Happy Anniversary: James, STRIP-MINE

30 years ago today, James released their second and final album for Sire Records, and given the level of success it found at the time, it’s somewhat remarkable that the band managed not only to release a third album – this time for Fontana Records – but see it succeed to an astonishing degree.

Produced by Hugh Jones, STRIP-MINE was filled with the sort of jangly pop goodness that had seen such bands as The Smiths and The Housemartins finding substantial followings, but despite scoring success on the UK Indie charts with their first two EPS (and finding a high-profile fan in Morrissey, who talked The Smiths into covering “What’s the World”) and making it into the UK Albums chart with their debut LP, STUTTER, they failed to maintain their momentum.

Although STRIP-MINE also managed to chart, it did so more than 20 spots lower than its predecessor, which is not generally the stuff that successes are made of, and any confidence the band may have had about their rising profile was no doubt stifled by the failure of any of the album’s singles to chart. That said, Sire Records did take a shot at trying to break the band in America by taking aim at the audience most likely to listen to them: the college radio market. The label included two of the album’s songs on compilations in their JUST SAY… series, with “Ya-Ho” put on JUST SAY YES and “What For” placed on JUST SAY YO. It may not have done a huge amount for the band’s US stature, but – ahem – your humble narrator can assure you that there were definitely some people paying attention.

Things might’ve looked glum for James in the immediate aftermath of STRIP-MINE, but the band’s story has a happy ending: the following year, they released a pair of singles that took them back into the top 5 of the UK Indie chart – “Sit Down” and “Come Home” – and by 1991, they’d taken the former single, re-recorded it, and taken it to #2 on the UK Singles chart.

And here’s an even happier ending than that: James is still around, still releasing albums, and just put out a new one last month, so if you haven’t yet heard LIVING IN EXTRAORDINARY TIMES, you might want to remedy that situation.

Before that, though, we’d recommend that you revisit STRIP-MINE. After all, it’s the album’s anniversary. It deserves to be pampered and given another listen.