This blog wouldn't have been possible if Mrs Villain hadn't given me a USB turntable as a wedding anniversary present back in 2006. Sadly, that USB turntable decided, just before Xmas, it had given enough service and stopped rotating. And rather than try and get the thing fixed, it was agreed a new turntable would arrive courtesy of Santa.And so today you get the first bit of vinyl that I've turned into an mp3 via the new turntable. I thought it was appropriate it should be involve James, given that they were the first ever band I wrote about on TVV.
It's the initial recording of Come Home, released on Rough Trade Records in 1989, a single that did go on to become better known thanks to a remix version that appeared the following year on Fontana Records.
mp3 : James - Come Home
mp3 : James - Promised Land
The b-side is a gorgeous bit of acoustic music. But it's also my favourite ever political song....and I'm dedicating it to my dear old mate Jacques the Kipper without whom my musical education would have been incomplete.
Happy Listening.
13 comments:
Very different sleeve art to the later re-release too, by the look of it. The remix had a plain deep pink sleeve (cerise, some might say, if given to overly elegant descriptions) with just "come" on the front and "home" on the back, in what I think of as plain white "James" font...
Happy new year, by the way.
Fine band and great tune.
I seem to remember Sit Down was re-released too with the original being far superior?
Thanks as always...
What a tune - from the post-grebo pre-baggy period - I still think of Tim Booth as the new boy...
Did you ever get this comp from roughly the same period..
http://www.discogs.com/release/392034
Cheers folks.
And I distinctly remember picking up that particular compilation for £3 in a post Xmas sale quite a few years ago.
I know it's not really your thing JC but Weatherall's skunk weed skank mix of Come Home is the business.
Drew
Spooky.
Also got a new USB turntable at Xmas and the first thing i converted was also a James record. Though in my case the How Was It For You single - to get a digital copy of the b-side Lazy.
Matt
I've considered purchasing one of these, but I'm reading spotty reviews. What brand do you recommend? Are they fairly user-friendly?
Hi Nat,
My first turntable was an Ion...I've now got a Sony.
The thing to remember is that USB turntables wont be brilliant for sound in comparison to a 'proper' turntable linked up to speakers via an amp. If its simply to convert old vinyl to mp3, then ignore any reviews which home in on sound quality.
The Sony was a but of a bugger to hook up as I had to fiddle about with some settings on my PC to get it to work properly.
However, with the old turntable, it was relativley easy to have the vinyl converted to a wav file, and from there I ran it through a conversion programme into mp3 format. It was relatively straightforward...
I think I'll try that. I do have my old "real" turntable, but it seems a pain to hook up to the computer, especially since the turntable is simply gathering dust at this point. I'm not going to be picky about the sound quality, either, even though I was a stereo-nut back in the day. Thanks, jc.
Drew's spot on the money. It's the Weatherall remix you're after baby if you want classic version of Come Home.
Nat
I got a Numark one, really easy to set up (once i found the stylus selotaped to the underside of the box) and comes with software that converts to MP3s.
I'm not really that obsessive about sound quality, so i'm sure there are better products out there but this does me fine.
Matt
Ok. To prove Drew and my point, I've posted the Weatherall remix at ACID TED. See JC's blog roll.
The posting of Promised Land prompts me to offer a full apology, nearly twenty years too late, to the poor sod whose nose I accidentally biffed & bloodied back at a James gig at Strathclyde Uni in late 1989, just after they'd done said song & dedicated it to the anti-Poll Tax demo in George Sq earlier that Saturday. Memory recalls that they then launched into Hymn From A Village & I went loopy, managing to backwards-headbutt the unfortunate chap.
He was most understanding, fortunately, but I still feel guilty about it whenever I hear that tune...
One of my fondestly recalled gigs, that. I'd seen James twice before & never been disappointed, but they'd just recently expanded into the mob-handed line-up & you could tell they were re-energised & giddy with fresh confidence after a trying time over the previous couple of years. They just stormed it, & when Booth went walkabout (& eventually missing) in the crowd during the final number, it felt perfectly fitting (remember this was the tail-end of 1989, & such behaviour usually brought on what pals referred to as "the rattle&humboak").
I'm afraid they became too bloated - big in the wrong way - for my tastes a couple of years down the line, & I never thought Gold Mother quite nailed how good this version of James actually were, but ta v-much for reminding me.
(P.S...
You used to have the single version of Not There up on here once upon a time, didn't you? Hint hint bats eyelashes etc...)
paz y amor
DMcA
(probably gonnae have to stop using those initials now, eh?)
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