One Of The Three - The James Band Archive

Author Archives: Dan Starr

November 1990

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Lose Control single released. James sell out a mini tour taking in Newcastle, Glasgow and Brixton, completed with two triumphant nights at Manchester’s 10,000 capacity G-Mex. The second night is filmed for later release on the Come Home live video. A proposed mini-tour of the Soviet Union is cancelled at the last moment.

Out To Get You

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Out To Get You was first released as the b-side to the 1990 James single Lose Control. It was re-recorded for the 1993 Laid album and also appeared on the 1998 Best Of collection, the only non-single to do so.

Originally released as the b-side of Lose Control in 1990, this song was forgotten about until the acoustic Neil Young support slots in 1992 where it was distilled down from over six minutes to just over four.

In the studio sessions for Laid, the band spent days trying to perfect the new version with overdubs but ended up going back to a live first take.

The song was covered by Courteeners as a b-side to their single No You Didn’t, No You Don’t.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
I'm so alone tonight
My bed feels larger than when I was small
Lost in memories, lost in all the sheets and old pillows
So alone tonight, miss you more than I will let you know
Miss the outline of your back, miss you breathing down my neck
All out to get you, once again
They're all out to get you, once again

Insecure, what you gonna do
Feel so small, they could step on you
Called you up, answer machine, when the human touch
Is what I need, what I need, what I need, what I need is you
I need you

Looked in the mirror, I don't know who I am any more
The face is familiar, but the eyes, the eyes give it all away
They're all out to get you, once again, they're all out to get you
Here they come again

Insecure, what you gonna do
Feel so small, they could step on you
Called you up, answer machine, when the human touch
Is what I need, what I need, what I need
What I need, what I need, what I need is you
(What I need)

If you let me breathe, if you let me breathe
They're all out to get you, once again, they're all out to get you
To get you, once again

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Original Version

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Cover version by Courteeners

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Song:Out To Get You
Released:26th November 1990
Main Associated Album (or Single):Laid
First Heard Live:Chicago Cabaret Metro – 13th March 1992
Played at:
CHORDS

C, F

Lose Control

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Lose Control, a 1990 Single by James.

Summary

Lose Control was an interim single between albums to support a UK tour. Reached 38 in the UK Singles Chart.

Track List

7″ JIM7 – Lose Control (edit) / Sunday Morning
CAS JIMC7 – Lose Control (edit) / Sunday Morning
12″ JIM712 – Lose Control (extended) / Sunday Morning / Out To Get You
CD JIM7CD – Lose Control (extended) / Sunday Morning / Out To Get You

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsListenVideosGallery
Release Name: Lose Control
Artist Name:
Release Date: 26th November 1990
Format: Studio Single
Catalogue: 7" JIM7; 12" JIM712; CD JIM7CD; CAS JIMC7

Lose Control was intended as an interim single between albums released to coincide with the band’s short UK tour.

For this release, James refrained from the multi-formatting of the previous two singles, partly due to the chart rules having been changed to clamp down on it. Two new tracks had been recorded to accompany the single as well as a remix of the title track by Mark McGuire.

Sunday Morning is a cover version of the Velvet Underground song recorded for Imaginary Records Heaven and Hell tribute album with Tim writing a medley taking lyrics from other Velvet Underground songs extending the song to just under five minutes. Out To Get You, later to be resurrected for Laid, is a six and a half minute slow burner considerably different to the Laid version.

The artwork was yet again kept simple, a variation of the James moniker on a shimmering orange background.

Promoting Lose Control saw James make their debut appearance on Channel 4’s The Word, but the Top of the Pops appearance still eluded the band, despite a third successive Top 40 hit, the single reaching number 38 in the competitive Christmas market.

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Lose Control

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Lose Control is a James single from November 1990. It was included on the reissued version of Gold Mother in 1991.

It was described by NME as a song “that Morrissey would kill for”. It was released as a single in November 1990 to coincide with the short tour that including the videoed G-Mex show. It was also called Come To Bed on some early versions of the song.

Despite the band’s debut appearance surrounded by bizarrely dressed and completely inappropriate dancers on Channel 4’s The Word, the single only reached 38 in the charts.

It was also added, along with Sit Down, to the re-release of Gold Mother in May 1991, following the success of Sit Down.

The track seemingly fell out of favour after 1992 except for acoustic sessions where it was a natural choice. It was retreated in 1997 for the Whiplash tour with Tim and Michael leading the track vocally with a minimal keyboard backing from Mark. It has often been used since the band reformed as a song that Tim and Adrian / Larry can walk through the crowd performing.

