Summary
This re-issue of Laid and Wah Wah combined both albums as originally intended by the band, and was released 9 years ago. The boxset includes two extra CDs of rehearsals, demos, B-sides and radio sessions. The boxset also include a booklet, prints and badges.
Track List
Disc 1 – Laid:
Out To Get You / Sometimes (Lester Piggott) / Dream Thrum / One Of The Three / Say Something / Five-O / P.S. / Everybody Knows / Knuckle Too Far / Low Low Low / Laid / Lullaby / Skindiving
Disc 2 – Wah Wah:
Hammer Strings / Pressure’s On / Jam J / Frequency Dip / Lay The Law Down / Burn The Cat / Maria / Low Clouds / Building A Fire / Gospel Oak / DVV / Say Say Something / Rhythmic Dreams / Dead Man / Rain Whistling / Basic Brian / Low Clouds / Bottom Of The Well / Honest Joe / Arabic Agony / Tomorrow / Laughter / Sayonara
Disc 3 – Rehearsals, Demos & Jams:
Carousel / Unknown Track 8 / Dream Thrum / Chicken Goth / Jam J / You Were Born / Bruce Jam 1 (Mix 1) / Jam D Rhythmic Dreams / Jam E / Jam 11 / Jam 12B / Jam P / Jam P2 / Jam Q / Jam R / Who Is Gospel Oak? / Falsetto / Jam 13
Disc 4 – B-Sides, Radio Sessions & Live:
America / Building A Charge / Wah Wah Kits / The Lake / Seconds Away / Say Something / Assassin / Laid / Low Low Low / Sometimes / Tomorrow / Five – O / Jam J (Arena Dub) / Jam J (Sabresonic Tremelo Dub)
Details
Release Name: | Laid / Wah Wah Super Deluxe Edition |
Artist Name: | James |
Release Date: | 23rd March 2015 |
Format: | Compilation Box Set |
Catalogue: | ASIN B00RYGDNQ6 |
According to Tim Booth, 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.” 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.” The simultaneous, coupled reissues are particularly notable, however, due to the fact that producer Brian Eno and the band had originally favoured releasing the records as a double package.
Recorded concurrently in 1993 during a frenetic six week period at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Complex, the albums were always intended as companion pieces – Laid being referred to as the “song” album whilst Wah Wah was known as the “experimental” or “jamming” album – but the record company’s decision to release them months apart put paid to this conception: Laid, released in the UK in October 1993, reached the No.3 spot in the UK and became the band’s biggest album to date in the US, selling 600,000 copies and breaking the band in the USA in the process but the subsequent follow-up Wah Wah effectively sunk the band over there and – according to Booth – “put paid to us breaking America at all!”.More pertinently perhaps, by the time Wah Wah came out, U2 (and Eno) had released Zooropa and “everyone thought we were copying off them instead of the other way round!”The 4CD 12’x 12’ Super Deluxe box set features 20 previously unreleased recordings.
- America :1993
- Arabic Agony :1994
- Assassin :1994
- Basic Brian :1994
- Bottom Of The Well :1994
- Building A Charge :1993
- Building A Fire :1994
- Burn The Cat :1994
- Dead Man :1994
- Dream Thrum :1993
- DVV / Jam R – Beefheart Jam :1994
- Everybody Knows :1993
- Five-O :1993
- Frequency Dip :1994
- Gospel Oak / Who Is Gospel Oak (rehearsal jam) :1994
- Hammer Strings :1994
- Honest Joe / Jam Q :1994
- It’s A Fine Line / Jam P (Fabulous Melody But Unusual Bass) :2012
- Jam 1 / Unknown Track 8 :2012
- Jam 11 (Slow Jam – Grotesque / Angular) :2015
- Jam 12B (Dreamy Later Singing) :2015
- Jam 2 / Chicken Goth / Never Forget :2012
- Jam E (outtake) :2015
- Jam J :1994
- Jam P2 (Later) :2015
- Knuckle Too Far / Bruce Jam :1993
- Laid :1993
- Laughter :1994
- Lay The Law Down :1994
- Low Clouds :1994
- Low Low Low :1993
- Lullaby :1993
- Maria / Maria’s Party :1994
- One Of The Three / You Were Born :1993
- Out To Get You :1990
- P.S. :1993
- Pressure’s On :1994
- Rain Whistling :1994
- Rhythmic Dreams / Jam D (Rhythmic Dreams alt) :1994
