James had always been open to improvisation and the story of this album is writ large across the results. After a day's pop recording, James (the band) would retire to a dimly lit studio to improvise free-form riffs and lyrics late into the night. Only two of the tracks on the entire album are not sourced from completely free-form improvisation.

Having amassed a wealth of found sounds and half-formed songs, Eno and his sidekick Marcus Dravs split the results and mixed this album from the hours of tape they had collected. The result is twenty plus ambient guitar-based tracks that capture the feeling of 3am about as well as any album I could name. Don't expect the expansive anthemic pop that James made their trademark in the 90's - it bears almost no relation to anything James did before or since and so I've never worked out whether the magic was James's or Eno's. Does it even matter?

I think the solution is that the sum eclipsed the parts, and this very unique and (I think) special album is the result. Any description of the music does it no credit - I guess the typical track has a looped guitar riff, coupled with Tim Booth's stream-of-conciousness lyrics and a clearly soldered-on-in-production electronica beat. The nearest relative I can think of is Aphex Twin's SAW1, but "Wah Wah" hums with warmth, life and has an intimacy that can keep you company until the small hours.

Freedom from the Mold
In ten years, what will make James stick out from Coldplay, or U2? While Laid was a success and their other projects were good what is it that really sets them apart? Wah Wah is the breakthrough, a project to free the band of both free time, and the usual constraints when attempting to improvise. The result is an album of 23 songs that are really on the fringe of an otherwise conventional art-pop band. Now an album of improvisation can call to question quality but in this case perhaps the subconscious has real merit. Wah Wah is a real gem of strange, but beautiful music taking some unexpected turns and filled with a refreshing sense of wonder.

Very experimental
Basically a side project with Brian Eno, Wah Wah is basically a collection of odd ball half-baked songs that would have been album rejects. It is best listened to drunk and with pretzels, if that's not your everyday listening mode you will find this release too inconsistent for full length album listening. There are a few good songs but if you have all of James CD's and are looking to expand your collection just hunt down the b-sides of their many singles. I highly recommend that you look for any James b-sides off their CD singles from Laid up to the recent Pleased To Meet You CD before you invest in this project.

good, but obviously heavily improvised
this album is good, and worth the [price]i bought it for... but, a lot of the songs have a very very strong indication that they are just jam sessions, with the lyrics repeating over and over, even when they're fairly mediocre, and it seems to be obvious that the reason they are being repeated over and over, is because he cant think of anything else to say. this is a good album, but is far from comparable to other james material, and if you're looking for a real "album", this is not it. this is more of a smattering of improvised meanderings, coupled with some strong material. not their best work, i think.

Radiohead may have picked up a thing or two from here
I just listened to Amnesiac, Radiohead's raw, unaccessable, expiremental album and thought to myself "how" Eno...but something caught my ear while listening to it..the structure, a very loose, raw, atmospheric, unforboding structure was very similar to the Eno produced Wah Wah album from James, a masterpiece that has been overlooked here in the US for far too long. This is like Radiohead's recent work, only better, with an interesting flow of music that ranges from soothing atmospheric pop of songs like Pressure's On to the raw jam session feel of something like Jam J, or the absolutely amazing hypnotic roar of Maria, or the familiar pop flare of Tomorrow. This is an amazing masterpiece that those into engaging and involving music should take note of. This is your Kid A and Amnesiac, just six years earlier..and better.