James Album: “Millionaires”

Ah, James! Poor misunderstood, underappreciated James! After their excellent 1998 Greatest Hits package (be sure to read my review for that!), their label decided not to release their records in the states. What a shame, because, as Murphy's Law would have it, in 1999, they released "Millionaires," one of their finest works. Well, let's at least praise Amazon for making it so easily available and at a relatively decent price.

The disc opens with the frantic, chaotic, "Crash." With it's cryptic lyrics and Queen-like, choral, vocal affects, it's a terrific opening. That segues into the opening chords of one of their finest tracks to date, "Just Like Fred Astaire." This song finds singer Tim Booth at his most endearing and passionate as he belts out lines like, "Doctor, what is happening to me, palpitations, my minds diseased.."

The rest of album finds James sampling a potpourri of different styles. Another highlight is definitely "We're Going to Miss You," an eery, creepy, but very catchy sing-a-long.

Also of interest is the last track, "Vervaceous." Here, James offers out a bizarre, electronic, ballad, a la "OK Computer"-era Radiohead. What's even better, they seem to beat Radiohead at their own game. Do they get much credit for it? Of course not, they're James!

Some day, all of us American's will know what we missed with James!

What an Album! Definetely B. Eno had his hands on this record. James sounds as never before... ALL tracks are excelent. If you are a James fan you MUST have this one... Do not wait until it comes out in USA

A wonderful CD with alot of variety. Much better produced than Whiplash,it has more of an immediate catchiness than most of their prior CD's.The first part of the album has some pop classics like "We're Going To Miss You","Shooting My Mouth Off" and "Crash".Then the album goes quiet "Hello"...makes room for a dance tune "Afro Lover",and then more guitar heavy pop like "Dumb Jam" and ends with an Enoish experiment "Vervaceous". It comes with a live CD with 5 tracks,and the songs are cool but a bit sloppy live (though the live version of "Someones Got It In For Me" is worth it).Buy it!!!

This album is simply great. Next to the Best Of album, this is probably their strongest disc. I don't know what was up with that 1-star review, just ignore that as he has no idea what he's talking about. My favorite track is probably "I Know what I'm here for". I'm not sure if this Amazon version comes with the bonus disc with live tracks, but its also a must have, the live version of the previously mentioned song is incredible. In fact, the only tracks on the whole CD that I am not totally crazy about are Hello and Vervaceous. The rest are incredible... It's nice to see a band that has been around as long as James is still putting out fresh, original, incredible work. Not many other bands can consistantly do it.

If you like James and are wary about paying the Import price for a cd, do it, its worth every penny. If you aren't a James fan yet, listen to the Best Of first, then I'm sure you'll be back to buy this one.

Most similar to Whiplash, this album includes electronic effects, but still relies on beautiful melodies and touching lyrics to carry the songs.

In a song of reassurement to all the hopelessly romantic, Booth, the lead singer, sings: "I believe in Hollywood/Don't believe that love must bring despair/Cos when I hold her in my arms/I feel like Fred Astaire."

While not my favorite album by the group (Laid holds that honor), it didn't take me long to develop an addiction of sorts to this record. Once again, James has displayed the depth and maturity of their band.