STRIP-MINE
What For / Charlie Dance / Fairground / Are You Ready / Medieval / Not There / Ya Ho / Riders / Vulture / Stripmining / Refrain
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 1988
CATALOGUE NUMBERS: LP - JIMLP2, CAS - JIMC2, CD - JIMCD2
CHART POSITION : 90
PRODUCED BY HUGH JONES except Are You Ready by Steve Power and Steve Lovell
REMIXED BY STEVE POWER except Riders and Refrain mixed by Hugh Jones
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS : Richard Evans (keyboards), The Kick Horns (brass) and Clive Mellor (maracas)
RECORDED AT ROCKFIELD STUDIOS, GWENT, SPRING 1987
REMIXED AT BATTERY STUDIOS, LONDON, SPRING 1988
band pictures from the back cover of the album
Following the chart failure of Stutter, James went into the studios in early 1987 to record the follow-up album. Using many of the tracks left over from the Stutter sessions and earlier live performances, the result of the sessions at Rockfield Studios was an album, but one that neither the band or the record company were happy with. Sire were reluctant to do much with the album and initially refused the band's request for funds to remix it. James stagnated for a year, until they enlisted the help of Simply Red's manager Eliot Rashman, who persuaded Sire that James could still be an internationally successful band given the right promotion.
A release of Ya Ho was scheduled for September 1987 but was postponed at the last moment. Steve Power was enlisted to remix the album, albeit with limited funds. At this stage, the band were left to rehearse and write new material, only able to afford to play the odd gig as they had little to promote and even less cash to pay for it.
What For was released in March 1988 and failed to chart, partly due to insufficient promotion by Sire who viewed the single as "too indie." They finally relented to release Strip-Mine in September 1988 but gave it no push at all at a time where James resurrection was beginning in the live arena, selling out 1,500-2,000 capacity venues in Manchester and London despite never having had a whiff of chart success.
The version of Strip-Mine that finally saw the light of day was not too radically different from the original, Stutter having been replaced by Are You Ready and a revised tracklisting being the major differences. By the time it hit the shops some of the songs were five years old and the band had stacks of new material ready to unleash including a little number called Sit Down. The album reached number 90, a credible performance in the circumstances but then sank without trace.