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James have always been one of my favourite bands, although there is a problem with them. You can (with judicious shopping and few handy discographies) collect pretty much everything they've done since 1990 without spending more than around £40. All their music released on Fontana is either still in print or sufficiently common to be a reasonable purchase on the collector's markets.

However, James had an earlier (and to my mind, far FAR better) career, before they became the seven-manned sub-Simple Minds of Manchester's fag end in 1992. But if you wish to explore and invest in their records from their glory days in the eighties, you will find - very rapidly - a snag: most of their output has been deleted for many, many years, and can sell for very high prices, owing to the scarcity of the early material. Unlike most bands of a similar fame and critical level, James have never been exploited by their old labels with a trawl through their back catalogue. Some might say "hooray", but the downside of this is that there has never been any rarities compilations, or radio session or live collections, as you would normally get with some of their (then) contemporaries (the Woodentops, say, or even the Smiths). An attempt to mop up some of this discrepancy was made last year, when their most recent best-of (there's been at least three) came as a limited 2-CD set, claiming to include "every single" James had ever released, from 1983 to 2007. Sadly, there were gaps in this collection - "Ya Ho" was the album mix, "Sit Down" and "Rough Trade" failed to appear in their 1989 Rough Trade incarnations, and many of the 1990s singles were again plucked from their albums rather than shorter or more vibrant CD single mixes. Certainly, "Fresh as a Daisy" had some plus points - particuarly the inclusion of all the tracks they recorded for Factory, and their very rare third single "Chainmail" - but in the end it was a dissapointing "singles collection".

James' fantastic eighties output, which included eight singles, two LPs and one live set, is currently represented by some compilation tracks, and the two "vanilla" studio albums on CD, with tracklistings unchanged since their first appearance on compact disc twenty years ago.

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But ... briefly, in the summer on 2007, it seemed as if there may be a chance for an early James rarities compilation to see the light of day. A 3-CD (!) set by James titled "Lost Innocence" appeared as a future release on play.com, priced for the rather high price of £33.99. It seemed - just possibly - that this could be a genuine release. A previous attempt to bring about a James 1980s compilation (2002's "Strange Dancing") had been nothing more than a brief media glitch, and resulted in no actual CD - fans feverently hoped that "Lost Innocence" would not turn out to be another fools' errand.

Sadly, it did. Despite many positive pointers - the fact the band had recently reformed, that the CD was to be released on Reprise/Rhino (who had recently re-released other Sire archive recordings), and that "Lost Innocence" was the working title of James' 1986 debut album - the release date came and went without any sign of a CD. It seemed (possibly) that the financial collapse of Warners UK in June 2007 meant there were to be no more archive releases - and "Lost Innocence" dissappeared.

I was very, very dissappointed. But, uploaded below, is my tracklisting of what "Lost Innocence" MIGHT have been like. I envisaged it as a "Longshot For Your Love"-type collection (see the below post), a complement to the rather half-arsed "Fresh as a Daisy" CDs. I couldn't be bothered trying to make a 3-CD set (which seemed a little unlikely even to the most feverent fan), but my "Lost Innocence" contains b-sides, rare songs, unreleased tracks and radio sessions from James' career from 1983 to 1990. Of course, unlike a genuine release, a lot of these tracks are bootlegs of bootlegs, taped off the radio twenty years ago, or mastered from vinyl, so the sound quality as a whole is not fantastic (and bitrates range from 192kps to just 80kps). However, it fills a gap in James' career and, I think, offers a fascinating overview:

http://www.protectlinks.com/118157

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You might want to use the above to make a CD cover. Or maybe it's too small. Anyway ...

A full tracklisting is here:

