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

Song 136 - Build by The Housemartins

When people think about the Housemartins, Carvan of love  is usually the first song that comes to mind and not Build. Build was on side four of the double album Now that's what I call music 10, which I think my sister and I were given as a joint Christmas present. On hearing the track, I always makes me want to replay it four or five times.

The Housemartins band was formed in 1983 by Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore, where initially the band was a busking duo and then by the end of 1985, after a number of changes in the line up, the band consisted of Heaton, Cullimore, Dave Hemingway and Norman Cook. In 1986, after recording two session with John Peel, the band  had a breakthrough with their hit; Happy Hour.  Build was released in 1987 and reached number 15 in the charts. Taken from the album The people who grinned themselves to death; this was one of the last hits before the band broke up. Three members went to form Beautiful South, Norman Cook went to Beats International and then Fat Boy Slim; but all members of the band have remained on good terms and have often supported each other with different projects.

As the Easter Weekend is fast approaching and people often start their annual DIY and spring clean; use the Housemartins for a bit of inspiration:

Build by the Housemartins

Written by Paul Heaton & Stan Cullimore
Album: The people who grinned themselves to death
Released: 1987

Song 133 - Teenage kicks by The Undertones

With St. Patrick's Day upon us, there were lots of options I could have done musically to celebrate this day. An interesting one would have been to keep going on The Beautiful South theme as their first female singer was from Northern Ireland, but instead I have decided to go with an out and out classic Teenage kicks by The Undertones, a Northern Irish punk rock band.

Written in the summer of 1977 by John o'Neill, the song was initially released the following year whilst they were still with the independent record label Good Vibrations, based in Belfast. However, the song was re-released in October 1978 when the band signed to Sire Records, where it reached number 31 in the UK chart.

The most influential fan of this record was the legendary Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who was reported to have openly burst into tears when he first heard it. It remained Peel's favourite song throughout his life and when he died in 2004, the first line of the song was put on his head stone " A teenage dream's so hard to beat". Having the backing of John Peel must have been gold dust for the band as Peel's position within the music industry was highly respected.

Although originally not included on their debut album when it was released in May 1979, a re-release in October the same year corrected this oversight and well, as is often said, the rest is history.

So whilst this may not be the most obvious song for St. Patrick's Day, I think this is a kicking tune to start the Guinness flowing. Enjoy your day.

Put a little punk into your life
Teenage kicks by the Undertones

Written by John O'Neill
Released: 1978
Album: The Undertones