake / America
| Release Name: | Laid - Japanese promo tape |
| Artist Name: | |
| Release Date: | 1st September 1993 |
| Format: | Promo Album |
| Catalogue: | tbd |
Promo tape of the Japanese version of the Laid album – also features The Lake and America. Track titles in Japanese.
When James went into Real World Studios to record Laid, the plan was to make three albums – the studio album, the improvised album that became Wah Wah and also to record a live album at an intimate show during the sessions. They chose Bath’s Moles Club, where they’d recorded One Man Clapping five years earlier to do this. However, the band and label were reportedly not happy with the quality of the recording so the idea was shelved.
Out To Get You / Pressure’s On / Say Something / Ring The Bells / Skindiving / Chain Mail / Maria / Next Lover / Sometimes / Laid / Sound / Tomorrow / Johnny Yen / Top Of The World / Sit Down
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Skindiving is track thirteeen from the 1993 James album Laid.
A 1-3-4 Remix version of the song appeared on a Volume No 8 CD magazine in 1994. There is also an instrumental demo version of the track called Falsetto on the deluxe and super deluxe versions of the Laid album released in 2015.
Tim explained that this track which includes a beautiful falsetto, which Tim joked he needed helium injections to achieve, is about someone sinking deeper and deeper into a mood, being quite scary and quite peaceful at the same time.
| Song: | Skindiving / Falsetto |
| Released: | 27th September 1993 |
| Main Associated Album (or Single): | Laid |
| First Heard Live: | Bath Moles Club – 21st March 1993 |