Wah Wah (album)

requested that James record an album based solely on their studio improvisations. James released their fourth studio album Seven in 1992 to critical and commercial acclaim. Lead single "Born of Frustration" became their biggest hit in the United States at the time, becoming a Top 5 hit on modern rock radio, and the band opened for Neil Young on the tour supporting his most recent album, Harvest Moon. The band's new stripped down approach for the album was helped by its producer Brian Eno. This was not unusual for the band; Booth commented in July 1994 that "every song [the band had] ever created was spawned from improvisation," adding that "we'd go in a room and make a racket." For the first few years of the band's career, "from three hours of cacophony would come maybe two minutes of semi-coherence," which would ultimately "be the seed of which [the band] would attempt to repeat and refine and eventually reveal to the public." He considered these pieces of "raw material" to be as much a part of the band's work as the songs that would have eventually grown out of them. Thus, he suggested to the band that in addition to recording Laid, he would also record and produce the band's jam sessions during the same sessions for a separate album, so that the band would be recording two albums concurrently: Laid, the album of "structured" songs, and Wah Wah, the album of improvisations. Speaking about the idea, Eno commented in July 1993: ==Recording==

, Box, Wiltshire, whilst the band recorded Laid in another, larger studio at the complex. For the recording of Wah Wah, Eno enlisted the help of engineer Markus Dravs to work as a co-producer, "providing distraction" to the band inside a secondary studio inside the Real World Studios complex from the recording of Laid, which was being recorded in one of the complex's larger studios. Booth remembers jamming "hundreds of songs that never saw the light of day" and guitarist Larry Gott suggests it might have been "as many as 340 tracks" recorded. ==Musical style and composition==

Compared with Laid, which was referred to as the "song" album of the pair, Wah Wah was known as the "experimental" or "jamming" album, and contains 23 highly experimental tracks. Ned Raggett of Allmusic said that "definitely compared to the beautifully structured and precisely produced Laid, Wah Wah is much more a series of explorations in sound." The album shares Laid's general focus towards an "evocative, restrained attractiveness and moody melancholy," but Wah Wah features more immediate numbers with full lyrics from Booth sung in his "fine voice" mixed with more open-ended instrumental or wordless vocal jams. The Harvard Crimson described Wah Wah as the "dark side" of Laid, and commented that "the 23 tracks reflect two general moods: one, a dreamy, new-age rain-foresty wash of sound over which an cerie voice intones barely audible lyrics; the other, an abrasive, Achtung Baby industrial-esque sound with distorted, staticky vocals," whilst another journalist of NME later said the album contained "techno experiments". Tim Peacock of Record Collector considered the jams to be "Can-style." The album has been sometimes compared to U2's recently released eighth album Zooropa (1993), which was also co-produced by Brian Eno. Emma Forrest of the NME said that Wah Wah was "in the same vein as U2's Zooropa - but less contrived," Songs Raggett described "Pressure's On" as a cousin to Laid's opening song "Out to Get You" that could have "easily fit" on that album. It features a "weirdly hypnotic synthesizer, the surreal, breathy vocals and the only occasionally comprehensible lyrics [combining] to create a liquid, seductive, trippy sound." "Jam J" was compared to U2's Zooropa by Joyelle H. McSweeney of The Harvard Crimson, who noted the song contains "driving rhythms, snarly lyrics obscured by feedback, and angry bursts of guitars breaking through the mess." "Frequency Dip" is said by one reviewer to recall U2's Zooropa and "moves along with a throbbing bass loop and is thick on the drums. The vocals jump around in the song so much, it is as if someone is going crazy with the crossfader." "Burn the Cat" is a slow, minimalistic song with only minute guitar chords, drum beats and various snippets of vocals drifting in and out of the song. "Tomorrow" features a "rather attackling" drum line and interwinding guitar strum and vocals. "Gospel Oak," relies heavily on harpsichord-like synthesiser, with disorienting results. "Say Say Something", which shows a heavy Indian influence, features an ironic title as the track "doesn't even vaguely resemble the song with almost the same title from Laid," "Say Something." The song contains no vocals but "conveys a lot of feeling", as a "lonely" guitar drones throughout the track while various other sounds fade in and out. Raggett said it "shares title and inspiration with the similarly named Laid song but takes a much different direction, with what sounds like Indian violin contributing to a slow-paced, serene wash of sound." "Honest Joe" is a "solid, techno-tinged trip". "Rhythmic Dreams" relies on a steady jungly drumbeat and mantra-like vocals to give the piece shape. "Laughter" features no lyrics and, as the title suggests, it features laughter throughout. ==Release and promotion==

