Inhale James Michael Beyond Music, 2000 Buy it online Tracks 1: Inhale 2: January 3: Chemical 4: Slack 5: Luxuride 6: Note to Self 7: Another Trip Home 8: Simple Thing 9: I'm OK With This 10: Is She Really Going Out With Him? 11: Down 12: Say It Once More   Reviewed by Monica Stark	The first spin of Inhale makes everything apparent. James Michael was born in Holland, Michigan. The son of an art scholar, Michael spent extensive periods of time in London when he was growing up. Being on the very edge of the London music scene -- a radio aficionado of the early punk and new wave scenes, but too young to venture out to clubs -- would impact the way Michael felt music should be made. Michael has said that he didn't realize at the time that he was, "learning the importance of a bad attitude and a great hook! I wanted this record to have the same urgency." It works. Detroit. London. And ultimately Los Angeles. The music that touched James Michael has marked his own music. And the touch is good. While his influences are apparent -- from Tom Petty and Joe Jackson to The Cars and the Smithereens -- no part of Inhale is derivative. Even a very good cover of Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" on Inhale reads more like homage than emulation. The balance of the material -- 11 songs besides the Jackson cover -- are entirely original. Michael not only wrote the music and lyrics, he also produced, engineered and mixed Inhale and even played most of the instruments on the album. An adult life spent in the music industry on the West Coast -- including a stint with the Riverdogs -- had given Michael a strong feel for what he wanted for his own first album. "I just never felt like the songs were living the life they were supposed to when other people were arranging them and helping produce them." Inhale, then, is Michael's very personal expression: made, at a certain level, by his own hands. It's also fairly perfect if you like your rock n' roll with the teensiest pop edge and meter and the kiss of evolved post grunge grit. Michael bears more than a passing physical resemblance to grunge father Kurt Cobain; from the dirty blonde hair to the haunted/hunted look around pale blue eyes. Musically, however, the two have little in common, even if Michael's lyrics do occasionally approach Cobainian pain levels. Like Cobain, Michael's songwriting is tight and his lyrics are often complex, though they are also multilayered and sometimes even humorous. And there is more humor to Inhale than pain. Take this riff from "Luxuride:" So you got me off In the company car Like a drag queen kiss Did you dig too far? Hey.... So you woke me up In a cellophane bar In my cellophane suit But I'm an analog star. Hey. Or this darkly happy riff from the title track: I'm so happy I could kiss me Sick of myself but I still miss me When I'm gone. And I'm in love with everyone. When it surfaces, however, Michael's humor is dark, self-deprecating and self-examining. At 32, James Michael is a little long in the tooth for the solo debut trail, but with material this strong it will be interesting to watch where this album leads. If we awarded stars to albums at Blue Coupe, James Michael would get a bouquet of them. | September 2000 Monica Stark is a contributing editor to Blue Coupe.	Michael bears more than a passing physical resemblance to grunge father Kurt Cobain; from the dirty blonde hair to the haunted/hunted look around pale blue eyes. Musically, however, the two have little in common, even if Michael's lyrics do occasionally approach Cobainian pain levels.