Jim James has announced today's premiere of his new Spotify Singles Sessions, streaming exclusively via Spotify. The session features two extraordinary tracks recorded with the activist singing collective Resistance Revival Chorus, including "Over and Over" (originally found on UNIFORM DISTORTION) and the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic, "What The World Needs Now Is Love."
LISTEN TO JIM JAMES' SPOTIFY SINGLES SESSION
"I look forward to the day when these songs are outdated," says James, "and there is SO MUCH LOVE that we don't need to sing that the world needs more of it, and we stop making the same mistakes over and over again! But until then we will keep singing...trying to bring the love. It was such an honor to sing these songs with @resistancerevivalchorus. Their power is undeniable and it just lifted my spirit so high to hear their beautiful voices reach for the heavens and I hope it lifts your spirit too."
James has also announced the upcoming release of UNIFORM DISTORTION/CLARITY: DELUXE EDITION, an expanded vinyl reissue joining his acclaimed 2018 album, UNIFORM DISTORTION, with its acoustic companion volume, UNIFORM CLARITY. UNIFORM DISTORTION/CLARITY: DELUXE EDITION is limited to 1,000 units, individually numbered, and arrives via ATO on March 22, 2019.
PRE-ORDER UNIFORM DISTORTION/CLARITY: DELUXE EDITION HERE
Paired in a die-cut gatefold jacket, pressed on specialty foil, the Deluxe Edition sees both albums printed on newly colored vinyl, with UNIFORM DISTORTION available in a black and gold vinyl mix and UNIFORM CLARITY in a black and white vinyl mix. Furthermore, UNIFORM DISTORTION/CLARITY: DELUXE EDITION appends UNIFORM DISTORTION with two tracks from the original sessions, "It Will Work Out" and "Flash In The Pan" (Rock and Roll Versions) - both first released on Uniform Clarity -and also includes an exclusive 7" single comprised of four never-before-heard cover versions: "Hot Burrito #1" (originally performed by The Flying Burrito Brothers), "How?" (John Lennon), "Fallin' Rain" (Link Wray) and "Dark End of the Street" (written by Dan Penn and Chips Moman and recorded by many). Lastly, UNIFORM DISTORTION/CLARITY: DELUXE EDITION includes a double-sided foldout poster exclusive to this release signed by Jim
James has announced a number of solo acoustic live dates for 2019, including a series of intimate European headline shows and sets at such U.S. festivals as Atlanta, GA's Shaky Knees Music Festival (May 3-5) and Boulder, CO's Bluebird Music Festival (May 25). Additional dates will be announced; for complete details and ticket information, please visit jimjames.com/events.
JIM JAMES
2019 TOUR
JANUARY
25 - Berlin, DE - Musik & Frieden
26 - Amsterdam, NL - De Duif
27 - Brussels, BE - Botanique
29 - London, UK - Roundhouse
MAY
3-5 - Atlanta, GA - Shaky Knees Music Festival
25 - Boulder, CO - Bluebird Music Festival
James' third solo album, UNIFORM DISTORTION was greeted with worldwide critical praise upon its arrival earlier this year. "With driving guitar riffs and catchy hooks combined with his signature soaring vocals," wrote the Associated Press, James delivers an utterly engaging, hard-charging, straight-ahead record that almost feels like a throwback to a different era while also being very much current." "UNIFORM DISTORTION is a collection of intentionally rough, loud songs," noted NPR. "Backed by an efficient two-man rhythm section, there's an emphasis on James' guitar, which has a ragged, sometimes blaring sound...it seeks release in letting loose, in the pleasure music can give from creating wild, anarchic spaces within the framework of pop music song structures. There's an art to summoning up chaos and an equal reward in keeping that chaos under control." The Guardian declared the LP to be "a giddily powerful response to these troubled times...(James') mix of musical joie de vivre and lyrical home truths prove fiendishly effective." "UNIFORM DISTORTION carries an optimistic excitement," wrote Consequence of Sound. "Its success lies in the honesty and purity that went into its creation." "Jim James lets his hair down on fuzz- drenched fourth solo album," declared MOJO in a four-starred lead review. "Going through the emotions never seemed so cool." "(James) sounds like he's having a blast," raved Rolling Stone. "And you will too"
James made a number of live appearances surrounding the release of UNIFORM DISTORTION, including sold out full band shows in New York and Los Angeles, as well as high profile TV performances on ABC'sJimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Recorded over three days at Los Angeles's Eastwest Studios with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer/engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War On Drugs), UNIFORM CLARITY arrived in October and swiftly earned critical attention of its own. "UNIFORM DISTORTION was meant to echo the chaos and cacophony of these tumultuous times while UNIFORM CLARITY is intended as a means of taking an opposite tack," wrote Paste, "to provide some insight, and presumably some assurance as well. This time around, the 11 songs that graced the initial disc provide a serene counterpoint, one that coaxes the listener along and shares some sentiment along the way." "Ultimately, UNIFORM CLARITY reiterates that immutable fact already demonstrated on UNIFORM DISTORTION: Jim James is a great songwriter," declared Exclaim!"This revised version offers fans a chance to listen closely to those musical constructions, at their most skeletal, revealing an often wondrous gestation process."
Photo Credit: Dominick Mastrangelo
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