HEY MA - UNCUT REVIEW

Booth's boys return after seven years.

Tim Booth's shamelessly overwrought concerns continue to fuel James, as with Hey Ma's fury at post 9/11 America. There's still an organic, soaring bluster to the music, too, though a shortage of obvious anthems this time. But the acoustic reverie of Pure Beauty*, half-way between adoration and menace, the constant allusions to advancing years, and a sense of messy spiritual quests which gently climaxes with I Want To Go Home, compensate. James remain the big pop band for straight-looking, mortgage-paying, secret misfits; unhip, uncompromised and innately rock n roll.