YIM YAMES
''TRIBUTE TO''
AUGUST 4 2009
26:33
1/Long, Long, Long
George Harrison/3:58
2/Behind That Locked Door
George Harrison/4:17
3/Love You To
George Harrison/4:21
4/My Sweet Lord
George Harrison/3:33
5/Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
George Harrison/5:10
6/All Things Must Pass
George Harrison/5:20
Yim Yames/Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
REVIEW
by Andrew Leahey
George Harrison may not have influenced My Morning Jacket's knotty, psychedelic Americana as much as other songwriters, but his spirituality did find its way into the band's work, from the catharsis of At Dawn to the Biblical metaphors in "Gideon." Appropriately, Jim James makes his solo debut with a collection of Harrison songs, using little more than his vocals and acoustic guitar to re-create the source material. This is a quiet, scaled-down affair, with no traces of Phil Spector's lush orchestrations or Harrison's infamous slide guitar. Instead, James wraps himself in reverb -- a nod to the echoing production of All Things Must Pass, perhaps, but also a reminder that this EP was recorded in 2001, the same year that spawned the reverb-heavy At Dawn -- and multi-tracks his own voice into towers of fragile harmonies. "My Sweet Lord," once a communal hymn, is stripped of its choral arrangement and turned into a solitary prayer, while the Beatles' "Love You To" leaves its Indian homeland in favor of the swampy American backwoods. Tribute To remains reverent despite those unique touches, however, and Jim James (or Yim Yames, or whatever he's calling himself nowadays) sounds fairly fantastic throughout.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Although chiefly known as the frontman of My Morning Jacket, Jim James played a wider role in indie rock during the early 21st century, appearing on albums by several artists (including Bright Eyes, M. Ward, America, and Bobby Bare, Jr.) while also pursuing a small solo career under the alias of Yim Yames. He made his solo debut with 2009's Tribute To, a short collection of George Harrison covers recorded shortly after the guitarist's death in 2001. In 2008, during a My Morning Jacket tour, James fell off the stage and was seriously injured, forcing the band to cancel the rest of its dates. During his recuperation, he did a great deal of self-reflection. He read the 1929 graphic novel God's Man by Lynd Ward, which had been given to him by the artist Gary Burden. James was deeply affected by the book. In 2010, he began writing and recording on his own in bits and spurts. He played all instruments, sang all vocals, and produced the album, Regions of Light and Sound of God. It was issued in early February 2013 on ATO, and was followed by a North American tour.
DoWnLoAd
''TRIBUTE TO''
AUGUST 4 2009
26:33
1/Long, Long, Long
George Harrison/3:58
2/Behind That Locked Door
George Harrison/4:17
3/Love You To
George Harrison/4:21
4/My Sweet Lord
George Harrison/3:33
5/Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
George Harrison/5:10
6/All Things Must Pass
George Harrison/5:20
Yim Yames/Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
REVIEW
by Andrew Leahey
George Harrison may not have influenced My Morning Jacket's knotty, psychedelic Americana as much as other songwriters, but his spirituality did find its way into the band's work, from the catharsis of At Dawn to the Biblical metaphors in "Gideon." Appropriately, Jim James makes his solo debut with a collection of Harrison songs, using little more than his vocals and acoustic guitar to re-create the source material. This is a quiet, scaled-down affair, with no traces of Phil Spector's lush orchestrations or Harrison's infamous slide guitar. Instead, James wraps himself in reverb -- a nod to the echoing production of All Things Must Pass, perhaps, but also a reminder that this EP was recorded in 2001, the same year that spawned the reverb-heavy At Dawn -- and multi-tracks his own voice into towers of fragile harmonies. "My Sweet Lord," once a communal hymn, is stripped of its choral arrangement and turned into a solitary prayer, while the Beatles' "Love You To" leaves its Indian homeland in favor of the swampy American backwoods. Tribute To remains reverent despite those unique touches, however, and Jim James (or Yim Yames, or whatever he's calling himself nowadays) sounds fairly fantastic throughout.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Although chiefly known as the frontman of My Morning Jacket, Jim James played a wider role in indie rock during the early 21st century, appearing on albums by several artists (including Bright Eyes, M. Ward, America, and Bobby Bare, Jr.) while also pursuing a small solo career under the alias of Yim Yames. He made his solo debut with 2009's Tribute To, a short collection of George Harrison covers recorded shortly after the guitarist's death in 2001. In 2008, during a My Morning Jacket tour, James fell off the stage and was seriously injured, forcing the band to cancel the rest of its dates. During his recuperation, he did a great deal of self-reflection. He read the 1929 graphic novel God's Man by Lynd Ward, which had been given to him by the artist Gary Burden. James was deeply affected by the book. In 2010, he began writing and recording on his own in bits and spurts. He played all instruments, sang all vocals, and produced the album, Regions of Light and Sound of God. It was issued in early February 2013 on ATO, and was followed by a North American tour.
DoWnLoAd
