75. James

 

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This Manchester based act were 1980 indie also rans who became successful in the early 1990s thanks to the Madchester movement that gave us The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays & the Charlatans.

 

ALL MUSIC GUIDE BIOGRAPHY

 

Key Studio Album: Laid (1993)

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Key Compiliation: The Complete Singles Collection 1983-2007 (2007)

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Career Defining Song:

Sit Down (1989 did not chart; 1991 UK#2; 1998 remix UK#7)

Some Other Key Songs:

 

Born Of Frustration (1992 UK#13)

 

Sometimes (1993 UK#18)

 

Laid (1993 UK#25 USA#61)

 

I Know What I'm Here For (1999 UK#22)

 

Were any of you fans of Tim Booth's indie/folk outfit or not?

Always been a fan of James, like all the ones you mention above especially Sit Down, Born of frustration, Sometimes, but my favourite is this one..........

She's a Star

loved 'born of frustration'.. brilliant production... the rest though.... much lesser, 'sit down' rof eg is a classic example of a band/group being remembered for their weakest track... (weakest but most popular, like 'come on eileen' or 'dancing queen'.)

^ Yeah, it did rather irritate me that James were more remembered for "Sit Down"... It was termed an "indie classic", but I hated it... It was really nothing compared to "Loose Fit" (Happy Mondays), "She Bangs the Drums" (Stone Roses) or "Loaded" (Primal Scream) which are genuine indie classics.

 

"Born of Frustration" is a good tune to be fair, but I was never really big on James, they did rather come across a bit too uncomfortably close to Simple Minds for my liking....

'Come Home' would truly be remembered as James' anthem if they'd worked their release schedule different I think - that was the record which propelled the into the charts for the first time. Mind you, my personal favourite 'Sound' would never have gone top 10 if it hadn't been for 'Sit Down'.

 

The renaissance of 'Laid' was a peculiar one - I really liked it in 1993 but, by the end of the century, I hated it due to its ubiquity.