James are back where they belong,creating great anthemic music that makes you feel good for the rest of the day,"Bubbles"and "Hey ma" sound like the old James that we know and love,the lyrics of "Hey Ma" are particularly good.
"Waterfall"sounds like Dylan With brass,With perhaps a dab of Ray Daviesesque vocal intonation.
"Oh my heart"is a rousing song that will go down with the audience in a live situation,fast paced and urgent this is james rocking at their best,great guitar in this!!
"Boom boom "is taken at a slower pace but once again builds into a kind of majestic epic.
"Semaphore" is a beautiful song,slow and reflective with some fine vocals by Tim Boothe whose words are delivered with remarkable clarity,and some wonderful playing by the rest of the band.
"Upside" reminds me of the scene In "Hard days night "when Ringo is walking the thames Towpath
until the chorus explodes when it is definately James playing!
"Whiteboy"is the first single and… more »

James are back where they belong,creating great anthemic music that makes you feel good for the rest of the day,"Bubbles"and "Hey ma" sound like the old James that we know and love,the lyrics of "Hey Ma" are particularly good.
"Waterfall"sounds like Dylan With brass,With perhaps a dab of Ray Daviesesque vocal intonation.
"Oh my heart"is a rousing song that will go down with the audience in a live situation,fast paced and urgent this is james rocking at their best,great guitar in this!!
"Boom boom "is taken at a slower pace but once again builds into a kind of majestic epic.
"Semaphore" is a beautiful song,slow and reflective with some fine vocals by Tim Boothe whose words are delivered with remarkable clarity,and some wonderful playing by the rest of the band.
"Upside" reminds me of the scene In "Hard days night "when Ringo is walking the thames Towpath
until the chorus explodes when it is definately James playing!
"Whiteboy"is the first single and is magnificent dodging about like Ricky Hatton On a good night,loud and rocking,great brass in this as well.
"72" could be a U2 tune with a slight return to their earlier work produced by Eno.
"Of monsters Heroes and Men" has its routes firmly stuck in the "Laid " era of the band,very lyrical and dark,this could be this albums version of"We're going to miss you"which was a standout track from the last studio album
"I wanna go home" rounds up the album in fine form atypical brooding James type frack with a steady build up to the Crescendo at the end, a good return from a great band.
In an era when bands reunite for the money its great that James have done it for musical reasons.
The cover has been controversially banned in some quarters ,but on this showing the music speaks for itself.