JAMES : VIRGIN NET REVIEW

Hard to believe that 11 years have passed since Gold Mother, the album that broke James and turned them into that hated early Nineties phenomenon, the T-Shirt Band. Having failed to truly capitalise on their chart-topping Best Of with the follow-up Millionaires they're back with stalwart producer Brian Eno, a marriage that remains a mystery to many given the lack of sonic twists it has thrown up in the past.

James however did not last this long on studio trickery alone. They are more than capable of knocking out a good tune - even the odd anthem (see Sit Down). For this reason Pleased To Meet You will please critics and fans alike by falling back onto their traditional strengths. It's packed with the band's penchant for songs which build to huge climaxes, often with closing codas that sound like they should be middle eights (see English Beefcake). Tim Booth still tries too hard to turn a passable lyric - can Gaudi really be a reference to the Catalan architect? You'd never know - but the choruses are still big (Getting Away With It, Falling Down) the moods still subtly evoked (The Shining), the arrangements clever without being over-fussy.

No seismic shift then, but it's too late for all that. Instead Pleased To Meet You rings as familiar as its title.