NewsJames: Laid / Wah Wah box set
As mentioned in the SDE Preview for 2015, Mancunian band James (best known for their 1991 hit Sit Down) are seeing two of their albums reissued in March this year – Laid (1993) and Wah Wah (1994). The individual releases will be complemented by a four disc box set that combines both albums.
The band worked with Brian Eno for the first time on Laid and the sessions for that album also produced the improvisational Wah Wah album which followed exactly a year later.
Laid will be reissued as a two-CD deluxe edition as well as a double vinyl set while Wah Wah is just a two-LP set (no separate CD deluxe). Both vinyl issues will feature printed inner sleeves and come with a download code.
The super deluxe box set contains Laid and Wah Wah, along with 32 bonus tracks (20 previously unreleased) across two additional CDs – including rehearsals, jams, demos, plus B-sides, radio sessions and live tracks (see full track listing below).
The set comes complete with a 56-page hardcover book, a few button badges and postcards. My guess is that this will be a 10-inch sized ‘super deluxe’ although that’s not confirmed.
The box and individual releases are due on 23 March.
Laid / Wah Wah super deluxe box set
- • UK Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah
- • USA Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah *best price
- • CANADA Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah
- • SPAIN Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah
*good price
Laid 2CD deluxe edition
- • UK Pre-order: Laid
- • USA Pre-order: Laid
- • CANADA Pre-order: Laid
- • GERMANY Pre-order: Laid
- • SPAIN Pre-order: Laid
- • FRANCE Pre-order: Laid
Laid 2LP vinyl edition
Wah Wah 2LP vinyl edition
Track listings
4CD super deluxe box set
CD1 – Laid
1. Out To Get You
2. Sometimes (Lester Piggott)
3. Dream Thrum
4. One of The Three
5. Say Something
6. Five-O
7. P.S.
8. Everybody Knows
9. Knuckle Too Far
10. Low Low Low
11. Laid
12. Lullaby
13. Skindiving
CD2 – Wah Wah
1. Hammer Strings
2. Pressure’s On
3. Jam J
4. Frequency Dip
5. Lay The Law Down
6. Burn The Cat
7. Maria
8. Low Clouds
9. Building A Fire
10. Gospel Oak
11. DVV
12. Say Say Something
13. Rhythmic Dreams
14. Dead Man
15. Rain Whistling
16. Basic Brian
17. Low Clouds
18. Bottom Of The Well
19. Honest Joe
20. Arabic Agony
21. Tomorrow
22. Laughter
23. Sayonara
CD3 – Rehearsals, Out-takes & Jams (previously unreleased)
