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)