
This bed is one fire……
Laid – James (1993, Fontana Records, Taken from ‘Laid’)
Points 151
I’d gone off James in 1993, largely because ‘Seven’ was so utterly ghastly and I’d discovered bands that I didn’t have to travel to a theme park to see live. So, I was mildly disappointed when sitting round the Christmas Tree in the winter of 1993 when I slowly unwrapped a CD copy of ‘Laid’ in the hope that it might be a Buffalo Tom album. It was a present from my uncle, the last time I’d seen him I’d been wearing a James shirt and he’d remembered that I must have liked them.
I still hadn’t forgiven James for ‘Seven’ and so immediately placed ‘Laid’ on the shelf and made a note to take it to record shop and exchange it for something good in a weeks time. A day later I went to a party. It was a good party, all my best friends were there and about half through someone stuck on a new mix tape and the raunchy opening of ‘Laid’ (the song) filled the room and it sounded incredible, it sounded like the James that didn’t sound like U2 (i.e when they were very very good). It was song that all my friends were singing the words to, friends that not one year had mocked me for even daring to say think ‘Born of Frustration’ wasn’t that bad (it is that bad by the way). It sounded brilliant and downed my drink (vodka and lime I was 18 come on, give me a break) and smiled and that was the exact point I forgave James for having the audacity for trying to be successful.
Although I still haven’t found the time to forgive them for ‘Wah Wah’ or Tim Booth personally for all the nonsense he did with Angelo Badalamenti.
I Believe – Booth and the Bad Angel (1996, Fontana Records, Taken from ‘Booth and the Bad Angel’)
‘Laid’ was another sort of Marmite track, as it featured on less jury members votes than most of the records in the Top 25 (apart from ‘Rez’) but where it did score it did so very highly. It was never voted at the top but scored twice in the Top Three and at least four times in the Top Ten. It didn’t please everyone though, one Jury Member (Number six) said “I’m disappointed by the James choice, there are loads of songs better than ‘Laid’, ‘Sometimes’ for instance would have been in my Top Five, and ‘Stutter’ even higher but ‘Laid’ with its deliberately provocative chorus really annoys me, so I am ignoring it with the hope that everyone thinks the same”.
Well they didn’t although another Jury Member said almost the same thing about ‘Sometimes’, so just for you two moaning minnies.
Sometimes – James (1993, Fontana Records, Taken from ‘Laid’)