Wah Wah

James | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 6, 1994)
• Original Release Date: December 6, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001ECO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,307 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Hammer Strings

2. Pressure's On

3. Jam J

4. Frequency Dip

5. Lay the Law Down

6. Burn the Cat

7. Maria

8. Building a Fire

9. Gospel Oak

10. DVV

11. Say Say Something

12. Rhythmic Dreams

13. Dead Man Whistling

14. Rain

15. Basic Brian

16. Bottom of the Well

17. Honest Joe

18. Arabic Agony

19. Tomorrow

20. Laughter

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Radiohead may have picked up a thing or two from here, June 19, 2001

By 

Poor Napoleon (TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wah Wah (Audio CD)

I just listened to Amnesiac, Radiohead's raw, unaccessable, expiremental album and thought to myself "how" Eno...but something caught my ear while listening to it..the structure, a very loose, raw, atmospheric, unforboding structure was very similar to the Eno produced Wah Wah album from James, a masterpiece that has been overlooked here in the US for far too long. This is like Radiohead's recent work, only better, with an interesting flow of music that ranges from soothing atmospheric pop of songs like Pressure's On to the raw jam session feel of something like Jam J, or the absolutely amazing hypnotic roar of Maria, or the familiar pop flare of Tomorrow. This is an amazing masterpiece that those into engaging and involving music should take note of. This is your Kid A and Amnesiac, just six years earlier..and better.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars another late night?, May 6, 2003

By 

R. Lister "burblet" (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wah Wah (Audio CD)

the concept of Brian Eno working with James seemed a surprising stretch when Laid came out back in 1993. I mean, Sit Down, was a massive hit and they had the critical plaudits, but what was it that Eno (he of high-art-music like Low, Music for Airports and My Life in the Bush with Ghosts) had seen in them? Well, Laid itself was a hit, but I can't help imagining that it's Wah Wah that contains the real gold that Eno was after.

James had always been open to improvisation and the story of this album is writ large across the results. After a day's pop recording, James (the band) would retire to a dimly lit studio to improvise free-form riffs and lyrics late into the night. Only two of the tracks on the entire album are not sourced from completely free-form improvisation.

Having amassed a wealth of found sounds and half-formed songs, Eno and his sidekick Marcus Dravs split the results and mixed this album from the hours of tape they had collected. The result is twenty plus ambient guitar-based tracks that capture the feeling of 3am about as well as any album I could name. Don't expect the expansive anthemic pop that James made their trademark in the 90's - it bears almost no relation to anything James did before or since and so I've never worked out whether the magic was James's or Eno's. Does it even matter?

I think the solution is that the sum eclipsed the parts, and this very unique and (I think) special album is the result. Any description of the music does it no credit - I guess the typical track has a looped guitar riff, coupled with Tim Booth's stream-of-conciousness lyrics and a clearly soldered-on-in-production electronica beat. The nearest relative I can think of is Aphex Twin's SAW1, but "Wah Wah" hums with warmth, life and has an intimacy that can keep you company until the small hours.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MSE (Mad Successful Experimentation), June 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wah Wah (Audio CD)

I love Laid, it is James's best album in my opinion. But Wah Wah is not an album by James it is something altogether different, and NOT (silly comment above by the NME) a dance album. Neither is it pop. Let me try to explain what WAH WAH conveys... If you really like an album and are serious about music you can listen to it dozens of times, truly listen to it, not let it as a background noise, and as you grow familiar with it your interest moves from the centre of the picture (which isn't really one, but just suppose it is a vast ancient painting, something like a Veronese) to details, and the more you look for them, the more these tiny fragments come to obsess you with their impossible, almost invisible perfection. Laid contains such pieces and you were next to my stereo when I point them out by putting the volume up for a few seconds you'd probably think I'm mad. BUt if I am, I know I7ll be sent to the asylum in good company, say Brian Eno... Cause what WAH WAH is all about is the creation of an enormous mural peopled with midget-sized cuts of voice and instruments, and floating on a tormented sea of beats.

Like it? Just wait for the men in white.