1. Carousel (rehearsal demo of Say Something)
2. Unknown Track 8 (rehearsal demo)
3. Dream Thrum (rehearsal demo)
4. Chicken Goth (rehearsal demo)
5. Jam J (Additional Jam) (rehearsal jam)
6. You Were Born (Take 1) (early version of One of the Three)
7. Bruce Jam 1 (Mix 1)(early version of Knuckle Too Far)
8. Jam D / Rhythmic Dreams alt. (rehearsal jam)
9. Jam E (out-take)(rehearsal jam)
10. Jam 11 (Slow Jam – Grotesque/Angular) (rehearsal jam)
11. Jam 12B (Dreamy Later Singing) (rehearsal jam)
12. Jam P (Fabulous Melody But Unusual Bass) (rehearsal jam)
13. Jam P2 (Later)(rehearsal jam)
14. Jam Q (early version of Honest Joe) (rehearsal jam)
15. Jam R – Beefheart Jam (rehearsal jam)
16. Who Is Gospel Oak? (early version) (rehearsal jam)
17. Falsetto (instrumental version of Skindiving)
18. Jam 13 – Fast Marcus Has Mixed (rehearsal jam)
CD4 B-sides, Radio Sessions & Live
1. America (Live In The U.S. 9/92) (B-side of Sometimes)
2. Building A Charge (B-side of Sometimes)
3. Wah Wah Kits (B-side of Laid)
4. The Lake (B-side of Laid)
5. Seconds Away (B-side of Laid)
6. Say Something (New Version)
7. Assassin (B-side of Say Something/Jam J)
8. Laid (Acoustic 99x, Atlanta 26/2/94) B-side of Say Something – US promo CD
9. Low Low Low (BBC Session 27/9/93)
10. Sometimes (BBC Session 27/9/93)
11. Tomorrow (BBC Session 27/9/93)
12. Five-O (BBC Session 27/9/93)
13. Jam J (Arena Dub / Amphetamine Pulsate) 12″ remix
14. Jam J (Sabresonic Tremelo Dub / Spaghetti Steamhammer) 12″ remix
Laid – 2CD deluxe
CD1 – Laid
1. Out To Get You
2. Sometimes (Lester Piggott)
3. Dream Thrum
4. One of The Three
5. Say Something
6. Five-O
7. P.S.
8. Everybody Knows
9. Knuckle Too Far
10. Low Low Low
11. Laid
12. Lullaby
13. Skindiving
CD2 – Bonus Disc – Live, Radio Sessions, B-sides, Rehearsal Demos & Jams
1. America (Live In The U.S. 9/92) (B-side of Sometimes)
2. Building A Charge (B-side of Sometimes)
3. Wah Wah Kits (B-side of Laid)
4. The Lake (B-side of Laid)
5. Seconds Away (B-side of Laid)
6. Say Something (New Version)
7. Jam J (New Version)
8. Assassin (New Version)
9. Laid (BBC Session 27/9/93)
10. Five-O (BBC Session 27/9/93)
11. Sometimes (BBC Session 27/9/93)
12. Say Something (BBC Session 27/9/93)
13. Low Low Low Low (BBC Session 27/9/93) (previously unreleased)
14. Tomorrow (BBC Session 27/9/93) (previously unreleased)
15. Dream Thrum (rehearsal demo) (previously unreleased)
16. You Were Born take 1 ( early version of One of the Three) (previously unreleased)
17. Bruce Jam 1 (Mix 1) (early version of Knuckle Too Far) (previously unreleased)
18. Carousel (rehearsal demo of Say Something)
19. Falsetto (instrumental version of Skindiving) (previously unreleased)
Laid – 2LP vinyl
1. Out To Get You
2. Sometimes (Lester Piggott)
3. Dream Thrum
4. One of The Three
5. Say Something
6. Five-O
7. P.S.
8. Everybody Knows
9. Knuckle Too Far
10. Low Low Low
11. Laid
12. Lullaby
13. Skindiving
Wah Wah – 2LP vinyl
1. Hammer Strings
2. Pressure’s On
3. Jam J
4. Frequency Dip
5. Lay The Law Down
6. Burn The Cat
7. Maria
8. Low Clouds
9. Building A Fire
10. Gospel Oak
11. DVV
12. Say Say Something
13. Rhythmic Dreams
14. Dead Man
15. Rain Whistling
16. Basic Brian
17. Low Clouds (2)
18. Bottom Of The Well
19. Honest Joe
20. Arabic Agony
21. Tomorrow
22. Laughter
23. Sayonara
Laid / Wah Wah super deluxe box set
- • UK Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah
- • SPAIN Pre-order: Laid / Wah Wah
Laid 2CD deluxe edition
- • UK Pre-order: Laid
- • USA Pre-order: Laid
- • CANADA Pre-order: Laid
- • GERMANY Pre-order: Laid
- • SPAIN Pre-order: Laid
- • FRANCE Pre-order: Laid
Laid 2LP vinyl edition
Wah Wah 2LP vinyl edition
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This is available for pre-order for $49.95 on amazon.com, which certainly seems reasonable.
Am amazed this is still £53 on Amazon.uk as a preorder, surely this price has to drop to something similar to Amazon.us at some point!
2 Exclusive Clear Vinyl versions of both albums have just been announced at thesoundofvinyl.com
They’re not available anywhere else and only 500 of each one available.
Gold Mother and Seven would be good reissues to see at some point and Whiplash as well if possible.
I wonder if the Laid/Wah Wah reissues will be a new remaster or use the same one as the 2001 reissues? As far as I know, the James albums I have all the original non-remastered issues.
On the james fan website, they say that there are clear vinyl edition of both albums and there are just 500 copies of each !
Only a couple of quid more than what Amazon are selling for.
Sound like a good investment !
@Dave Jakubowski
I know it says they’re double LPs, my point was that it has the LP tracklisting on Amazon as containing more than just the album tracks so I was concerned the 2nd LP was just bonus tracks.
James confirmed on their FB page this morning that Laid is 2LP and just the album tracks and that the UMe guys in charge of the vinyl release did it because they wanted it to be sonically superior. Great news.
slightly expensive at time of writing, but I ‘ll keep an eye on the box until it’s price drops !
