JAMES : THE COLLECTION

released October 2004

Sit Down / English Beefcake / Seven / Lazy / So Long Marianne / Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) / Lost A Friend / Once A Friend / Coffee And Toast / Laid / Confusion / Heavens / She's A Star / Five-O / Out To Get You / I Know What I'm Here For / Lose Control (McGuire Mix) / Gold Mother (Warp Mix)

Designed as a retrospective look at James' career with Mercury Records, this mid-price compilation features hit singles, key album tracks, the odd b-side and some rarities.   So Long Marianne and Confusion appear for the first time on any James release, Once A Friend for the first time on CD, Lazy for the first time on CD other than a Japanese album and Coffee And Toast for the first time other than a download with the UK version of Pleased To Meet You.

Compiled by no other than me, the album doesn't feature the superior single versions of Seven and Getting Away With It and the unheard single version of Lost A Friend that were requested nor the original version of Out To Get You from the Lose Control EP or the hitherto unreleased acoustic take on I Know What I'm Here For from the 1999 Lighthouse show that spawned the version of Fred Astaire that appears on the Millionaires bonus disc.

Still keenly priced starting at £4.99, there's enough on here to keep the James completist happy for a while ahead of a boxset of rare unreleased material like the Lost A Friend b-sides and the Whiplash sessions and Scratchcard.  We can hope.