Acoustic versions appeared on both the Unhinged CD with the Best Of and the GLR session tracks on the Runaground single.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Where is the love
Where is this love
Where is the love
That everyone is talking of
Where is the love
Where is this love
That everyone is dreaming of

Come to bed
Come to bed
Come to bed
I cannot sleep in all this heat
Come to bed
Come to bed
This terror's all within my head

Don't be deceived, no land in sight
We're all adrift in this dark night
We float on seas of disbelief
While singing songs of pain relief

Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
This body's young but my spirit's old
Scatter my ashes and let these feelings go

Where is the love
Where is this love
Where is the love
That everyone is talking of
Where is the love
Where is this love
That everyone is dreaming of

Don't be deceived, no land in sight
We're all adrift in this dark night
We float on seas of disbelief
While singing songs of pain relief

Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
This body's young but my spirit's old
Scatter my ashes and let these feelings grow

Love, love, love, love, love ......

Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
(We have found the love to carry on)
Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
(We have found the love to carry on)
Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
(We have found the love to carry on)
Shake my body - release my soul
Punish my senses - lose control
(We have found the love to carry on)

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McGuire Mix

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Song:Lose Control
Released:26th November 1990
Main Associated Album (or Single):Gold Mother
First Heard Live:Paris La Cigale – 18th October 1990
Played at:
CHORDS

Am, Em, Dm, E

August 1990

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James play two sold out nights at Blackpool’s Empress Ballroom. James support David Bowie and The Cure at outdoor shows at Manchester Maine Road and Crystal Palace.

Tonight

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Tonight is the b-side of the 1991 James single Sit Down. It also appears on the 2001 B-Sides Ultra compilation.

It was first aired at the Blackpool shows in August 1990 under the guise of “It’s That One That I Know” and Tim mooted it as a potential single.

In the NME review of Sit Down, the song was compared favourably to The Doors.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Tonight
I had this dream but my vision was cracked
Drifting away you said you're not coming back
You're moving out while I'm flat on my back
What are you doing to me
You're making me happy
I was always sad
Whenever I'm happy my dreams are sad

Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight

We must go on now there's no turning back
Kiss my defences with one of those counter attacks
I'm exposed, shown you too much
Now you're invading my dreams

Making me happy
I was always sad
Afraid to be happy, that's so sad

Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight

Something's burning in my kitchen
Stop that smiling, something's smoking
Soon be crying, soon be broken
Fire, fire, fire

Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Make me happy tonight
Tonight, tonight, tonight

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Song:Tonight
Released:16th March 1991
Main Associated Album (or Single):Sit Down
First Heard Live:Blackpool Empress Ballroom – 3rd August 1990
Played at:
CHORDS

*capo on 4th fret

G, Am

June 1990

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Gold Mother album released. Come Home single released. James tour the UK on their World Cup tour taking days off when England have matches. At the end of the tour, they play a triumphant show at Glastonbury.

Fire Away

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Fire Away is a b-side from the 1990 James single Come Home. The CD featured a shorter version than an extended demo-style version that appeared on the purple 12″ version of the single.

It is another lyric that is vehemently critical of the UK prime minister of the time Margaret Thatcher.

Tim stated in an interview in 2016 that it was one of the few James songs he doesn’t like.

Details

LyricsListenReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Fire away
Fire away

Break those chains
These laws are criminal
Help them burn
These times are critical

Fire away, fire away
fire away...

This change is looking good
Our hopes are riding high
But we're in backwoods, backwoods, from another time
Our boss is full of lies
Shouting secret, secret
Cover-up, cover-up
She is enthroned in crime

Don't hold your face to the winds of change
Don't hold your face to the winds of change
Fire away, fire away
Fire away, away....
World change is looking good
Our hopes are riding high
But we're in backwoods, backwoods from another time
Our boss is full of lies
Full of deadwood, deadwood
She needs a light
She needs a light
Fire away
She says I refuse to change

I close my eyes
I close my mind
I close my eyes
I close my mind

Open up your mind
Open up your mind
Open up your mind
Open up your mind

Don't hold your face to the winds of change
Don't hold your face to the winds of change
Fire away

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Song:Fire Away
Released:25th June 1990
Main Associated Album (or Single):Come Home (Flood Mix)
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

Come Home (Flood Mix)

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Come Home (Flood Mix), a 1990 Single by James.

