I’m really enjoying the new James album so I thought it might be time for an all-time favourite James song thread. There’s an incredible back catalogue to draw from, but I think this one just pips it for me. (It’s in the comments)
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“Laid” would be my top choice (so much to choose from – one forgets how much good stuff they’ve produced)
James closing Bearded Theory was one of the best gigs I saw last year. I hadn’t paid much attention to them for twenty years, but they were phenomenal.
This is a good one
Oh @kid this is a heartbreaker. It gave way on the second edition of Goldmother to Sit Down. Sacrilege but their biggest hit, so I get it…
It’s been a long afternoon and I’m a bit too emotional to listen to it right now. But thanks for posting. I’ll struggle to pick one but it’ll be fun ❤️
I remember at our high school some of the lads organised a huge football match, with an actual referee, the correct number of players and even substitutes, but there was a problem. It was a catholic school in the west of Scotland, so literally the only football strip everyone had was Celtic. So what could one of the teams wear? A wise voice piped up, joking “Why don’t you lot just wear your James T-Shirt?”
Result!
Seriously, I knew one song, Sit Down, and had three of their t-shirts… Folks who actually liked them had way more than that.
I’m fond of many of the hits (the words “indie disco” have a might positive connotation for this saddo), but my James is the “Stutter” album which I still play fairly regularly.
(Johnny Yen)
My claim to fame is that I was in the audience for the now hard-to-find One Man Clapping live LP.
Great band. Best record could be Pleased To Meet You.
Yes! A brilliant late-career surge.
Dare I say the newie is also quality.
Listened to it three times today. Initial signs are good…
The only thing that *slightly* puts me off latterday James is his yelpy vocal style. I first noticed it on Hey Ma. I much prefer the tracks where it’s absent. Bitch is a classic.
It has to be She’s A Star.
Lindsay!
Great live band. I like this:
Seeing what’s been posted already, it’s either Seven, or the below which I adore. Not a very James-y record, but for a bit of sophisticated alternative adult pop – fab.
(Just like Fred Astaire)
Ooh, Seven and Fred Astaire. You’re a man after my own heart @milky. I’m proper swooning now ❤️
Loads. They are a brilliant band with tunes to die for and a wilful sense of adventure. Their gigs are breathtaking too. All of the above songs plus so many more. Moving On from the last album is a great song as well. We’re Going To Miss You is great, as is Runaground and Waltzing Along. Truth be told, you cant go wrong buying any of the albums. And you really should see them live.
I’ve loved their joyful sound since seeing them at Glastonbury 1990 – they relished and filled the big open space with their clear, exuberant ringing music. Of my 9 favourite tracks*, 6 are from Seven, but How Was It For You is the one that instantly takes me back to that sunny, summer day:
___________
*Five-O, Lullaby, Live A Life of Love, Mother, Bring A Gun, Don’t Wait that Long, Ring The Bells, Sound
Marvellous band. I saw them live one beautiful summer evening in the gardens of the Modern Art Museum here in Stockholm. It was about the time that Sit Down was a hit. We got there early and were lucky enough to run into some of the band in the bar and had a brief chat. They did a wonderful set for a gaggle of Swedish indie kids and two middle-aged English blokes.
Magic!
Looking forward to listening to all the songs I don’t know.
Anything but Sit Down. Ghastly song, enough to put me off completely until I decided to see what else the fuss was about. Plus I like the fact their guitarist now plays cello in the Oysterband.
The Factory stuff is still my favourite James stuff. Soft spot for Stutter and Strip Mine too.
http://youtu.be/zEAZCFa0WtE
My favourite live band, despite, during the 90s, being a bit troubled by Tim Booth’s 5 Rhythms dancing style.. And hard to beat their usual set-finisher…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-KrTTta4g
James are one of my favourite live bands. I first saw them in ’88, supported by the Happy Mondays. They never disappoint. And Tim Booth is one of the best frontmen I’ve seen.
There are already some of my favourites on the thread, but this is another.
Miss the outline of your back
Miss you breathing down my neck…
Swoonsville
http://youtu.be/nCgp0GHlxxw
Great bit of film of them live in 1985 from Whistle Test, around the time I first saw them supporting The Smiths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_wq1j2BJ68
Another vote for Sound from Seven. But they’ve been amazingly consistent, though I feel the post-reformation albums are a refinement and restatement of ‘classic James’ rather than anything new.
I recently got married & we met 15 years ago due to James. We were both wearing james t-shirts in the common room at 6th form & started to talk about them. Needless to say we played quite a bit of James at the reception.
Here is a selection of some of our favourites that have not already been mentioned;
Born Of Frustration – Always prefer it when Andy Diagram is in the lineup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crZxRIYchjQ
Tomorrow – We were at this gig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpb2Wt6HJHk
Ring The Bells – This acoustic version really takes some beating.
Blue Pastures – Heart achingly beautiful
Congrats, dude!
Thanks Bingo 🙂
I think there’s something lovably bellendish about Booth.
He’s like the Christopher Eccleston Dr Who – simultaneously from outer space, and the north.
Perfect!
Ended up in the pit at a festival they were headlining a few years ago where the security must have gone home early for the night, as we weren’t chucked out at any point.
Essentially watched them with my elbow leaning on the stage when I wasn’t jumping around.
Utterly fantastic live band, and not one with which I’d been massively familiar prior to that.
I’m firmly in the camp that says Laid rules above their other excellent output.
Sometimes and Top of the World
The best live band I’ve ever seen!
So many I could choose… Out To Get You and Born Of Frustration would be my first choices, closely followed by these two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeIWgr7YdI0
For years both the band and the fans seemed to have an awkward relationship with Sit Down, but that no longer seems to be the case. I was at this gig and I think Leedsboy was too.