01 Vulture
(Recorded for a 1983 Peel Session, featuring Tim Booth on vocals, Paul
Gilbertson on guitar, Jim Glennie on bass and Gavan Whelan on drums. Later
recorded for the 1988 album “Strip Mine”)
02 Discipline
(Recorded for a 1983 Peel Session, unreleased on any format. A brief
snippet of James performing this song live at the Hacienda can be seen on
an early Factory video)
03 Chicken Wire (If Things Were Perfect)
(Recorded for a 1983 Peel Session, later re-recorded for “Jim 2” in 1985)
04 Hymn From a Village
(Recorded for a 1983 Peel Session, later re-recorded for “Jim 2” in 1985)
05 If Things Were Perfect
(Recorded at the ICA, London for the “Old Grey Whistle Test” in 1985. Now
featuring Larry Gott on guitar, replacing Paul Gilbertson)
06 Hup-Springs (Sandman)
(B-side of James’ third single, the “Sit Down EP” (JIM3T) released on Sire
Records in 1985, featuring “Chainmail” as the lead track. The EP title
referred to the John Carroll drawing on the front of a man on a bench – the
song “Sit Down” would not be written for another three year).
07 Uprising
(Extra track on the “Sit Down EP” 12” (JIM3T) released summer 1985)
08 Just Hipper
(B-side to “So Many Ways” (JIM4T), the only single released off the debut
James album “Stutter” in 1986. This song is a re-recording of “Just Hip”
on that album).
09 Stowaway
(Recorded for a 1987 Peel Session, and unreleased on any format)
10 What For?
(Recorded for a 1987 Peel Session and subsequently re-recorded as the lead
single from the “Strip Mine” album in summer 1988)
11 Island Swing
(B-side to the “What For” single NEG31, released on Sire Records in summer
1988)
12 Ya Ho
(Originally recorded in 1987 during the first aborted sessions of the
“Strip Mine” album, this single version was eventually released in autumn
1988 on the “Ya Ho + 3” EP NEG28T. This is the edited version from the 7”
and also the US-only promo CD album, Sire’s “Just Say Yes”.)
13 Mosquito
(B-side to “Ya Ho + 3” EP NEG28T. Released in autumn 1988)
14 Left Out Of Her Will
(Extra track to “Ya Ho + 3” EP NEG28T. Released in autumn 1988)
15 New Nature
(Extra track to “Ya Ho + 3” EP NEG28T. Released in autumn 1988)
(pto)
16 Sit Down
(Recorded for a 1988 Andy Kershaw session, this early unreleased version is
the only recorded mix to feature James’ original drummer Gavan Whelan, who
left the group soon after in autumn 1988. This song would go on to be
re-recorded and remixed three times. The original Steve Power production
came out in June 1989 (RT225) reaching number 79 in the charts. The Gil
Norton hit version appeared in April 1991 (JIM8), which reached number 2.
And then Apollo 440 remixed it in October 1998 (JIM21), when it went to no. 7).
17 Stripmining
(Recorded for a 1988 Andy Kershaw session, this track originally appeared
as the closing number – including Refrain – on the album “Strip Mine”.
This track was one of the more obscure ones to be performed by the band
during the 2007 reunion concerts)
18 Violent Rain
(Recorded for a 1990 Radio Europe session, and unreleased on any format.
This includes the “new” line-up with included David Bayton-Power on drums,
Mark Hunter on keyboards, Saul Davies on violin and Andy Diagram on
trumpet)
19 Sunday Morning
(Recorded for a 1990 Peel Session, this Velvet Underground cover was also
given the full studio treatment by James for the tribute album “Heaven &
Hell” and also appeared on the b-side to “Lose Control” (JIM7). A live
version can be heard of James’ 1991 live video “Come Home”)
20 How Was It For You
(Recorded for a 1990 Peel Session, How Was It For You? Was their first
single on Fontana (JIM5) and was their first to reach the top 40 in the
charts)
21 Come Home
(Recorded for a 1990 Peel Session, Come Home was originally released on
Rough Trade Records (RT245) in late 1989. Six months later, it was remixed
by several producers, including Andy Weatherall, Youth and Flood, with
Flood’s mix being released as a second version of the single (JIM6), which
reached the UK top 30 in summer 1990)
22 Weather Change
(Recorded for the flexi LINTONE1, which was made available through fanzines
and also on the summer 1990 Gold Mother tour. It has never been
re-released)
23 Stutter
(Recorded as part of the aborted 1987 sessions for “Strip Mine”, this is an
unreleased studio version of the track James have regularly used to end
concerts for over 25 years. A live version has been released on the Rough
Trade album “One Man Clapping” (ONEMAN1) and James can be seen performing
the song at the end of their live video “Come Home” in December 1990).

More James soon ... Also, if anyone has any of the other radio sessions from the 1980s as mentioned on this page here: http://www.oneofthethree.co.uk/radiosessions8389.htm please get in touch!

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Tim Booth and old pal Morrissey backstage in 1991, earnestly eyeing the shark they are both about to jump.