Getting Away With It… Live

Reviews

Q 4/5

How awkward it must have been for James playing last December’s arena tour knowing frontman Tim Booth – and with him – any hopes of any kind of resurgence – was finally fleeing the coup. Their last show – in their adopted hometown Manchester – was highly charged without being mawkish. Booth is in prattish form, whining about his monitors and demanding audience affirmation, but his vocals are magical. Behind him, the band – plus guest alumni Larry Gott and Andy Diagram – play knowing life is going to be very different when they wake up in the morning. They end with seven minutes of “a song from the darkest hour”, Sit Down. The singalong, even at this distance, is spine-tingling. “I’d love to invite you all home for milk and cookies,” says Booth. “Thank you. Goodbye.” Shame.

NME

Once a gawky art rock band, by the time they called it a day, James had metamorphosed into a kind of Body Shop version of U2, and this whopping live selection from their last gig fills in most of the points in between, too.

Baggy anthems. Tree-hugging anthems. Sex anthems. James’ big thing was anthems, and here they do every single anthem they ever thought of. The crowd think it’s brilliant, and they cheer when Tim Booth talks about God. The crowd are plainly mad.

‘Sit Down’ finally arrives. But by then, you don’t want to sit down any more. You want to make a methodical series of unethical investments, and stop this sort of thing ever happening again.

Ray Sinclair

Like them or loath them and on this offering 16,000 are in the former category, the DVD and CD of James final hometown concert from Dec 7th 2001 are stunning productions. You are thrown into the melee through 5.1 Dolby sound that is almost flawless and captures perfectly the raw energy of a band that thrive on their fans support and collectively seem to rise to ever greater heights as the set continues. At times they play like a band possessed as on ‘God Only Knows’. Critics are remarkable for their fickleness and few bands survive the initial hype by these vultures of the press and some even fall by the wayside as the praise turns vitriolic as they strive to maintain their image rather than using what meagre talents they have to honestly review the music they are supposed to be concerned with and informing us about. James has survived such criticism and have consistently turned out unique and well-crafted albums that are original and distinctive and challenging and clearly demonstrate their musical skill and empathy. Perhaps it is this that so annoys those who singularly lack any real talent. Having been poorly served by their companies for several years, their final set is a scorching testimony of how good they are and how good they were and what we will now be missing. Both are more than a fitting finale to 20 years of honest and inspirational music. That their older numbers stand so well against their more recent songs is a testimony to their art and craft.It is difficult not to get swept away by their sheer exuberance and the obvious pleasure they get from playing together and at the end you feel on top of the world and as happy and as exhausted as any one of the 16,000 fans that were actually there. This is a marvellous record and a tribute to James and one that will form a treasured part of many collections. The critics will soon be long gone and forgotten, James however will still be shaking Manchester Arena for many years to come.

BBC Nottingham Online

It’s hard to think that just a year ago James were second on the bill to Bryan Adams at Nottingham’s City in the Park festival.

Admittedly that gig was pretty gruelling for singer Tim Booth because of a host of technical difficulties.

But James’ live credentials ensured the fans were not disappointed.

Indeed, the problems meant the band had to rely more on their old hits and not tracks from their then, newest album Pleased To Meet You, whose poor sales signalled the end of the group.

This live collection captures James’ final shows in their home city of Manchester.

It shows what they were all about – not only a group which could write hit songs but also deliver them on stage.

Over 2CDs Getting Away With It is virtually a greatest hits live album. Top versions of Laid, Tomorrow, She’s A Star and the encore Sit Down.

It makes you wonder whether they were right to call it a day. Maybe when frontman Tim Booth has had a go at some solo / collaborations the band will get back together.

James have certainly looked down the barrel before and bounced back. The unexpected success of Best Of led to more top compositions.

You can’t help but think, given the crowd participation on this live set, that there’s an audience who’d rejoice if James announced they were going to give it another go.

If not, then this is a worthy testament as to what the James phenomenon was all about.

Getting Away With It…Live is released on Sanctuary SANDD119

Cosmik.com

James has always been a band noted for their energetic live performances. Any one who has experienced them live can attest to the stunning harmony that existed between band members, and how well they communicated that to the crowd. Whether their venue was a rainy mountain top green or a throbbing subterranean night-club, James always seemed to seize what was unique in the moment and run with it.

James’ newest double disc release on Sanctuary records “Getting Away With It…Live” is an effort which seeks to capture that timeliness. The tracks represent a wide swath from the band’s eclectic catalog, ranging from their first single “Hymn For A Village” to material from UK only releases like “Millionaires.” The band has always given great credence to improvisation over polished rehearsed material and that emphasis is reflected in how each song performed live receives a unique twist on the studio version. “Laid,” the band’s anthem of playfully dysfunctional sexuality, is significantly faster and electric while “Tomorrow” sounds more raw and spontaneous. Songs like “Protect Me” and “Top Of The World” get a boost in tempo while retaining their quiet sensuality. There are stretches of inventive aural interplay with the tracks “Sound” and “Space” and a humorous moment when the band laughs and jokes with the crew after a microphone goes out. When the opening to “Out To Get You” fails to go off right, the band restarts the song and does so without any sense of pretension. “I don’t want to miss this moment,” says lead singer Tim Booth. In true James fashion, the set is meticulously arranged for maximum dramatic effect. The opening sequence of “Say Something” / “Waltzing Along” / “Sometimes” / “Laid” whips the crowd into an instant frenzy while closing with a hushed, sing along infused version of longtime favorite “Sit Down” captures the essence of James live: utter satisfaction combined with the audience’s pine for more.

