Hey Ma (2008)

Last year these English folk-rockers played together for the first time since 2001, when singer Tim Booth left James to focus on a solo career. Nothing on Hey Ma reproduces the dizzy rush of 1993's ''Laid,'' the band's biggest U.S. hit, but several cuts get surprisingly close: On ''Waterfall,'' over a bright trumpet line and ringing guitar riff, Booth reports that it ''don't take a phone company to tell you life's pay-as-you-go.'' The protest song ''Hey Ma,'' meanwhile, locates hope amid body bags and fallen towers. B
DOWNLOAD THIS: Listen to ''Waterfall'' and the rest of the album on the band's website