Why are these men smiling?
Well, for one thing, they’re very pleased to have just completed the 12th episode of the CROSSED CHANNELS podcast — a.k.a. the podcast in which music journalists/obsessives Dan Epstein (the Yank) and Tony Fletcher (the Brit) clash and connect over music from either side of the pond.
For another, they’re relieved that their friendship still remains intact, despite the fact that this month’s episode — which discusses the long-running British indie/alternative rock band James — had the potential to be their most divisive yet. You see, Tony has adored the band for decades, and feels a deep personal connection with the lyrics of James frontman Tim Booth. Dan, on the other hand, knew only a small handful of James songs up until a few weeks ago, and had expressed minimal enthusiasm (to put it politely) for any further exploration of the band’s extensive catalog.
But since Tony was such a good sport about immersing himself in the music of Redd Kross — whose co-founders Jeff and Steven McDonald collaborated with Dan on their new book Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross — for last month’s CROSSED CHANNELS episode, it seemed only fair for Dan to suck it up and embark upon a serious trawl through James’ history and discography.
Though largely (and perhaps unfairly) remembered as a one-hit wonder in the US, where their 1993 single “Laid” reached #3 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart (and #61 on the Hot 100) and helped their album of the same name sell over half a million copies in the States, James remain massively popular in the UK. Yummy, the band’s 18th and latest studio album, even topped the UK charts upon its release this past April, giving James the first Number One album of their lengthy career.
Formed in Manchester in 1982, James started life as a scratchy, scrappy indie band who rubbed shoulders and shared stages with the local likes of New Order, The Durutti Column — and especially The Smiths, for whom they opened in 1984 and ‘85, and whose only live cover version was the James song “What’s the World.” However, though quickly championed by the British music press, James took the slow boat to success, with lineup changes, personal obsessions, music industry wariness and general obstinacy often impeding their progress.
After two raw-sounding and indifferently received albums (1986’s Stutter and 1988’s Strip-mine, both released in the US by Sire Records), James were embraced by the “Manchester” scene of the late 1980s, and duly broadened their musical scope on 1990’s Gold Mother — the first of ten albums they’d eventually record for Fontana Records and its parent company Mercury — which went all the way to #2 on the UK album charts. The following year, a re-recorded version of their 1989 single “Sit Down” further established the band on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #2 on the UK singles chart and #9 on the US Alternative Airplay chart.
But while James’ star initially continued to rise, with the albums Seven (1992) and especially the Eno-produced Laid (1993) propelling them towards arena rock popularity, the band lost all commercial momentum in the US after failing to capitalize on the success of “Laid” (a story revealed in this episode). By 1999, they no longer even had an American record deal; Millionaires, their fourth successive album to contain an Eno production credit, went to #2 in the UK that year, but didn’t even receive a Stateside release. Interpersonal conflicts and addiction issues led to the band’s breakup in 2001, but James reformed in 2007; a new album, Hey Ma, followed in 2008, and the band has continued to record and tour ever since. Though none of their subsequent albums elevated them above cult status in the US, James is still considered a major band in their homeland and many other countries, where they headline arenas and are a major festival draw.
In fact, Tony feels the band’s post-reunion discography to be so consistent and so consistently varied within each album, that it should be the primary focus of this CROSSED CHANNELS episode. To that end, he compiled the following playlist (available on Qobuz and Spotify, below) as a primer for Dan — and for any of our listeners who are equally unfamiliar with the band — picking two songs apiece from the eight post-reformation James studio albums:
Will Tony make a convincing case for the enduring brilliance of James? Will Dan be able to move past his long-held suspicion of the band and actually find ways to connect with them and their music? Will a certain accusation about James made by a certain member of the British band Thee Hypnotics be squarely refuted once and for all? Listen to this episode of CROSSED CHANNELS and find out!
As always, this podcast episode is only available in full to paid subscribers of Jagged Time Lapse and Tony Fletcher, Wordsmith, though a short preview of the episode is available to all. To hear it in full, along with all of our previous CROSSED CHANNELS episodes, just sign up for a paid subscription to one (or both!) of our Substacks. As always, we’d like to express our deepest thanks to those of you who continue to support our work — and since we forgot to do it on the podcast, we’d also like to wish all our listeners and readers a happy, safe and love-filled holiday season. Our next episode (on the legendary British band The Kinks) will be up early in the new year!