Summary

Remix and rerelease of Come Home that reached 32 in the UK Singles Chart.

Track List

7″ JIM6 – Come Home (Flood Mix) / Dreaming Up Tomorrow
CAS JIMMC 6 – Come Home (Flood Mix) / Dreaming Up Tomorrow
12″ (purple) JIM612 – Come Home (Extended Flood Mix) / Fire Away / Stutter (live)
12″ (green) JIMM612 – Come Home (live) / Gold Mother (Warp Mix) / Come Home (Weatherall Mix)
CD JIMCD6 – Come Home (Extended Flood Mix) / Come Home (Flood Mix) / Fire Away / Gold Mother (Warp Mix)

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsListenVideosGallery
Release Name: Come Home (Flood Mix)
Artist Name:
Release Date: 25th June 1990
Format: Studio Single
Catalogue: 7" JIM6; 12" (purple) JIM612; 12" (green) JIMM612; CD JIMCD6; CAS JIMMC 6

Following the release of Gold Mother, Come Home was remixed by Flood and rereleased at the end of the band’s triumphant World Cup tour and Glastonbury performance.

The single continued to make use of multiformatting to boost the chart position. Dreaming Up Tomorrow and Fire Away, the two new tracks, dealt with religion and politics, two of Tim’s favourite subjects. Come Home itself was well represented with Flood’s single remix, an extended Flood mix, a live Radio Europe session from April 1990 and a remix by Andy Weatherall, the man who created Primal Scream’s Loaded. A live version of Stutter recorded by Key 103 at the December 1989 Manchester Apollo show and a remix of Gold Mother by Sheffield’s Warp completed the additional tracks.

Fontana, spurred on by the success of How Was It For You? and Gold Mother, sent the band to the sun-drenched Spanish desert for the video shoot which culminated in the band shirtless daubing black paint on each other’s chests and faces.

The single’s artwork mirrored one of the famous James t-shirts with “come” on the front and “home” on the back.

To support the single, the band made a number of TV appearances including a performance on the roof of the BBC’s studio in Manchester for the children’s TV show “8.15 from Manchester.”  Despite the single charting at number 32, the band were still not invited to perform on Top of the Pops.

Reviews

NME

Reviewed by Fruitbat and Jim Bob of Carter USM

F : It’s not that radical a remix, is it? I didn’t really notice any difference with the version that was out before.

J : The original record was really good, but I don’t really see the point of that one much. It’s not even longer. It seems a bit silly to bring it out again, a bit of a cheap move. I don’t know who persuaded them to do it. It’s one of my favourite records of the last year but this cheapens it a bit. It’ll be a massive dancefloor hit and if it was from Manchester it would be even bigger.

NME : It is

J : Oh yeah

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Weather Change

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Weather Change was released exclusively as a free flexi-disc with the 1990 James UK World Cup tour programme as then was later given away on US tours.

It later appeared on the studio disc of the 2012 The Gathering Sound boxset.

Details

LyricsReleaseAvailable OnGigsGuitar Tabs
Heatwave, the Baring Sea
The icecaps fade away
Blizzards freeze out Africa
There's hurricanes in Hudson Bay
Monsoons in Vietnam
There's earthquakes in Southern Spain
In the forests of America
The pilgrims pray for rain

Here's a weather change, man made
It's a weather change
Get out, get out of the rain

Seaweed upon the walls, an aching in my bones
I feel a change of view which the satellites have confirmed
Monsoons in Southern Spain
In England a hurricane
No snow for 20 years
And no sun for about the same

Here's a weather change, man made
It's a weather change
Get out, get out of the rain
Monsoon and hurricane

Hey say, same old story
Don't know what it contains
It glows against the night sky
Watch out the cloud is coming, a monument to our change

Here's a weather change, man made
It's a weather change
Get out, get out, get out of the rain

Weather change, man made
It's a weather change
Get out of the rain
It's a weather change
Man made
It's a weather change
And I feel that we're to blame
Song:Weather Change
Released:8th June 1990
Main Associated Album (or Single):The Gathering Sound
First Heard Live:Never performed live
    Can't find any records of performances.
Unavailable

Gold Mother

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Gold Mother, a 1990 Studio Album by James.

Summary

This fourth album by James from 35 years ago in 1990 provided their mainstream breakthrough. It features their first top 40 singles How Was It For You? and Come Home. The 1991 reissue featured a changed track list and included their number 2 single Sit Down.

