James - Laid

Laid is an odd album. Not in that it exercises any breakthrough methods of production. The album was the first of several collaborations James made with producer Brian Eno, and the end result isn't much different from the work he had previously done with U2. Each track has his usual glowing style - a light use of reverb on just about every instrument, atmospheric backgrounds, nontraditional song structures, etc . He was definitely the ideal producer for the group, as their sound seemed to pick up where U2 ran away from in the early 90's. What makes the album odd though is how misleading its title track is. Everyone knows "Laid". A short and sweet anthem about gettin's some, the track tore up the pop charts in the latter part of 1993 (it peaked at #61 on the US Billboard 100, but reached #24 in the UK, as well as #3 on the Modern Rock charts). Given the blissful state of the track, one would think it would be the leading track (or at least rack two or three) on an album full of uplifting pop ditties. Not exactly.

Laid starts with the surprisingly somber "Out To Get You". A soul searching song about loneliness, it gets the album off somewhat awkwardly. "Sometimes (Lester Piggott)" is more of what one would expect given the title track. An uptempo propulsive track, "Sometimes" rides rather consistently on the refrain, "sometimes when I look in your eyes, I can see your soul". "Say Something" has a similar sentiment and feel to both "Sometimes", but the rest of the album is very restrained and has a somewhat wounded feel. "Laid" finally plops down at a bewildering track 11 on the album. By this point, the jolliness of the song can barely be appreciated considering the amount of seriousness the listener has had to deal with listening to songs like "P.S.", "Knuckle Too Far", and "Five-O". It's helped somewhat by its predecessor, "Low", which is jaunty enough to get the listener ready for some fourth quarter poppers, but the album then immediately returns back to its reflective state with the elegant ballad, "Lullabye" before ending with the rather ambiguously sneaky "Skindiving".

One thing that should be made clear here though is that Laid is a good album. It may not live up to what many college radio fans would expect it to be, but it is still quite worthy of being in Eno's production resume. The problem with the album, and the reason why most people have forgotten it, is that it doesn't quite go far enough. The album is clearly trying to be a statement of great emotion, but the end result isn't really anything that U2 hadn't already done with The Joshua Tree. Had the album been made in 1986, it would have been a revelation. Despite the fact that nearly all the songs are very good ("One Of The Three" doesn't quite cut it; apparently Eno didn't like himself and wasn't present during its recording), it just doesn't break down enough barriers to be memorable beyond it's catchy as hell single.