In the preparation and delivering of Hey Ma, James showcased 19 completely new songs, and probably wrote dozens more. At the secret gigs in Hoxton, late 2007, they were all unleashed onto an eager audience. Waterfall, Upside and a lot more made the cut, but what about the songs that were lost in the ether?

 

Here's what they're like, according to your James correspondent - myself.

 

*

 

Good Mood Sunday

This song is a fine example of a track which can build up as it goes along. As drums and background vocals are added to the mix, it really improves. As it grows in size, it grows on you. There's a great bassy guitar solo in the mix somewhere, trumpet work that builds upand elongated words sung by Tim, such as "wa-a-atch", which are all impressive.

Unfortunately, although it works well live, I'm not sure how it would work as a memorable track on a record, compared to some of the others. It could, however, become a favourite over time.

 

Out Of Our Heads

This starts with Tim hollering at the top of his voice; that could work on the record with Tim at one end of a recording studio and the mike at the other end (a similar technique was used by Blink182, if I remember correctly), but it may not work at all if he's going to sing at that volume.

It shows a lot of promise, this one. Simple, repetitive guitar sequences - which might make it easy to cover - and a repetitive chorus both sound quite boring, but with some excellent drum work and a load of background vocals I'd imagine Lee might be able to get his teeth into, it saves itself well, and could definitely become a crowd-pleasing live track.

 

Mother's A Clown

I paired this one up with Oh My Heart in my original analyses, and not without good reason. A simple, repetitive chord sequence with one line repeated four times as a chorus (in this case, "your mother's a clown tonight") - sounds familiar, no? However, on second listen there's more to this song than that.

One thing that stands out is the excellent intro sequence. Before the song even starts, drums come in, and soon extra guitar and trumpet are added. The tune's pretty good, a bridge of "we've got it all wrong" is a good addition and it's fine stuff to sing along to. However, in my mind, this song needs to be worked on before, like Oh My Heart, it becomes anything more than filler stuff.

 

Fear?

This track was a pleasant surprise for a lot of fans and was mystifyingly dropped after one night and not heard again. It's genuinely soulful at times, too.

There's a simple intro that builds up with guitars yet fails to go anywhere, so without serious work it sounds like another filler track... until about halfway through. Tim starts using his high voice to the limit, Mark's keyboard lilts and Saul's ray-of-light violin really add to it and there's plenty of emotion in this one. Tim starts "ooh"ing towards the end, which makes me wonder if it's vocally unfinished, which may have been a reason for dropping it from the second night.

 

Start A Fire

Jim's cue sheet said this was Em - C. There's a dark chord sequence if I've ever heard one. Start a Fire, however, really isn't that dark a song. It starts with slide and rhythm guitar that both got the audience clapping - always a good sign - and not too far into the song it builds up. About a third of the way in, Dave does some truly brilliant drum work and Andy gets going with the trumpet. We have a song.

There's a quieter bit about two-thirds in, and that helps to give us a brief respite before a crescendo swells the song back up again and everyone in the band joins in and gives their all. In many ways, it's in the same vein as Whiteboy - it's mad, punky and fun.

It still reminds me of Hips Don't Lie, and I have no idea why... but this one's got potential. I hope James revive it, because with a little work, it's certainly capable of peaking slightly above the others.

 

Not So Strong

The first time this was premiéred, it was a little confusing, but at least we knew it second time around.

It's an odd song, because it still sounds unfinished at parts. The chorus is easy to remember, but is just repeated words like all the others. And even with that, it's not as singalong as it could be. It also (save the intro, whch works) starts as quite a dreary song. Once the drums kick in, though, it picks up, and it's nice to hear the violin again.

A fair bit in, all the parts come together, ending up as a much tighter, more confident song than it originally appeared. It needs some work on the vocals - the speaking bits may not work as well as Tim thinks, and the constant refrain of "get up" gets irritating after a bit. So yes, there's a great song in here, but it needs to be brought out.

 

Traffic

Look, guys - this song exists.

It's a great stuff, Traffic - Andy being a car horn and mad fun all the way through with guitar, drums and bass all supporting Tim's silly vocals. A few bridges which hold the refrain for a bit and then more car horn and vocals start again - it's great structure. The "world is coming down" bit works particularly well - an unexpected turn. The middle 8 is different from the rest of the song, and confidently done. The band also really go for it towards the end, with Larry thrashing those chords fantastically.

We've only heard it once, and it wasn't even played at the preview gigs - but it sounds to me like a complete song! Let's hope this one is dredged up somewhere along the line, and we get a Dumb Jam-style return for it very quickly. Morti can truly be justified in saying, "I really liked that song."