"COME back when we're getting old," predicted Tim Booth on 1998's Destiny Calling.
True to his self-mocking words, the Clifford-born singer has come back when he's getting bald, reuniting James for the first time since 2001 for spring arena shows in the year of the return of Genesis, The Stooges, The Police and The Jesus And Mary Chain.
The Manchester band has pursued an erra tic path, a route better served by the chronological 33-track edition of this retrospective than the whimsically ordered 20-track package that leaves out Hymn From A Village and Runaground.
The double disc's early tracks from their vegan days have you wondering why Morrissey championed them, but how they blossomed with Sit Down, Born Of Frustration, the saucy Laid and the lovely Just Like Fred Astaire.
New numbers Who Are You and Chameleon have a meatier muscularity and the promise that "the show is just beginning". Welcome back.
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