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/ News

What's the World? James Offer Up New Rarities Box

August 25, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

Manchester's James have been going strong for nearly 30 years, amassing some 19 Top 40 singles in their native England. It's kind of a surprise, then, that the recently-announced The Gathering Sound is only their first box set. But it sure is a good one.

The set chronicles James' discography, from their earliest recordings in 1982 to last year's EPs The Night Before and The Morning After, across three CDs, one DVD, a vinyl record and a USB stick. The three CDs feature a program of studio rarities, most of which are entirely unreleased or haven't seen the light of day on compact disc, a set of live tracks and those aforementioned EPs collected on one disc. The 12" vinyl features four unreleased demos, while the DVD contains the first release of the band's 1991 Come Home Live video in the disc format.

To top it all off, an 8 GB, J-shaped USB drive contains all of the band's studio albums, from 1986's Stutter to 2008's Hey Ma, as well as a small helping of non-LP material (the band's non-LP singles later released on 1990's Gold Mother and four tracks from greatest-hits compilations) - all in hi-res FLAC files or 320 kpbs MP3s. The drive also includes 24 of the band's promotional music videos. (Completists take note: the bonus tracks from the band's remastered editions of their 1990s albums are not present here. However, all tracks from Gold Mother, including the single tracks from the 1991 repressing, are present.)

Everything is encased in a 12" x 12" box with a 44-page liner notes booklet, badges and replicas of backstage passes. Additionally, the first 500 pre-orders get a special signed art print; all pre-orders will receive three exclusive demos as digital downloads. The Gathering Storm can be ordered here (expected to arrive October 17); the full track breakdown is after the jump. (Due credit to Slicing Up Eyeballs, who reported this while this author was on vacation!)

James, The Gathering Sound (Universal Music (U.K.), 2011)

Disc 1: Rarities

  1. Willow
  2. Say It with Flowers
  3. JustHipper
  4. Mosquito
  5. Left Out of Her Will
  6. Doubts (BBC Radio Manchester Radio Session)
  7. Count Your Blessings
  8. Weather Change
  9. Pressure’s On (Demo)
  10. Jam 1
  11. Jam 2
  12. It’s a Fine Line
  13. Hedex
  14. Long to See
  15. Scratch Card
  16. I Thought You Were (Demo)
  17. All My Letters
  18. Dust Motes (Absolute Radio Session)

Disc 2: Live

  1. Folklore (1982 gig)
  2. Announcement (1982 gig)
  3. Burned (Bath Moles 1988)
  4. Hymn from a Village (Glastonbury 1990)
  5. Hang On (Glastonbury 1990)
  6. Maria’s Party (Alton Towers, Staffordshire, July 1992)
  7. America (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
  8. Sit Down (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
  9. Sound (Town & Country Club, London, December 1992)
  10. Honest Joe (Brixton Academy, 9 December 1993)
  11. Come Home (Shepherds Bush Empire, March 1997)
  12. Johnny Yen (Manchester Apollo, 11 April 1998)
  13. What For (Glasgow Lighthouse 1999)
  14. Stutter (Shepherds Bush Empire, June 2000)
  15. Fine (Sound Republic, June 2001)
  16. Bubbles (2008 live gig)
  17. At the Seams (A Cappella)

Disc 1, Track 3 was the B-side to "So Many Ways" 12" single - Sire JIM 4T, 1986.
Disc 1, Tracks 4-5 was the B-side to "Ya Ho" - Blanco y Negro NEG 26T, 1988
Disc 1, Track 8 from flexi-disc release (FLX-940), 1990
Disc 1, Track 14 from "Just Like Fred Astaire" CD single - Fontana JIMCD 23, 1999
Disc 1, Track 17 was a bonus track with iTunes edition of The Night Before (Mercury, 2010)
Disc 2, Track 3 from One Man Clapping (One Man Records ONE MAN 1, 1988)
All other tracks on Discs 1 and 2 previously unreleased

Disc 3: The Night Before the Morning After

  1. It’s Hot
  2. Crazy
  3. Ten Below
  4. Porcupine
  5. Shine
  6. Dr Hellier
  7. Hero
  8. Got the Shakes
  9. Dust Motes
  10. Tell Her I Said So
  11. Kaleidoscope
  12. Rabbit Hole
  13. Make for This City
  14. Lookaway
  15. Fear

Tracks 1-7 originally released as The Night Before (Mercury 2730015, 2010). Tracks 8-15 originally released as The Morning After (Mercury 2750433). All tracks released as one release in the U.S. (Mercury B0014689-02, 2010)

LP: Demos

  1. Sit Down (Demo)
  2. How Was It for You (Demo)
  3. Gregory’s Town (Demo)
  4. Ring Those Bells (Demo)

DVD: Come Home Live (originally released as PolyGram Home Video 083 092 3, 1991)

  1. Come Home
  2. What’s the World?
  3. Lose Control
  4. Sunday Morning
  5. Ring the Bells
  6. Bring a Gun
  7. Whoops
  8. Government Walls
  9. Walking The Ghost
  10. Next Lover
  11. God Only Knows
  12. What For
  13. Sit Down
  14. How Was It for You
  15. Stutter

USB: Studio Discography

Stutter (orginally released as Blanco y Negro/Sire JIMLP-1, 1986)

  1. Skullduggery
  2. Scarecrow
  3. So Many Ways
  4. Just Hip
  5. Johnny Yen
  6. Summer Song
  7. Really Hard
  8. Billy’s Shirt
  9. Why So Close
  10. Withdrawn
  11. Black Hole

