Whiplash

James' eighth album is something familiar yet new, incorporating more textured, electronic layers into the basic sound of 1994's WAH WAH. The British band continues to play around with its familiar dichotomy of intimacy and enormity, sometimes placing Tim Booth's thoughtful, poetic lyrics against a background of pure simplicity, as in the longing, ballad-like "Lost A Friend", and other times setting them in vastly arranged musical contexts. The best example of this is "She's A Star", which delivers bittersweet lyrics ("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") with stadium-sized vocals. The polished, skilful playing and smooth production (by Stephen Hague, assisted by Brian Eno) keep the sound of WHIPLASH clean yet urgent.

Q (1/98, p.113)
- Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."

Entertainment Weekly (2/21-2/28/97, p.126)
- "...As before, producer Brian Eno lends a hand, and the result veers from catchy delights...to experimental detours....alterna-pop at its finest." - Rating: B+

Option (7-8/97, p.112)
- "...on the band's ninth (!)
album, they sound like U2 circa ZOOROPA, only with a rootsier approach....It isn't exceptionally challenging or involving, but it's pleasant enough..."