Sunday, April 8, 2012

Tonight Tonight in Music: James, and Elizaveta

Posted by Elena Buckley on Sun, Apr 8, 2012 at 8:45 AM

James, Elizaveta

(Neumos) I fell in love with Manchester's James in the summer of 1985, when I followed the hype of Morrissey to the Village Fire EP, which gathered the A-sides and B-sides of James' first singles into a ravishing five-song mini-masterwork. Our love continued into early '86, with the release of the Village Fire–worthy single "Chain Mail," but things grew cold later that year with the release of James' full-length debut, Stutter, on which all the charm and majesty of early songs curdled into something arch and off-putting. Then James simplified their song structures, normalized their tempos, and went on to sell 25 million records worldwide. Fans of world-conquering James will undoubtedly be delighted by tonight's reunion show at Neumos. I'll be home mooning over the still-exquisite Village Fire. DAVID SCHMADER

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One could also say that, while James began with the early Factory Records singles as a kind of crypto-Cardiacs cover act, they only expanded and experimented with each release until they became an unpredictable, complex, and beautiful force to wash over indefinably unique types of audiences around the world, drowning out fashions, the cool, and any such creationist cries of get-off-my-band's-lawn.

Tonight -- like any other night with James -- will be remarkable.

Posted by Dean Fawkes

on April 8, 2012 at 7:30 PM

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