After the encore, Booth announces that this is the band’s “long farewell” and indeed it proved to be. After the December 7th, 2001 show, members of the band invited the hometown Manchester crowd over for milk and cookies then amicably went their separate ways. Spurred on by the desire to pursue new musical endeavors and frustration in regards to a lagging response from American record companies, James went out with a spirited representative concert. Although it is fair to say that no CD can fully capture the electricity of one of their shows, this one comes oh so close.

by Paul Morrison (from Amazon.co.uk)

Being a distant admirer of James for a good few years, I always stood back from the madness that “sit down” and “come home” brought. I was, however, interested in this, the supposed last album; it was live, it was James, and it was the lead singers’ final (but one) trip onstage with the rest of the band.

This album sounds brilliant, the production is fantastic, it creates a closeness on the slow ones, and a feeling of crowd-crazyness on the fast ones.

The most breath-taking thing though, is the purety and vulnerability of the lead singers’ voice, and the power and subtlety of the band-check out “sound”…the whole ten minutes, and see how you feel afterwards.

The lesser known songs, after being played a few times will astound you, listen to “Jonny Yen” or “Vervacious” with the volume up high, listen to the words, and you’ll feel the goose bumps.

Listen to this whole thing at full blast, and you’ll be converted….

By kinitawowi from Manchester, United Kingdom (from amazon.co.uk)

So, another chapter in the life of this band draws to a close. And listening to this album, hearing all 20,000 people sing their hearts out to Sit Down, and knowing the connection between band and fans, you have to wonder where they will go next.

I had the good fortune to be in the Manchester Evening News Arena that December 7th. The band ran through 22 of their finest, best loved songs in front of a crowd who adored them. Tim had the entire audience hanging on his every word, and but for two additional performances in Glasgow and London (contrary to popular belief, this was not their last gig – a chronic error on the part of the schedulers) he could have gone on forever. An electrifying atmosphere kept building and building, through the compulsory technical hitch, until the final declaration; “I’d love to invite you home for milk and cookies. Goodnight!”.

Atmosphere is something that it’s always difficult to capture in a live recording. However you play the track, it never seems to sound or feel like a stadium. Thanks to some expert production, this recording manages it. Maybe you had to be there, but listening to this strikes up all the images and sensations of a band performing at their most passionate, with the fans in full voice.

The songs speak for themselves. Sit Down, Laid, Come Home. The simple sound of these words is enough to tell any music fan that this is greatness on two discs. And as Larry Gott and Andy Diagram perform on classics like Protect Me and God Only Knows, they have lost none of their touch.

This is a band at their best in front of a crowd who adored them. They always loved the thrill of being with fans, and this recording demonstrates why despite all their problems, with lineup changes, record company changes and financial chaos, to name but a few, they have kept going.

Tim Booth has now moved on. Perhaps he will return at some point. Perhaps not. But one thing is for certain; it doesn’t get much better than this.

by Ben Maydon (from amazon.co.uk)

It has long been the generally accepted thesis that James’ best album has been, is, and always will be, their aptly-titled “The Best Of James”. Couple that with the sprightly, up-beat pop rock of 1999’s “Millionaires” and you have a winning combination. James couldn’t lose after that. The ribbing the critics subesquently gave their next album “Pleased To Meet You”, therefore, was not welcomed by the fans.

However, I defy anyone to find any defects in this, James’ first and only proper live album ever to be released.

Recorded at what is almost certain to have been their last ever live gig, at Manchester in December 2001, this album takes many classic James hits like “Sometimes”, “Laid”, “Getting Away With It”, and of course the quintessential indie-rock number “Sit Down” and shows just how adept James can be at performing these with high energy and definite gusto. Some of the tracks have even been sped up to add a more rocky feel and give a sharper edge (the extremely upbeat “Laid”, with the audience joining in at a tremendous volume, is definitely one of the highest points in the album).

As a result, this is a definite, galloping record, bringing in all the classic James charm that they always had, and which riffs through many killer numbers without any sign or chance of them ever conceding or stopping.

I doubt they really wanted to stop, either.

• Born Of Frustration :1992
• Come Home :1989
• Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) :2001
• God Only Knows :1990
• Hymn From A Village :1985
• I Know What I’m Here For :1999
• Johnny Yen :1986
• Laid :1993
• Out To Get You :1990
• Protect Me :1992
• Ring The Bells / Ring Those Bells :1992
• Say Something / Carousel :1993
• She’s A Star :1997
• Sit Down :1989
• Someone’s Got It In For Me :1999
• Sometimes (Lester Piggott) :1993
• Sound :1991
• Space :2001
• Tomorrow :1994
• Top Of The World :1990
• Vervaceous :1999
• Waltzing Along :1997

Not found on Spotify.

• Born Of Frustration
• Come Home (Flood Mix)
• Come Home (Original)
• Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)
• I Know What I’m Here For
• Laid (Version 2) (Clean)
• Laid (Version 3) (Explicit)
• Ring The Bells
• Say Something (US Version)
• Say Something (Version 1)
• She’s A Star
• She’s A Star (Orchestral Version)
• Sit Down
• Sit Down ’98 Apollo 440 Mix
• Sit Down (Original)
• Sit Down ft. Joe Duddell & String Quartet
• Sometimes
• Sometimes (Orchestral Version)
• Sound
• Tomorrow
• Waltzing Along (Clean)
• Waltzing Along (Explicit)

• James Keep Getting Away With It – Belfast Newsletter
• Tim Booth – Teletext Interview
• Very Nice And Not So Dim Tim – What DVD
• Kulas Turns Onto Pop – Toronto Star
• Blitz Interview with Saul (Portuguese)

• Manchester Arena – 7th December 2001