1. Born of Frustration

2. Ring the Bells

3. Sound

4. Bring a Gun

5. Mother

6. Don't Wait That Long

7. Live a Love of Life

8. Next Lover -

9. Heavens

10. Protect Me

11. Seven

 

Love can mean anything

ok, let me start off by saying that this is one of my favourite albums in the entire world...and i'm a music junkie so that's saying quite a lot. i had listened to james prior to the release of "seven" in 1992 and even owned several of their previous albums but it was this record that made me fall in love with the band and decide to get everything they had ever touched with their talented little paws. it's the texture of the music and the way that it builds sonically that grabbed me...and grabs me to this day, i might add. plus the lyrics are classically james as well, thoughtful and intelligent poetry that talks of real things in a meaningful way.

some of the highlights for me are the songs "ring the bells," "seven," (from which i got the title of this review) and of course "born of frustration," the single that had a very short-lived run on college radio here in the states. "live a love of life" tackles some interesting religious questions and spiritual dilemmas, another classic james issue, and the song "don't wait that long" is truly incredible as well - i have a lot of memories of lying in a drunken broken-star formation in the dark with my friends and listening to that song over and over again. ah, the good ol' days of college...i sure don't miss that at all.

but back to james - the song "heavens" is another amazing little snippet of musical and lyrical genius...
"i've been looking through microscopes to see how our life begins,
i've been training my lens on the stars to see where it ends
but it's this living in-between that is bringing me down..."
now how can you argue with that? that's good stuff, man, and if you could hear the music with it, i'm sure you'd totally agree with me...or else.

one more interesting little tidbit about the song "sound" - i read an interview a long time ago with tim booth, the lead singer, and he said that the part at the end where he yells "do something out of character" and other things of that nature was totally ad-libbed and organic. they were in the studio recording and he wanted the band to break out of playing it the way they were used to and started yelling things out, things that happened to fit so well with the music that they kept it that way. pretty cool, eh?

so blah, blah, blah...i obviously highly recommend this album, and most of the other james albums as well. an amazing record by an amazing band - you're definitely missing out if you love music and haven't heard and assimilated this little gem.