With a career that includes 10 studio albums, twenty UK Top 40 singles and 12 million albums sold James will not only be returning this April with a 10 date UK tour but also releasing the first of two mini albums.
Titled ‘The Night Before’ the mini album will be released on April 19th and it contains all brand new studio material from the 7 piece band. Produced by Lee ‘Muddy’ Baker (who produced Hey Ma as well as Booth’s solo album Bone in 2004), The Night Before seems fearless in comparison to its predecessors, a product, no doubt, of the way it was conceived: the band set up an ftp site to which they all contributed, downloading and updating each other’s efforts at various intervals whilst Baker knocked things into shape.
This “virtual” recording process was inspired by the band’s history of working with Brian Eno and has brought out the best in James, the results proving as diverse and intriguing as anything the band have attempted before. The focus track from the mini album is ‘Crazy’ ; it gains it’s inspiration from Booth’s hospitalization for liver disease. Throughout recovery Booth has been convinced that his physical frailty (which often produced hallucinations) meant that he was “crazy”.
The song has a sense of triumph but it’s surely true to say that if James have always written uplifting songs about insecurity, disaffection and mental illness then these songs take the record to a whole new level. The full mini album track listing is:
1. It's Hot
2. Crazy
3. Ten Below
4. Porcupine
5. Shine
6. Dr Hellier
7. Hero
James step out on tour from Monday 5th April kicking off at The Corn Exchange Edinburgh and finishing up at the very prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London. Larry says: “We are getting to re-visit some venues for the first time in ages, most notably The Royal Albert Hall. They will also be spending the summer playing at many of the world’s biggest festivals, including the recently announced Isle of Wight Festival on the 13th June.
After the UK leg of the tour the band intend to spend five days recording “naturally and playing together in a big room” with no overdubs and with a view to capturing “something spontaneous”. This will make up the second part of the mini album to be released in July 2010 and it will be entitled ‘The Morning After’.
James live dates are:
April 2010
Monday 5 - Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Tuesday 6 - Newcastle O2 Academy
Thursday 8 - Sheffield O2 Academy
Friday 9 - Preston Guildhall
Saturday 10 - Cambridge Corn Exchange
Monday 12 - Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Tuesday 13 - Bournemouth O2 Academy
Thursday 15 - Bristol Colston Hall
Friday 16 - London Royal Albert Hall
Saturday 17 - Liverpool University
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