Working with ambient-rock demigod
Brian Eno can have an effect on a dearly innovative British studio team, as it has on
James with two previous ear-boggling efforts, both with Father
Eno at the helm. Whiplash, James' seventh album in several busy but broken years, still resounds with ambient
Eno aesthetics, where even signature silences mark time in terms of sound. Old hand at synthetic pop and psonicadelia,
Stephen Hague keeps the
Eno wave alive with spacy zen minutes on the synth in "Watering Hole," as well as strange house dance gyrations on "Greenpeace," a happy, creaky piece. It's argued that
Tim Booth sounds too much like
Al Stewart but 1)
Al Stewart sounds great, so? and, 2) no he doesn't really, but the energy-factor point is well taken. "Tomorrow" would be a great song sung by, say,
Eddie Vedder or
James Brown, but great vocal energy is a curious element to blend here among these complex quicksilver musicsmiths. One of the better vocally-driven tunes is probably the sardonic, techno-silly "Go to the Bank," which winds up being the weirdest cut on another adventurous outing for
James. ~ Becky Byrkit