James biography
James had by this point earned themselves a reputation as a solid live act and had built a solid fanbase. Sales of James t-shirts were particularly successful in Manchester even before they reached the Top 40. James financed the production of a live album with a bank loan, One Man Clapping, and the help of Rough Trade Records. The album went to number 1 in the indie charts, reinvigorating media interest in the band.
In November 1988, drummer Whelan became involved in an on-stage fight with Booth and was asked to leave the band. He was replaced by David Baynton-Power a few months later. During the following year James greatly expanded their lineup and sound palette by hiring three new members - guitarist-violinist-percussionist Saul Davies (whom Gott recruited from an amateur blues night), keyboard player Mark Hunter and onetime Diagram Brothers/Pale Fountains trumpeter/percussionist Andy Diagram (the latter a noted avant-garde musician). This new seven-piece line-up went into the studio to record the third James album.
New singles "Sit Down" and "Come Home" became strong hits in the independent charts, and the latter featured on the compilation album Happy Daze. The album Gold Mother was intended to be released on Rough Trade but the owner of the label, Geoff Travis, believed James could only reach an audience of 20,000 to 30,000. The band believed they had more potential than this and bought the rights to the album from Rough Trade. A successful winter tour in 1989 attracted a deal with Fontana Records, and the band ended a difficult decade on an optimistic note.
Gold Mother was released in June 1990, just as the 'Madchester' movement, with its wave of popular Manchester-based indie bands, focused public attention on James and won them mainstream recognition. Singles "How Was It for You", the remixed "Come Home" and "Lose Control" all made the Top 40, and the band's newfound success was re-affirmed when they played two sell-out dates at the Manchester G-Mex at the end of the year. In March 1991, when the popularity of "Sit Down" led to a re-recorded version being released as a single, reaching number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. Gold Mother was re-released to include "Sit Down" and previous single "Lose Control", and the album sold ten times more copies than Travis originally predicted. The song became one of the biggest-selling singles of the year.
The band members spent the rest of the year recording their next album, Seven, which was released in February 1992. It reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart (its lead single, "Sound", had followed "Sit Down" into the top 10 a few months earlier) and earned the band some recognition in the US as they embarked on their first Stateside tour. The band's activities culminated in a sell-out show to 30,000 people at the Alton Towers theme park in July, broadcast live on BBC Radio 1, following which Andy Diagram left the group.
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