07 James “Sit Down”

James is the Energizer Bunny of bands, they just keep going and I am so grateful for that. They did take a brief break for about 4 years, but came back and, as of my writing this, recently released their 18th album. They are a band that is absolutely worth exploring their entire catalog. 

Their biggest splash in the US was the release of their Laid album, and the track that shared that name. The single went to number 3 on alternative rock charts which, at that time, were really all that mattered. This album was produced by Brian Eno, which is impressive enough, but they decided to do something a bit different. They released a follow up album called Wah Wah that was recorded at the same time as Laid. This album was to show how James worked as a band, improvising and jamming until something came about that didn’t sound like something they had heard before that they could then work into a song. The songs on this album were sparingly edited, and its my understanding that occasionally Tim Booth re-recorded some of the vocals. 

If there is a breakthrough song for James, it’s “Sit Down.” Originally, this was released as a non-album single. It was also 8 1/2 minutes long. A minute and a half more and it would have morphed into “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” as all songs of that length do. 

A shorter version was re-recorded for their Gold Mother album, which was released as the self-titled James in the US. Great lyrics and vocals with a nice syncopated brushwork swing are highlights of the track. 

Stories of when bands realize that they’ve made it are often great, as this is the pinnacle of what they’ve been working for and it’s generally right before it all goes horribly wrong. For James, the story  is that at one of their shows after this single was released, when they started playing this song the entire audience sat down. It’s probably one of the few times having an audience sit down on you would bring happy tears to a band.