As good as anything they've done.

In the old days, you’d buy a record from Woolies from HMV in town. You’d sit on the bus, or the train, or the walk home, and you’d read the sleeve notes. You’d read the song lyrics and try to work out what the songs were going to sound like. You’d suck up the wrapping of this work of art first. Finally you’d get home, and the needle would hit the groove, or the tape would click and begin, and the music would bleed out and immerse you in a world. In those days, there was no internet, TV wasn’t ‘on demand’, and a record could change a world.

That’s what the world was like 16 years ago when this lineup of James last made a record. A long time ago when these seven people made music. James disappeared with a slight whimper in 2001 and only re-emerged blinking last year when singer Tim Booth decided to rejoin the fold. So, after a seven year hiatus, and an unfair perception of James hitting the rails and turning rubbish near the end, “Hey Ma” hasn’t exactly set the world alight in terms of press inches, which is undeserved.

So you open the CD, you sit down and hear that sound. It’s an authentic recreation of the classic James music, and something I personally was never quite sure I’d hear again : those intricate guitar parts, that soft, lolloping bass rhythm, the stratospheric trumpets and Tim Booths unique (and lyrically obvious) yodel.  In a second it all comes back, as if it has never been away : from the opening moments, the music unfolds, evolves, grows like a flower, and suddenly bursts into the kind of reaching-for-the-stars, aspirational, love-can-conquer everything that changed lives. James aren’t afraid of The Big Idea (or the big picture).

“Hey Ma” is certainly consistent with previous James albums. It feels as if they have never been away. And thankfully, the band are a cohesive and credible whole - not some reformed, reprocessed selection of musical workers with no past history of the band, a money making exercise : this is James, with every integral and vital member present and correct, and an artistic venture, not a commercial necessity. However - and this is not necessarily  criticism - “Hey Ma” lacks a certain something : each of the songs are strong and solid, the album flows well together as a cohesive whole, but…

And there’s always a but.

But there’s no one absolute stone dead killer Hit on it. No take-to-your-heart-hear-once-and-remember-forever classic like “She’s A Star” or “Sound” or “Sit Down” or “Laid.” There’s the title track, which is a jolly romp, albeit unfortunately let down by Booth’s occasionally obvious lyrics. There’s “Waterfall” and “Upside”, both of which shimmy and shake and shine like something beautiful. The rest of the album is a solid, intriguing and timeless puzzle (better, I think than either of Booth’s solo records which were good, but not bristling with the oasis of inventiveness that James provide) and will bear repeated listening.

Overall, “Hey Ma” is a classic James album : one that stands up easily to their previous artistic high watermarks and sees James playing very much to their strengths. The formless jamming and sonic experimentation that saw James as an almost schizophrenic entity in the past is banished in favour of what could be described as credible, intelligent Stadium Rock - minus all the implied slurs of such a label. “Hey Ma” is a fine, solid James album, and as good as anything they’ve ever done - both reminiscent of their past glories, whilst also demonstrating musical evolution and development that bodes well for the future. It’s good to have them back.

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