SIT DOWN
7" JIM8 - Sit Down / Sit Down (Live at G-Mex)
CAS JIMMC 8 - Sit Down / Sit Down (Live at G-Mex)
12" JIM 812 - Sit Down / Sit Down (Live at G-Mex) / Tonight
CD JIMCD8 - Sit Down / Sit Down (Live at G-Mex) / Tonight
RELEASED : MARCH 1991
CHART POSITION : 2
Despite having had three Top 40 singles and a hit album, James had not yet made the mjor breakthrough both they and Fontana had hoped for. They did however have a major ace up their sleeve - Sit Down. Despite only being a minor hit in 1989, it was the one song that unified the James audience, the communal sitting down at the December 1990 G-Mex show providing undisputable evidence of this.
Overcoming their initial reluctance to re-release it, the band went into the studio with one-time Pixies producer Gil Norton. Additional tracks on the single were the live version of the song from the aforementioned G-Mex show and Tonight, recorded in the same session that produced Lose Control.
Sit Down saw a massive media blitz. The video of the G-Mex show had been sent to the major TV and radio stations. James played on BBC1's primetime Wogan show two weeks before the single's release and on several children's TV shows. The single was picked up by Radio 1 and A-listed weeks before release.
The video to the single wisely chose to take footage from the G-Mex show and gained James first significant daytime airplay on MTV.
The artwork for the single featured a blackened-out outline of Tim taken from the G-Mex concert with the background produced using computerised paintbox techniques.
The single stormed to number seven in the Top 40 in the first week of release surpassing the band's wildest expectations. The inevitable Top of the Pops appearance ensued with Tim looking rather uncomfortable miming. At the end of the performance, Bruno Brookes described the single as "a potential number one".
Sit Down rose to number 2 the following week where it was to remain for four weeks being held off by Chesney Hawkes "The One And Only". Another Top of the Pops performance followed as well as an appearance on the Christmas Day review of the year. The single remained in the Top Ten for a further three weeks.
Following the single Gold Mother was rereleased with Sit Down and Lose Control replacing Hang On and Crescendo and a 30-date UK tour was announced for the autumn. It appeared that James time had finally arrived.
REVIEW
SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 SINGLES OF ALL TIME
James: Sit down, 1991, Highest Chart positon: 2
James came out of the Eighties Madchester scene and first released Sit Down on the independent Rough Trade label in 1989. After adding a trumpet to their line-up and toughening up their sound on the road, they became festival favourites in the early Nineties, and crossed over into the mainstream with a string of jaunty hits, of which Sit Down was the biggest. "Those who find themselves ridiculous sit down next to me."
MELODY MAKER
One of the first Albanians to depart from the good ship Hoxha Bene Bene on to the Trieste quayside was student Mestma Trouziz. His first question to his Italian cousins was "Quixa Esproc Inglaterra Induj Musikas?" This translates loosely as "what is this indie music that I've been hearing so much of in Tirana?"
A local Manchester United supporter whipped out his Walkman and the strains of "Sit Down" greeted the refugees ears. "Ah! Duj! Duj!" exclaimed the lad, swaying in a fairly crap way. Enlightenment!
This is the definitive indie track - because although it's resolutely bouncy, up beat, there's no way any living being could possibly attempt to dance to it and look cool. If Paula Abdul were commissioned to choreograph it, the returned brief would read: "Bumble round a bit. No, better still lollop. Waft your arms around in a somewhat vague manner and imagine your hands have lost all feeling. Sit exams."
Along with The Railway Children's "Every Beat Of The Heart", "Sit Down" is a merited re-issue of a song which any self-respecting music lover grows to like despite themselves. A minor classic.