We’re Going To Miss You

Initially not seen as an immediate choice as a single, the favourable reviews of the track in Millionaires press changed that view.

The band went back into the studio to rerecord the track with Tim adding a more menacing higher-pitched voice to the verses whilst maintaining the chorus intact. The single was backed with two new songs Pocketful of Lemons and Wisdom of the Throat recorded by Tim and Michael on an eight-track at Tim’s house, a live version of Top of the World recorded at the London Embassy Rooms in October and the original Brian Eno mix of the title track. Artwork for the single was provided by Subliminal.

The video features the band being hypnotised and then playing the song whilst under the spell, being told by the hypnotist to make various weird shapes and perform oddly. Unfortunately, the video didn’t really work and did not get any significant MTV airplay.

Despite being released on the back of the sold-out arena tour and inspired sessions for GLR and Radio 1’s Jo Whiley, the decision to release the single the week before Christmas and with a £2.99 price tag were a recipe for chart disaster. Radio 1 had not A-listed the single and the band gave a muted performance on TFI Friday.

The single limped to number 48 in the charts, James lowest position since signing to Fontana in 1990.

Reviews

NME

Billed as Tim Booth’s masterpiece of sarcastic spite and rapier wit, the latest James release sounds as fresh and vital as the other 798 singles they have delighted us with in the last five years. From atop a surging wave of warm orchestral melody, the loon-dancing karma comedian directs a volley of poison-tipped verbal darts at, erm, somebody who quite clearly isn’t as great as they think they are. Himself, perhaps? Singing with breathy restraint for once, Booth sounds less smug than normal on a lyrical trifle which calls to mind his former mentor Morrissey in one of his ‘The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get’ moods.

Defiant on the surface, then, but tired beneath.

Melody Maker

Reviewed by Huey and Mackie of Fun Lovin Criminals

James, on the other hand, have had the songbook open on the page marked ‘big, epic, sing-along choruses’ for the last 15 years or so. This is not one of their best, going through the numbers in a radio-friendly surge of predictable bluster.

H: Corny, corny, corny….. this is going off I’m afraid.

M: They’re huge, aren’t they? They’re just doing what they do.

H: It’s real easy to do that. But what’s the point?

Press Release

Just when you thought it was safe to close the book on James, music’s favourite survivors go and prove everyone wrong (again) and deliver one of the albums of the year. Millionaires was released on the 11th October and entered the charts at Number 2, quickly becoming a gold status record. James are also set to finish the year on a high…

‘We’re Going To Miss You’ is the third single to be taken from Millionaires, and it is released by Mercury Records on the 6th December 1999. The track is one of the standout moments on the album and the band went back into the studio to remix the track themselves into another anthemic James single. It retains the “helium heavenly chorus” (The Guardian) that first attracted attention in it’s album format and the track was also praised in Q (who made Millionaires Album Of The Month) as an “an intoxicatingly dark pleasure”.

‘We’re Going To Miss You’ has already received great support from Radio 1, with Simon Mayo making it his ‘Big Single’ for two weeks running and James are also performing an acoustic session for the Jo Whiley show on Wednesday 1st December. ‘We’re Going To Miss You’ is backed by the Brian Eno mix of the track, two brand new Tim Booth and Michael Kulas penned songs, ‘Pocketful Of Lemons’ and ‘Wisdom Of The Throat’ and a live version of ‘Top Of The World’ taken from their recent performance at the Embassy Rooms.

December also sees James embarking on their first major tour since 1998’s sell-out arena dates. The James tour bus rolls into Brighton on the 4th December and take in all the major U.K. venues en route to Wembley Arena, where the tour concludes on the 12th December. The band are at their best when playing live as anyone who caught one of their show stealing performances at this year’s festivals, or saw either of James’ one-off specials at Blackpool Tower Ballroom and London’s Embassy Rooms, can testify.

• Pocketful Of Lemons :1999
• Top Of The World :1990
• We’re Going To Miss You :1999
• Wisdom Of The Throat :1999

Open in Spotify

• We’re Going To Miss You