Track List

Original Release:

Come Home / Government Walls / God Only Knows / You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling) / Crescendo / How Was It For You? / Hang On / Walking The Ghost / Gold Mother / Top Of The World

1991 Reissue:

Come Home (Flood Mix) / Government Walls / Lose Control / God Only Knows / You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling) / How Was It For You? / Sit Down / Walking The Ghost / Gold Mother / Top Of The World

2001 Reissue:

Come Home (Flood Mix) / Lose Control / Government Walls / God Only Knows / You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling) / How Was It For You? / Sit Down / Walking The Ghost / Gold Mother / Top Of The World / Crescendo / Hang On / Come Home (Skunk Weed Mix) / Lose Control (live at GLR) / Sit Down (live at GMEX)

2017 Vinyl Reissue:

Come Home (Flood Mix) / Lose Control / Government Walls / God Only Knows / You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling) / How Was It For You? / Sit Down / Walking The Ghost / Gold Mother / Top Of The World / Come Home (1990 Album Version) / Crescendo / Hang On

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsListenVideosGalleryArticlesGigs
Release Name: Gold Mother
Artist Name: James
Release Date: 4th June 1990
Format: Studio Album
Catalogue: LP – 846 189-1, CAS 846 189-4, CD 846 189-2; LP – 848 595-1, CAS 848 595-4, CD 848 595-2 (re-release); CD 548 785-2 (re-issue)

Spurred on by the success of One Man Clapping, James recorded Gold Mother for Rough Trade in the summer of 1989, having previewed most of the tracks live on tours in March and June of that year.  The album featured an expanded sound with Saul Davies on percussion and violin, Mark Hunter on keyboards and Andy Diagram on trumpet having been added to the band along with Dave Baynton-Power replacing the departed Gavan Whelan. The name of the album comes from the title track detailing the birth of Tim’s son mothered by the band’s manager Martine.

Most of the writing of the album came from sessions where the band were trying out new musicians after Gavan’s departure at the band’s rehearsal studio at Beehive Mills in Ancoats.

With the album finished, James sought to discuss promotion with Geoff Travis, MD of Rough Trade who told them that he loved the album but that they would only ever be a minority interest with an audience of 20-30,000.  James asked to be released from their contract as they felt they could reach a wider audience.  The recently relaunched Fontana label, a subsidiary of Phonogram (later to be swallowed by Mercury) signed James and bought the Gold Mother album as a whole from Rough Trade, who were just about to go bankrupt.

How Was It For You? preceded the album in April 1990 and achieved the band’s first Top 40 hit, reaching number 32.  The album followed in June and was met with almost universal approval by the music press who were suddenly beginning to champion James again and was accompanied by a month-long tour of larger venues culminating in a triumphant performance at Glastonbury.  Come Home, remixed by Flood, was re-released at the end of June and also hit number 32 in the charts.

Following the release of Lose Control, a number 38 single, and the triumphant winter tour that included the infamous G-Mex shows, James hit the big-time with the re-release of Sit Down in March 1991, sitting at number 2 in the national charts for four weeks, being held off only by Chesney Hawkes’ The One And Only.

With no new album in the pipeline, Fontana chose to re-release Gold Mother replacing Hang On and Crescendo with Lose Control and Sit Down.  To appease those claiming rip-off, anyone who had a copy of the original album was allowed to exchange it for a new version at Our Price for the first few weeks of release.  The album hit number 2 and stayed in the charts all summer.  The predicted 20-30,000 sales were multiplied ten-fold.

The album was reissued in 2001 and again on double heavy 180g vinyl in 2017. Read about the 2017 reissue on EvenTheStars.

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Gold Mother (Japan)

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Gold Mother, a 1990 Album by James.

Summary

Japanese market version of Gold Mother contained the extra track Lazy.

Track List

Come Home / Government Walls / God Only Knows / You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (On A Face That’s Always Smiling) / Crescendo / Lazy / How Was It For You? / Hang On / Walking The Ghost / Gold Mother / Top Of The World

Details

ReleaseAboutSongsGallery
Release Name: Gold Mother
Artist Name:
Release Date: 4th June 1990
Format: Studio Album
Catalogue: PHCR-1023

This fourth album by James from 1990 provided their mainstream breakthrough. It features their huge UK #2 hit Come Home.

The Japanese market version of Gold Mother had a different catalogue number and contained the extra track Lazy.

Find out about the main UK release of Gold Mother.

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