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: 1992 Alton Towers Shirt Front

: 1992 Alton Towers Shirt Back

Setlist

Sound / Born of Frustration / Heavens / Hymn From A Village / Goalie's Ball / Maria / Live A Love Of Life / Come Home / Next Lover / Lose Control / Stripmining / Say Something / Johnny Yen / Ring The Bells / God Only Knows / How Was It For You? / What's The World / America / Seven / Gold Mother / Stutter / Sit Down

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Pete McGrath, Sounds

Not just a concert, more an event in itself – James at Alton Towers, the capital city of family fun, England’s own EuroDisney, only here blockaded by 30,000 pop pickers rather than a few hundred truckers. As bemused families made their way to the exits after a hard day’s queueing, in swarmed thousands of youngsters and not-so youngsters in James T-shirts. The rain came and ensured that Alton Towers own hooded plastic bin liners became almost as vital fashion accessory as the t-shirts, but this was always going to be an event that nothing could dampen. Not the rain, not Tim Booth’s croaky voice, nor even the fact the roof of the stage blew off at 4pm, threatening the whole concert, and causing the cancellation of Galliano’s support slot.

And so to James. As a band, they haven’t really changed over the years. Songs from the days of apathy, bad luck and near splits, such as “What’s The World”, “Johnny Yen” and “Hymn From A Village” fitted perfectly alongside the successful material of the last eighteen months, (“Sit Down”, “Come Home”, “How Was It For You”, “Sound”, “Born of Frustration” etc.) The only difference between James way back then and James today is that they are now the darlings of serious pop fans all over the country, and officially approved by fabulous Radio 1 FM. James have taken this rollercoaster ride to fame with ease, so it would seem, and a huge gig in a rollercoaster park has perhaps always been their destiny. The only dark cloud for me, other than the rain clouds above, was the premonition which came to me during their slower LP “filler” tracks. All of a sudden, James became dull open air concert troubadours on a Simple Minds scale. Absent songs such as “What For”, “Ya Ho” and “If Things Were Perfect” would have made the performance complete and caused non-stop rather than fragmented delirium for the crowd.

As the firework display ended it all. It was clear that this was an event about which people could say “I was there”. But so too was James at Scumbag College Union in nineteen eighty something when less than two hundred turned up. Let’s hope my premonition is mistaken and that James never change.

Seven, a 1992 Studio Album by James.

Summary

Seven was a difficult fourth studio album for the band to produce. It was originally scheduled to be released to coincide with the September 1991 tour, but eventually emerged the following year. Even though it was initially panned by critics, it has remained a fan favourite for 33 years.

Track List

Original Release:

Born Of Frustration / Ring The Bells / Sound / Bring A Gun / Mother / Don’t Wait That Long / Live A Love Of Life / Next Lover (not on vinyl) / Heavens / Protect Me / Seven

2001 Reissue:

Born Of Frustration / Ring The Bells / Sound / Bring A Gun / Mother / Don’t Wait That Long / Live A Love Of Life / Next Lover / Heavens / Protect Me / Seven / Protect Me (live acoustic) / Sound (live) / Heavens (live) / Don’t Wait That Long (live)

2017 Vinyl Reissue:

Born Of Frustration / Ring The Bells / Sound / Bring A Gun / Mother / Don’t Wait That Long / Live A Love Of Life / Next Lover / Heavens / Protect Me / Seven

Details

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Release Name:	Seven
Artist Name:	James
Release Date:	17th February 1992
Format:	Studio Album
Catalogue:	LP – 510 932-1, CAS 510 932-4, CD 510 932-2; CD 548 786-2 (re-issue)

Most of the tracks that would form the Seven album were written in 1990, several were debuted on the World Cup tour and others on the December tour, with Ring The Bells, Bring A Gun and Next Lover featuring on the Come Home live video. A secret gig at Paris La Locomotive club in March 1991 saw the band start with ten new unreleased tracks from the demos they had just completed for Seven (Pressure’s On did not see the light of day until Wah Wah and Somebody Help Me remains unreleased).

The recording process for Seven did not go at all to plan. The extended success of Sit Down and the associated promotion delayed recording. The album was scheduled for the autumn originally and a massive 30-date UK tour had been announced to coincide.

Recording with Youth was a strange experience for the band. Shunning conventional methods he set the studios up with no artificial light but used candles to light the studio. The band were not happy with the sound of the initial recordings and when the studio time they had booked was completed, the album was only half-finished. Phonogram’s suggestions for producers to complete the job were rejected by the band, the job in the end going to the band themselves with the assistance of Steve Chase.

The delays meant that the album went ahead with no new product to promote, the single Sound coming out only at the very end of the tour. Audiences expecting a set full of Sit Downs were met by a peppering of the new album and some wilfully difficult selections from the band’s earlier material. Just before Christmas, the band organised a fan club show at Warrington Parr Hall where the whole album was previewed, this show being recorded for release as Seven The Live Video.

With the album finally finished, another single, Born of Frustration, was released in January followed by the album in February just as the band had set off on their first tour of America, thus being unable to put in the traditional promotional activities to coincide with the release.

The album was generally panned by the critics with lazy accusations of stadium rock being thrown at the band. The band still spring to the album’s defence – Tim said in Q in 1993 “I stand by Seven. It’s a good record. And if people have a problem with that they can fuck off”. The general consensus within band circles was that a backlash was inevitable after Sit Down whatever the band had released.

Lyrically, the band makes very strong references to the fallout of Tim’s relationship with the band’s manager Martine. The depth of feeling in some of the tracks was self-evident in Tim’s emotional reaction to some of the songs as he had been singing them live on the autumn tour.

Disappointingly the album only reached Number 2 being held off top spot by Simply Red’s Stars although it was Number 1 in the less significant Network chart.

The band toured the album around Europe in April and May which coincided with Ring The Bells as the third single which struggled to reach the Top 40, again partly down to the lack of promotion and live appearances.

The summer saw James biggest headlining live performance of their own at Alton Towers fun park on July 4, broadcast live on Radio 1. A fourth single from the album, a remix of the title track with the three new tracks added to make the EP at the band’s assistance was released the following Monday and failed to reach the Top 40, peaking at number 46.

Seven did however cement James position as one of the UK’s leading alternative bands despite the press mauling it received. It also had some consequences that would alter the course of the band – it prompted the invitation to support Neil Young on his acoustic US tour that autumn and Brian Eno to want to work with the band.

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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