The 2001 reissue was remastered I believe so don’t know why this wouldn’t be. I really want album reissues with all the b-sides. Hoping this isn’t just a one off and does anyone know if that’s all the Laid b-sides from this era?
All the British b-sides are fully represented, but it appears the live BBC tracks from “Laid” are split between editions (see the discussion above). However, there a couple remixes of “Say Something” that were exclusive to the US single that are not represented. Hope this helps.
V excited for this after the farce of that pointless gathering sound boxset.
I am actually relieved that this omits that vile Say Something (The Saying Nothing Mix) that was on the 2001 reissue which is possibly the worst remix in the history of all remixes.
Would loved to have had live audio or video of the 94 Glastonbury set (some on youtube) included.
Hopefully they will do something similar for Goldmother and we will finally get the original rough trade sit down & come home singles included, i can’t for the life of me work out why those have never been reissued.
A couple of omissions:
‘Skin Diving 1-3-4’ [Markus Driars Remix] (3:24) from Volume magazine issue 8
‘Sometimes’ [Radio Edit] (4:39) from ‘Sometimes’ single
Actually, I’ve just realised that the 4:39 edit of ‘Sometimes’ comes from 1998’s ‘Best Of’ compilation.
Additionally, according Discogs, there is an Advance Radio Edit of ‘Sometimes’ on the UK promo CD clocking in at 3:58.
http://www.discogs.com/James-Sometimes/release/1857128
The Advance Radio Edit (3:58) is also present on the US promo CD.
http://www.discogs.com/James-Sometimes/release/3079837
Paul– Any word on remastering details, or perhaps it is not remastered at all?
Be surprised if it hasn’t been remastered… will try to find out.
Thanks Paul!
Any word on the sound quality of this release? Newly remastered or did they use an old version?
It does seem that those 2 BBC Session tracks (Say something and Laid)are “exclusive” to the 2 CD Laid Deluxe Version. That is pretty poor, considering there will be space on CD1. Maybe the B-Sides could have been put on CD1 so all the session tracks could fit on disc 4. £50 for a 4 CD set that is incomplete is frustrating.
Am I correct in thinking there was a version of low, low, low called Goal, Goal, Goal?
Back in the day, Laid was my go-to album for testing stereos in shops. The range on Out To Get You was just fantastic.
You’re right, Phil – Goal Goal Goal appeared on CD2 of the “Just Like Fred Astaire” single.
Agreed, ‘Out To Get You’ is a fabulous song. I prefer the album version on ‘Laid’ to the original version on the ‘Lose Control’ single. I assume the latter will be up for inclusion on a ‘Gold Mother’ deluxe?
Say something (new version) was track 4 on the Jam J / Say Something CD single
Thanks for clarifying.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the album Laid is being spread out across more than 1LP as I see a bunch of bonus tracks listed which I expect are on the 2nd LP. That’s truly a shame, was hoping someday they might reissue Laid over 2LPs as currently 1LP results in 27+ minutes on both sides. Should have done a 2LP 45rpm all analogue edition.
Wonder if Paul can track down source lineage info for the vinyl?
The official James site says both Laid and Wah Wah are double LPs: http://www.wearejames.com/news/
One of my very favorite albums from one of my very favorite bands. “Laid” is certainly worthy of the deluxe treatment. It appears, though, that “Wah Wah” is going to be treated as the “Zooropa” to “Achtung Baby” and not reissued separately, which is unfortunate but makes some sense in this case. “Wah Wah” was supposed to be a limited edition release in the first place collecting jams that didn’t result in songs on “Laid.” Does anyone know where the track “Say Something (New Version)” comes from?
James – Say Something ‘New Version’ was on the US release of the single.
Laid (Live at GLR) seems to be missing (it was on the 2001 reissue CD)
as was Say Something (The Saying Nothing Mix)
I remember now that Laid & Say Something (BBC versions) were on the limited edition Laid BBC CD Single (that also had Five-O and Sometimes)
So you have to buy the box and the Laid Deluxe to get all the tracks?
as these two only seem to be on the deluxe:
Say Something (BBC Session 27/9/93)
Laid (BBC Session 27/9/93)
At last. Are James finally getting the deluxe reissue treatment? I’m up for the box set if the price isn’t too steep. Certainly getting the deluxe Laid at any rate. Hopefully Gold Mother and Seven will follow. How they haven’t had proper expanded editions before is a mystery.
Track listings now added to this post