The long-delayed, career-spanning box set from Manchester’s James — The Gathering Sound, featuring three CDs, a DVD, a 12-inch record and 8GB of digital music — finally is set for release this fall, and will come packed with all of the band’s albums plus 32 previously unreleased recordings, 12 of which are completely unreleased songs.
The set — priced at £94.99, or about $157 — is due out Oct. 17 in the U.K. via Universal Music.
In addition to the previously unreleased music, the set includes “the first ever official release of live and studio material from 1982, first appearances on CD of the Sire-era B-sides and the Weather Change flexi-disc from the 1990 tour programme, exclusive release of BBC archive material from key James shows and, of course, the legendary ‘Come Home’ video of the triumphant Manchester G-Mex performance that broke James in 1990 — on DVD.”
The box set includes:
- Three CDs, including last year’s The Morning After the Night Before, a disc of 18 studio rarities and a CD of 17 live rarities.
- The 1991 “Come Home Live” concert film on DVD for the first time.
- A 12-inch record featuring previously unreleased demos of “Sit Down,” “How Was It For You,” “Gregory’s Town” and “Ring Those Bells.”
- An 8GB, J-shaped USB stick loaded with 10 albums, from 1986’s Stutter through 2008’s Hey Ma, all in “superior 16-bit FLAC format with access to them all as 320kbps MP3 files.” The USB stick also contains 24 music videos filmed between 1988 and 2001.
- A 16-page booklet with personal contributions from each bandmember.
- Four button badges.
- Four sticky satin replica backstage passes.
- A 44-page, 12-inch by 12-inch scrapbook featuring “previously unseen and rare photos, memorabilia, cuttings and many other items straight out of James personal archives including a complete timeline of James’s career annotated by the band.”
Tracklist: James, The Gathering Sound
CD1: 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)
CD2: 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” (Acappella)
CD3: 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”
Vinyl
A1. “Sit Down” (Demo)
A2. “How Was It For You” (Demo)
B1. “Gregory’s Town” (Demo)
B2. “Ring Those Bells” (Demo)
DVD: Come Home
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”
12. “God Only Knows”
13. “What For”
14. “Sit Down”
15. “How Was It For You”
16. “Stutter”
USB: Stutter
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”
USB: Stripmine
1. “What For” (Album Version)
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”
USB: Goldmother
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” (Album Version)
12. “Come Home” (Flood Mix)
13. “Lose Control” (Album Version)
USB: Seven
1. “Born Of Frustration”
2. “Ring The Bells”
3. “Sound” (Album Version / Full Version)
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”
USB: Laid
1. “Out To Get You”
2. “Sometimes”
3. “Dream Thrum”
4. “One Of The Three”
5. “Say Something” (Album Version)
6. “Five-O”
7. “P.S.”
8. “Everybody Knows”
9. “Knuckle Too Far”
10. “Low Low Low”
11. “Laid” (Album Version)
12. “Lullaby”
13. “Skindiving”
USB: Wah Wah
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”
USB: Whiplash
1. “Tomorrow” (Album Version)
2. “Lost A Friend”
3. “Waltzing Along” (Album Version)
4. “She’s A Star” (Album Version)
5. “Greenpeace”
6. “Go To The Bank”
7. “Play Dead”
8. “Avalanche”
9. “Homeboy”
10. “Watering Hole”
11. “Blue Pastures”
USB: Millionaires
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” (Album Version)
6. “Strangers”
7. “Hello”
8. “Afro Lover”
9. “Surprise”
10. “Dumb Jam”
11. “Someone’s Got It In For Me”
12. “Vervaceous”
USB: Pleased To Meet You
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) (Album Version)
13. “Alaskan Pipeline”
14. “Coffee And Toast”
USB: Hey Ma
1. “Bubbles”
2. “Hey Ma”
3. “Waterfall”
4. “Oh My Heart”
5. “Boom Boom”
6. “Semaphore”
7. “Upside”
8. “Whiteboy” (Radio Edit)
9. “72”
10. “Of Monsters And Heroes And Men”
11. “I Wanna Go Home”
USB: Non-Album Tracks From Hits Collections
1. “Runaground” (Album version)
2. “Destiny Calling”
3. “Who Are You”
4. “Chameleon”
USB: 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)”
James are one of my favorite bands, but the high price tag on this is going to force me to take a pass. Also, I’m not actually sure who this set is for. Die-hard fans like myself have most of this stuff already and will be frustrated that the exclusives are only available here — yet probably not frustrated enough to shell out the cash for a package of mostly previously available material. Newbies won’t care enough to check this out. James should have left out the USBs and previously available material and lowered the price. I hope they make the rarities and Come Home DVD available separately at some point.
It’s terrific to see some James coverage here though. Matt, you are doing a great job as always!
Interesting collection, but odd that “The Morning After the Night Before” gets special CD treatment while the other albums are only on the USB. All should be one or the other.
Any idea if the albums on the USB are remastered?
Cummins has a great point-who exactly is this for? I do love James but man that’s pricey.
I like “What For?”, “Born Of Frustration”, “I know What I’m Here For” and “We’re Going To Miss You When You’re Gone”. I particularly like the video for “I know What I’m Here For”.
“Laid” and “Sit Down” give me the sh!ts.
The rest? Meh.
Not a strong enough body of work to fork out that kind of dosh.
i picked up one of these and got one of the 500 the band signed. i’m a bit of a packaging junkie and i do like the individual elements that make this unique. my hopes are that the USB tracks are remastered. i’ve a question out to the band asking this.
I’m still waiting for my order to arrive as of 1/4/2012. Is anyone else experiencing such delays?