HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
7" JIM5 - How Was It For You? (single version) / Whoops (live)
CAS JIMC5 - How Was It For You? (single version) / Whoops (live)
12" (red) JIM512 - How Was It For You? (album version) / Lazy / Hymn From A Village (live)
12" (silver) JIMM512 - How Was It For You? (album version) / How Was It For You? (band mix) / Lazy / Undertaker
CD JIMCD5 How Was It For You? (single version) / Undertaker / Hymn From A Village (live)
RELEASE DATE : APRIL 1990
CHART POSITION : 32
After signing to Fontana, taking the Gold Mother album with them, How Was It For You? was identified as the first single. Tim Palmer was drafted in to mix the single and give it a more commercial edge.
Signing to a major label inevitably meant that James would have to play some of the corporate games they had avoided previously. The single appeared in five formats with new and live tracks split across them all meaning that the committed fan would have to buy four formats to get hold of all the tracks.
Whoops and Hymn From A Village had been recorded by Manchester's Key 103 at the band's triumphant hometown Apollo show from December 1989. Lazy and Undertaker were outtakes from the Gold Mother sessions which had been unveiled live in the spring of 1989 but which had both failed to make the final cut for the album.
The single's video featured the band eating fruit suggestively and Tim singing underwater. This meant that the video was deemed unsuitable for childrens TV and Top of the Pops.
Artwork was kept simple, the James monicker complete with daisy on a plain background (different colours for different formats) appeared on all formats.
The release of the single was accompanied by a promotional blitz in the music press who were championing the band even more than ever before. TV and radio appearances including a Peel Session also helped to push the single.
There was relief all round when the single reached number 35 in its first week, peaking at number 32 the week after. The video problem meant that the single could not be featured on Top of the Pops denying it vital additional exposure that could have pushed it higher.
