Come Home (1989)

Come Home was initially intended as the first single off the Gold Mother album which the band had recorded for Rough Trade in the summer of 1989. It was dished out to club DJs as a white-label promo by Rough Trade without revealing James as the artist in order to combat the band’s reputation as wimpy, vegan, celibate Buddhists.

James biggest UK tour to date was announced to coincide with the release. With a “Powerplay” listing on Radio 1’s Simon Mayo show ensuring daytime airplay, a hit single looked like a safe bet, especially as the release coincided with the start of the Madchester explosion.

The single was backed by Promised Land, a song inspired by the then-Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The lyrics were a direct searing attack on government policy in the middle of the Poll Tax crisis. The other track was a demo version of Slow Right Down, a powerful up-tempo track that was wasted as a b-side.

Artwork for the single was once again provided by Central Station Design.

Marketing of the single was however a disaster. Pluggers were left without copies of the single, the accompanying video failed to capture the energy of the song and was rarely aired and crucially, many record shops were left without or with insufficient copies of the single.

The single entered the charts at number 84, but was denied the momentum that might have led to a second-week improvement by an error in the charts at Music Week which meant Come Home was not listed.

Furious with the situation, James went to see Geoff Travis, MD of Rough Trade, who told them they would only ever be a minority interest with an audience of 20-30,000.  With more belief in their own potential, the band asked to be released from their contract and to be able to buy the album from Rough Trade. Travis agreed and soon after, the band signed to the Fontana arm of the Phonogram label.

Reviews

NME

“Harder, fresher and more bitter than most bands around. Should rank them up there with The Mondays”

• Come Home :1989
• Promised Land :1989
• Slow Right Down :1989

Open in Spotify

• Come Home (Flood Mix)
• Come Home (Original)