perhaps it's just me, look you see, but for a year which started off promising much in the way of new music there has not been all that many (day after) day of release posts here. evidently, or it seems, it is in this, the second half, or if you will the "business end" of the year when the music of quality shall flow.
on, then, with the (day after) day of release at hand (sorry, just can't always make HMV on the actual day of release any more). with this, i think, coming to be "live" on this blog the day after the day after the day of release for the new one off of James, Living In Extraordinary Times.
it would indeed be fair to say that i was looking forward to this album. quite so. despite some formidable competition or challenges, not least from Suede and David Bowie, the previous album off of James, Girl At The End Of The World, was my choice for "best of" 2016. most splendid that they are back with more after such a comparatively short space of time.
often i get distracted with these things and forget or otherwise neglect to do a review of the record proper. let me try and evade such folly here. whereas this record does not immediately grab your ears and say "pay your attention" in the devastating way Girl At The End Of The World started (and carried on), this has every sense of being just as good an album. but, conditionally so, perhaps (maybe), and there is quite the clue in the title.
but first, look. bravo, HMV, well done. they have remembered that, ostensibly, HMV was, is supposed to be and well may be once more, the "home of music". all too often it's everything but music they promote, but here you go, there's this new album being promoted in the window display.
undoubtedly (and sorry to keep referring to the one before, not this) the promotion on display was in some way prompted by the widely unexpected success of Girl At The End Of The World. whereas i only purchased it as an incident of seeing it in the shop when i was in for a different record (The Cult, perhaps, or maybe the dire Primal Scream one), others came to it. the record, in the midweek charts, was well on the way to being a surprise number one, only for the-then most recent Adele offering to have a mysterious "spike" and retain the status quo what the chart people love so much.
anyway, Living In Extraordinary Times. in truth, i confess, the record starts off on decidedly dodgy ground. that would be in the lyrical form of Hank. my reaction to the words were "oh dear". yes, true, there is some relevance to the record title, but for the life of me i cannot understand (nay, fathom) why oh why so many non-Americans trouble themselves with domestic American issues.
i mean, yes. i get that some of what America does (mostly in terms of international stuff) affects people in other countries. but why would anyone not American spend time having an opinion, or commenting on, stuff such as the NRA, gun control and the other purely internal societal matters of America? it's not like American news channels, or American music acts, take the time to pass comment on things such as (to pick an example entirely at random) the evil, spiteful way in which parking enforcement officers operate in Hartlepool.
this interest in domestic America crops up again on the album, specifically on a track called Heads. whereas all and sundry are free (and encouraged) to have opinions, views, etc, for what reason is a band off of Manchester spending so much time on an album fretting about aspects of a different society and different culture which is of little obvious relevance to either them or their presumed target audience? is it because of the way our own media drowns us in irrelevant domestic issues from America and we simply can no longer escape it all?
as an aside, no - i skipped the "deluxe" or "special" edition of the album. on balance, a fancy case, one extra song and three demo recordings did not seem to justify the £14.99 requested for it, compared to the £9.99 for the standard version. sometimes the deluxe version makes sense (the last Metallica album, for instance, was exceptional value for money in the deluxe form, a rip off in standard), sometimes it does not (i remain feeling let down at how much i spent on the atrocious deluxe version of the last Depeche Mode one).
moving on, then, and track two of the album is what has been out there on the radio and that as the lead or main promo single, Coming Home (Pt 2). no, i have absolutely no idea where or what Pt. 1 was, which may well mean that i am not as big a fan of James as my enthusiasm for their recent music may suggest. unless, now that i think on, it's sort of meant to reference one of their better known songs, Come Home. maybe?
no matter, this is a lovely, beautiful song. it resonates in the same way as (sigh, to reference again) the words of Girl At The End Of The World did and does, yet gives something extra. clearly, something quite personal for the singer, but also that which resonates and resounds with most, if not all, who would hear it.
erm, no, i am not going to go track by track. but of the first two, the rest of the album is more Coming Home, less Hank, if that's a guide of any use to you. which, i hope it is. and to clarify, it also means that it is a most splendid record.
quite an interesting thing with the artwork and that with the CD booklet. yes, for sure, the cover - that of a grenade being overgrown with some splendid flowers - is a statement in itself. but this carries on. as you flick through the booklet, you cannot but help note that with each passing page more and more of the lyrics are obscured by similar flowers. this is a statement, to be sure, but what it is saying i leave to you.
as one would expect with James, there are ample moments which feature quite a splendid and effective turn of phrase. one which caught my attention was on the titular tune, with the line being "this never ending game of hide and seek". sadly, as a simple person i cannot articulate why this struck me, but it just seemed as suitable as any way to describe the modern world, or the Extraordinary Times of the album title.
listening to the album again, and flicking through the lyrics not obscured by flowers, there are many such examples. no, i am not going to sit and type and quote them here; that would be akin to or very much just going right ahead with a stack of spoilers. but, go on then, the way Booth (or if you like Tim) sings (ahem) "f****** love, before they drop the bomb make sure we get enough" could be my musical highlight of the year, irrespective of which album ends up being my "best of".
no, nothing to do with James, that picture above. i just think they look smart. they are "classics" on DVD and Blu Ray, packaged to look like "classic look" VHS tapes. very tempting, but alas i already have all of them films (in most cases twice over) and paying £14.99 each (or £25 for 2) seemed somewhat excessive.
early days to say if it will remain so, but yes, right now this record is one of the best i have heard this year. if Girl At The End Of The World was an unexpected return and unexpected success for James, mostly what Living In Extraordinary Times is would be to say they meant it, they have more, they are not leaving any time soon. which, on the whole, and with some gripes aside, is a very very good thing.
should you purchase this album, or if it is available as such "stream" it? oh my word yes, as soon as you can. it's really good. if not Girl At The End Of The World, but then so few albums recorded this century are that album.
the next (likely day after) day of release adventure? from what i recall of dates probably the next one off of Suede, due early September. but, then again. Paul McCartney has a new one, and going on the two singles off it that sounds good. also Rod Stewart has one out, and the lead single off of that suggests it continues the trend of his last two, post-autobiography albums of being outstanding. the newly reformed Live may well also unleash a full album, and rumours persist that Ian Brown has a return to solo stuff in the works.
well, until then, then,
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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