The band initially planned to release Wah Wah simultaneously with Laid, or perhaps to release them together as a double album or to release Wah Wah as a free giveaway with Laid, It success was largely due to the lead single, "Laid", which became a crossover hit in the United States. Nonetheless, the band continued to see Laid and Wah Wah as a complementary pair, but struggled to decide on how to release Wah Wah. although it was "Say Something" that received the most airplay of the two songs. The album was originally going to be titled Frequency Dip after the fourth song on the album, but the name was changed to Wah Wah because "it was more rock 'n' roll." Besides the already released "Jam J", the band decided to release no singles to promote the album, nor would they undertake a promotional tour, and ultimately very little promotion was given to the album, besides some press attention. Despite the lack of traditional promotion, the album debuted and peaked at number 11 on the UK Albums Chart, but soon disappeared from the charts. However, in the United States, the album was not a commercial success as Laid was, and effectively shrunk the band's American audience, from which it did not escalate again. Booth recalled that it "put paid to us breaking America at all!" "Pressure's On", "Basic Brian", "Jam J", "Honest Joe" and "Tomorrow" featured regularly in James live sets. ==Critical reception==

The album was released to mixed to positive reviews from music critics, although the low profile of the release saw it ignored in certain quarters. One biographer later noted "some reviewers missed the concept of the album and were puzzled as to why James were releasing it at all." In the United States, where the band had found success with Laid, reviews for Wah Wah were more favourable, despite the commercial failure of the album in the country. Dimitri Ehrlich of Entertainment Weekly graded the album "B+", saying the album shows "James at its most inspired and unpredictable" and called the album "a joyride of a record." whilst Misfit City called it "marvellous and underrated." Almost Cool rated the album 7.25 out of ten and said that, "overall, the album displays as much variety as could possibly be expected from James. The influences of Brian Eno are also very much detectable, as a lot of the songs have the sort of ambience that he was an early influence and pioneer of. It is one of those rare albums that is wonderful just to sit back and listen to. Most of the 23 songs are mixed together and the CD flows beautifully through its almost 70 minutes of music. Even non-fans of James will probably find themselves surprised by the product." Martin C. Strong rated the album six out of ten in his book The Essential Rock Discography. ==Aftermath and legacy==

Guitarist Larry Gott left the band after the release of the album, and the band took an extended break throughout 1995. although its half-experimental and half familiar approach was compared to Wah Wah. Tim Booth later stated that Laid and Wah Wah are "the culmination of playing four or five hours a day four or five days a week in Manchester and the new band adapting to that. It is about the transition of becoming more of a band but with Brian at the helm." and as part of the CD box set Laid & Wah Wah, featuring CD copies of the two albums (released together for the first time as was originally intended) alongside numerous bonus discs of rarities and unreleased bonus material. Tim Peacock, also rating the box set four stars out of five in a review for Record Collector, commented that Wah Wah contains "lesser-vaunted treasures." Accolades ==Track listing==

All songs written and performed by James and Brian Eno. • "Hammer Strings" –2:15 • "Pressure's On" – 4:25 • "Jam J" – 3:36 • "Frequency Dip" – 3:33 • "Lay the Law Down" – 0:57 • "Burn the Cat" – 6:50 • "Maria" – 4:17 • "Low Clouds (1)" – 0:18 • "Building a Fire" – 2:45 • "Gospel Oak" – 2:49 • "DVV" – 1:04 • "Say Say Something" – 5:41 • "Rhythmic Dreams" – 2:36 • "Dead Man" – 0:56 • "Rain Whistling" – 2:46 • "Basic Brian" – 5:41 • "Low Clouds (2)" – 0:04 • "Bottom of the Well" – 3:16 • "Honest Joe" – 4:39 • "Arabic Agony" – 3:57 • "Tomorrow" – 2:29 • "Laughter" – 0:31 • "Sayonara" – 2:41 ==Charts==