- Say Say Something :1994
- Say Something / Carousel :1993
- Sayonara :1994
- Seconds Away :1993
- Skindiving / Falsetto :1993
- Sometimes (Lester Piggott) :1993
- The Lake :1993
- Tomorrow :1994
- Wah Wah Kits / Jam 13 (Fast Marcus Has Mixed) :1993
- Boxset: Laid / Wah Wah
- XS Manchester – James 'Laid' with Saul Davies (plus bonus 'Yummy' interview)
- James To Release Laid And Wah Wah Albums in Deluxe Editions – Even The Stars
- Wuss-Stock – Select
- Wah Wah Album Release – Press Release
- Honest Joe Folk Testosterone Abort Mix
- No Folk On The Wah Tour – NME Magazine
- Woodstock 2, New York – 14th August 1994
- James Let Loose – Manchester Evening News
- Woodstock MTV Interview
- James Wah Wah – Melody Maker News
- Glastonbury Festival – 25th June 1994
- Washington Post Feature
- James Take A Dip – Melody Maker News
- The Musician Interview And Feature
- James To Make Ambient Football Album (Mr Agreeable Parody) – Melody Maker
- Goal Goal Goal – Unknown TV Broadcast – June 1994
- The Jessie In James – Vox
- Home James – Chicago Sun
- St Louis Post – Acoustic Tour Leaves Imprint on James
- Band Outgrows Cult Status – Wisconsin State Journal
- James On World Cup Album – NME News
- Say Something (Top Of The Pops) – 31st March 1994
- Los Angeles Hollywood Palace – 22nd March 1994
- Los Angeles Hollywood Palace – 21st March 1994
- Interview With Jo Whiley – BBC Radio 1
- James Find Another Wave – The Advocate
- More Where They Came From – Rocky Mountain News
- Say Something / Jam J – Press Release
- Happy Accident Makes It All Happen – LA Times
- Tim Booth’s Rebellious Jukebox – Melody Maker
- British Band James Returns – Seattle Times
- Mr Agreeable – Melody Maker
- Laid – Jay Leno Show – March 1994
- Laid – David Letterman Show – March 1994
- James Wins Applause In The States – Providence Journal
- MTV 120 Minutes Interview
- Vous Avez Dit James – Le Soir (French)
- Laid – Conan O’Brien Show – January 1994
- London Brixton Academy – 9th December 1993
- City Life Tim Interview
- A Typical James Gig – Tour Pamphlet from December 1993
- Best Yet To Come? – Stop Press
- Lyon Transbordeur – 22nd November 1993
- Laying Low With James – Toronto University Varsity
- Listen To James And You’ll Get Laid – London UWO Gazette
- Hey Nonny Eno – NME
- The Village View Interview
- Strobe Magazine Interview
- Laid North American Tour Dates – Press Release
- Los Angeles Roxy – 28th October 1993
- Mean Street Article And Interview
- World Cup Song Is Our Goal – Manchester Evening News
- Mercury Bets Touring Can Make James a U.S. Name – Billboard
- Larry Interview with Guitar Magazine
- Interview with Alan Pell (James A+R man)
- Sometimes – Jay Leno Show – October 1993
- The American Music Press Interview
- Telemoustique Interview (French)
- James And The Art Of Getting Laid – RCD
- La Folie Douce – Les Irrockuptibles (French)
- NME Discography
- Creem Magazine Interview
- James Daily Insider Article
- London Astoria – 28th September 1993
- Los Angeles WOMAD – 18th September 1993
- Sometimes – BBC1 Top Of The Pops – 9th September 1993
- Radio 1 Interview about Knuckle Too Far
- Laid Press Release Biography
- Sometimes – Press Release
- O Zone Interview BBC1
- The James Gang Rides Again – Entertainment Today
- Best Magazine Interview (French)
- James Tour – NME News
- Laid US Album Release – Press Release
- MTV Interview
- Melody Maker News Article on Sometimes
- What’s Eating You? – Select
- James Laid In Italy – Melody Maker
- Sometimes – Channel 4 The Beat – August 1993
- James Still Folking Around – NME News
- James Get Laid And Improvise With Eno – Melody Maker
- Kevin Westerberg on the Laid Cover – I Music
- Eno’s Wah Wah Notes
- James Support Neil Young – NME News
- Tim’s Bunk Diary – Chain Mail
- Martine McDonagh Interview with Andy Diagram – Chain Mail
- 1993 – 1996: Laid Back Years
Compilation release not related to gigs.