Song 147 - The Best of... by James

With the Friday album this week, we're starting to move away from the Britpop Era and move into the 1980s and, for me, there seems to be no better album to do this with than James's first greatest hits album released in 1998, which contains some of best loved anthems of this period. For the millions who bought this album, it brought together hits of James that had been echoing dance floors since the late 1980s.  The Best of James album went to number 1 and was certified 2 x platinum in record sales.

James is an interesting band to chart a history of as when they formed in 1983, there were numerous issues surrounding the growth of the band. Although they had been muted as the next big thing to come out of Manchester, James would take until the start of the 1990s to gain the success that had been promised when they first formed. It is hard to image that when Sit Down, arguably one of their biggest hits, was first release in 1989, it only reached number 77 in the UK singles chart. Unlike their management at the time, John Peel saw the band's talent and put Sit Down in his festive fifty for the year.

Fortunately for James and their fans alike, after a successful tour in 89, James split from their record label and signed with Fontana Records. Sit Down, which was written as a thank you to Doris Lessing and Patti Smith for inspiring him (Tim Booth), was re-released in March 1991 and reached number 2 in the singles charts, and became one of the year's best selling singles. The success of James is due partly to the Madchester music scene of this time. Madchester is almost a prelude to Britpop and recognise the musical groups coming out of Manchester at this time.

Following on from the success of the re-release of Sit Down, the next two singles, Sound and Born of frustration charted at number 9 and 13 respectively. When I listen to those three songs, it was the school discos where I remember dancing to these songs and having them recorded on tapes off the radio. I am either sounding retro or very old at this point.

James would breakthrough to the US chart with the song Laid, which reached number 3 in the US chart in 1993. Their success in the US following on from touring with Neil Young and would give them material for two more albums. after Laid, singles like Destiny Calling and She's a star kept James in the chart and a total of seven albums were created, before their Best of... album was released.

Since the release of this album in 1998, James lost ground with the UK chart and in 2001 broke up temporarily for a period of six years, when Booth went exploring solo projects. The band reformed in 2007 and have since started releasing album and singles again. If opportunity came, they would definitely be a band I would want to see live.

To listen to the whole album and start your weekend
James sings their best of


Songs written by James
Released: 1998
Album: The Best of