Strip-mine (originally released as Blanco y Negro/Sire JIMLP-2, 1988)

  1. What For
  2. Charlie Dance
  3. Fairground
  4. Are You Ready
  5. Medieval
  6. Not There
  7. Ya Ho
  8. Riders
  9. Vulture
  10. Stripmining
  11. Refrain

Gold Mother (originally released as Fontana LP 846 189-1, 1990)

  1. Come Home
  2. Government Walls
  3. God Only Knows
  4. You Can’t Tell How Much Suffering (on a Face That’s Always Smiling)
  5. Crescendo
  6. How Was It for You?
  7. Hang On
  8. Walking the Ghost
  9. Gold Mother
  10. Top of the World
  11. Sit Down (from Fontana single JIM8, 1991)
  12. Come Home (Flood Mix) (from Fontana single JIM6, 1991)
  13. Lose Control (from Fontana single JIM7, 1991)

Seven (originally released as Fontana LP 510 932-1, 1992)

  1. Born of Frustration
  2. Ring the Bells
  3. Sound
  4. Bring a Gun
  5. Mother
  6. Don’t Wait That Long
  7. Live a Love of Life
  8. Next Lover
  9. Heavens
  10. Protect Me
  11. Seven

Laid (originally released as Fontana LP 514 943-1, 1993)

  1. Out to Get You
  2. Sometimes
  3. Dream Thrum
  4. One of the Three
  5. Say Something
  6. Five-O
  7. P.S.
  8. Everybody Knows
  9. Knuckle Too Far
  10. Low Low Low
  11. Laid
  12. Lullaby
  13. Skindiving

Wah Wah (originally released as Fontana LP 522 827-1, 1994)

  1. Hammer Strings
  2. Pressure’s On
  3. Jam J
  4. Frequency Dip
  5. Lay The Law Down
  6. Burn The Cat
  7. Maria
  8. Low Clouds (2)
  9. Building A Fire
  10. Gospel Oak
  11. DVV
  12. Say Say Something
  13. Rythmic Dreams
  14. Dead Man
  15. Rain Whistling
  16. Basic Brian
  17. Bottom Of The Well
  18. Honest Joe
  19. Arabic Agony
  20. Tomorrow
  21. Laughter
  22. Sayonara

Whiplash (originally released as Fontana LP 534 354-1, 1997

  1. Tomorrow
  2. Lost a Friend
  3. Waltzing Along
  4. She’s a Star
  5. Greenpeace
  6. Go to the Bank
  7. Play Dead
  8. Avalanche
  9. Homeboy
  10. Watering Hole
  11. Blue Pastures

Millionaires (originally released as Fontana CD 546 386-2, 1999)

  1. Crash
  2. Just Like Fred Astaire
  3. I Know What I’m Here For
  4. Shooting My Mouth Off
  5. We’re Going to Miss You
  6. Strangers
  7. Hello
  8. Afro Lover
  9. Surprise
  10. Dumb Jam
  11. Someone’s Got It In for Me
  12. Vervaceous

Pleased to Meet You (originally released as Mercury CD 586 146-2, 2001)

  1. Space
  2. Falling Down
  3. English Beefcake
  4. Junkie
  5. Pleased to Meet You
  6. The Shining
  7. Senorita
  8. Gaudi
  9. What is It Good For
  10. Give It Away
  11. Fine
  12. Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)
  13. Alaskan Pipeline
  14. Coffee and Toast

Hey Ma (originally released as Fontana CD 1764287, 2008)

  1. Bubbles
  2. Hey Ma
  3. Waterfall
  4. Oh My Heart
  5. Boom Boom
  6. Semaphore
  7. Upside
  8. Whiteboy
  9. 72
  10. Of Monsters and Heroes and Men
  11. I Wanna Go Home

Non-Album Tracks from Hits Collections

  1. Runaground (from The Best Of - Fontana 536 898-2, 1998)
  2. Destiny Calling (from The Best Of - Fontana 536 898-2, 1998)
  3. Who Are You (from Fresh as a Daisy: The Singles - Mercury 1731846, 2007)
  4. Chameleon (from Fresh as a Daisy: The Singles - Mercury 1731846, 2007)

Videos (1988-2001)

  1. So Many Ways
  2. What For
  3. How Was It for You?
  4. Come Home
  5. Lose Control
  6. Sit Down
  7. Sound
  8. Born of Frustration
  9. Ring the Bells
  10. Seven
  11. Sometimes
  12. Laid
  13. Say Something (Original)
  14. Say Something
  15. She’s a Star
  16. Tomorrow
  17. Waltzing Along
  18. Runaground
  19. Destiny Calling
  20. Sit Down ’98
  21. I Know What I’m Here For
  22. Just Like Fred Astaire
  23. We’re Going to Miss You
  24. Getting Away with It (All Messed Up)

Categories: News Formats: Box Sets

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Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, holding positions at Legacy Recordings and Rhino Records and contributing to Allmusic, Discogs, City Pages, Ultimate Classic Rock and Mondo Records, for whom he penned liner notes for his favorite piece of music: John Williams' Oscar-winning score to 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.' Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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Comments

  1. Bret says

    August 25, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    James is one of my favorite bands of all time. But, I am a bit disappointed that the studio albums are collected on a USB drive. I would love to have the bonus content, demos, live, etc... but this box set appeals to the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans already have all of the albums (most likely on multiple formats), so to me that part of it is a let down. It would've been cool to get vinyl reissues of some of the really hard to find James LPs, like Laid and Wah Wah.

    It does look like a beautiful set though. 🙂

    Reply

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