Over the course of 1995 and 1996, James recorded at several studios – Westside, The Windings, Cafe Mullet, Real World, RAK, and Foel – with producers Stephen Hague, Brian Eno, and Baynton-Power.

Preceded by the release of Whiplash's lead single "She's a Star" in February 1997, James went on a United Kingdom tour the following month.

The third single "Waltzing Along" was released in June 1997, coinciding with a stint on Lollapalooza until August of that year, when they appeared at the Reading Festival.

Whiplash received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom noted James' attempt to mix their older sound with newer elements.

[3] The day would later be known as James' 'Black Thursday': guitarist Larry Gott expressed interest in leaving the band to design furniture; frontman Tim Booth revealed his plans to record an album with composer Angelo Badalamenti; and the band learned that they owed several years' worth of back taxes, totalling £250,000.

[2] Due to the mounting pressure of the debt, Gott's departure, Booth being occupied, and the rest of the members living across the country, Baynton-Power took charge of their new album.

[9] He told bassist Jim Glennie to set up a recording studio at his house, dubbed Cafe Mullet.

[10] Phonogram, the owner of James' label Fontana Records, was growing concerned with the album and the lack of a big-name producer.

Eno appeared once a week in an overseer role, and is credited in the album booklet as "occasional co-production and frequent interference".

[15] At the various studios, the band was assisted by Graeme Robinson and Alex Seel at RAK, Jaqui Turner at Real World, and Dave Green at Westside.

[18] The album also contains elements of trip hop,[16] and several songs are in a drum and bass style,[19] while Booth's breathy vocals have been compared to those of Bono.

[15] "Tomorrow" channels the up-tempo drumming pattern as heard in "Laid", and its overall guitar riffs and uplifting lyrics drew comparison to the U2 songs "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "With or Without You" (1987).

[4][21] The subsequent track "Lost a Friend" continues in the same style as "Tomorrow", and details a person falling asleep while watching a television, whose their dreams become part of the entertainment.

[21][24][25] "She's a Star" sees Booth singing in falsetto, while being accompanied by a piano, slide guitar, and Beatlesque vocal harmonies.

[23] The song discusses a woman "coming into her own power, a stellar view of life with a different energy to the male world," and drew comparison to latter-day Suede.

[21] A sample of Eno screaming is used over the course of the song,[26] while the creaking noise heard in the track was achieved by rubbing a marble cutting board against a brick wall.

[7][26] The closing track, "Blue Pastures", is anchored around a bassline and a lone guitar part, with drums appearing briefly.

"[15][37] By the time of the album's release, label president Ed Eckstein, who liked James, had been replaced by Danny Goldberg, who had no interest in the band, which resulted in little future promotion for them in the US.

[38] Goldberg had been previously sacked from a film project with Badalamenti a few years prior, which Booth said resulted in the album's failure in the US.

[40] In March 1997, the band performed "She's a Star" on The Late Show with David Letterman, and began donating the royalties from "Greenpeace" to the organization of the same name.

Within a few days, he was unable to sing at a radio station promotional event, and was taken to a medical clinic in San Francisco, where he was placed in traction for a week.

[50] Whiplash was reissued on CD in 2001, with four bonus tracks: live versions of "Lost a Friend", "Greenpeace", and "Homeboy", as well as a remix of "Waltzing Along".

[52] "Hedex", an outtake from the album's sessions, was included on the career-spanning box set The Gathering Sound (2012), alongside the music videos for "She's a Star", "Tomorrow", and "Waltzing Along".

[56] The song's music video was directed by Kevin Godley, and was shot with a fast moving camera that the members had to duck to avoid being hit.

The staff at the Sunday Mirror found the album to be filled with "big tunes with rousing choruses ... James do it better than most, and if you like their single 'She's a Star' there's loads here to keep you happy with a few dance tracks too.

"[67] Entertainment Weekly writer Josef Woodward said that the album "veers from catchy delights ... to experimental detours ... before signing off with a dreamwordly lullaby ... Whiplash is alterna-pop as its finest.

"[30] The staff at The Sunday Times wrote that the band "sound much less angst-ridden than they used to; Booth's declamatory vocal style is here propelled forward by frenetic drums and acoustic guitars that positively glisten in the mix.

"[68] Calgary Sun writer Dave Vetc found the majority of Whiplash to be "classic James -- that is, surging folk-rock with anthemic choruses", with "just enough detours to keep the proceedings interesting.

[24] Pitchfork contributor Ryan Schreiber called the album a "very hit- and- miss affair, mixing some truly abyssmal tracks in with some of the band's best work ever."