Gold Mother


Gold Mother is the third studio album by English rock band James. It was released on 4 June 1990 on Fontana Records. With the addition of drummer David Baynton-Power, violinist/guitarist Saul Davies, and keyboardist Mark Hunter, James released the single "Sit Down" in June 1989, before going to record their next album. Sessions were held at Out of the Blue in Manchester, The Windings in Wrexham, Wales, with three band members and Nick Garside producing. Described as an arena rock and indie rock album, Gold Mother was compared to the likes of U2 and the Waterboys.
"Come Home" was released, through Rough Trade Records, as the lead single from Gold Mother in November 1989. Following this, the band switched from Rough Trade to Phonogram sublabel Fontana Records. "How Was It for You" appeared as the second single in April 1990; two months later, the band embarked on a UK tour. A Flood mix of "Come Home" was released as the album's third single in June 1990, followed by fourth single "Lose Control" in November 1990. The band ended the year with shows in the United Kingdom and Russia. A re-recorded version of "Sit Down" was released the album's fifth and final single in March 1991. Following this, Gold Mother was reissued in May 1991, with the Flood mix of "Come Home", "Lose Control", and "Sit Down" replacing some of the tracks.
Gold Mother received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom noted the album to contain some of James' best tracks. It initially reached number 16 in the UK; the reissue peaked at number two. "How Was It for You", the Flood mix of "Come Home", "Lose Control", and "Sit Down" all reached the top 40 in the UK, with "Sit Down" reaching the highest at number two. Gold Mother appeared on year-end album lists by the likes of NME, Melody Maker, and Vox, among others. In the UK, the album was certified gold, while "Sit Down" was certified platinum.

Background

James released their second studio album Strip-mine in September 1988, through Sire and Blanco y Negro Records. While making it, two of Sire's popular acts had broken up, and were anticipating James to be their next breakthrough artist. The album had been delayed from release by Sire on eight different occasions, and was remixed at the insistence of the band's managers Eliot Rashman and Andy Dodd. Sometime later, Rashman and Dodd resigned, and McDonagh, who had managed the band previously, was reinstated. Two months after the album's release, the band left Sire.
Around this time, keyboardist Mark Armistead joined the band on a part-time basis; drummer Gavan Whelan was asked to leave in December 1988. They continued to gig, some shows featured Gary Rostock of Easterhouse or Mike Pickering's girlfriend as substitutes, until the following month when they were auditioning for a replacement. During these auditions, the band came up with several new songs through improvisations. The try-outs were unfruitful; based on a tip-off from Dodd, the band learned of a drummer from Wales, David Baynton-Power.
Baynton-Power knew Dodd through a bandmate, and was sceptical about joining James as he had been previously conned out of money. After Baynton-Power joined, guitarist Larry Gott went to the Band on the Wall venue in Manchester to visit a friend. It was during an open mic night there that Gott witnessed, and was subsequently impressed, by violinist/guitarist Saul Davies. Davies had previously seen the band live in 1982; the day after meeting Gott, Davies auditioned for the rest of James. James released the live album One Man Clapping in March 1989 as a joint venture between their own label One Man Clapping and Rough Trade Records.
One Man Clapping was promoted with a UK tour, which saw the live debut of Baynton-Power and Davies. After the tour, the band recorded and released "Sit Down" as a single in June 1989. Armistead had declined to become a full-time member of the band, and suggested they check out Mark Hunter. The latter was brought into the "Sit Down" session to add an improvised keyboard part to the track, and soon became a member of the band. A UK tour was undertaken to promote "Sit Down" in June 1989. Potential success for the song was halted due to the music video being banned by the Musicians' Union.

Production

Happy with the success of One Man Clapping, Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis agreed to fund the band's next studio album. Following this, the band recorded Gold Mother over the course of two months with frontman Tim Booth, Gott, bassist Jim Glennie, and Nick Garside – who had previously produced on the band's early EPs – serving as producers. The sessions were initially held at Out of the Blue in Manchester. Around this time, the Madchester was exploding in popularity, which saw several acts that had supported James in the past – namely, the Happy Mondays, the Stone Roses, and the Inspiral Carpets – become successful. Gott was bitter about the experience: "They were getting the star treatment", such as big-name producers and working on expensive recording consoles, while also approaching the band for advice, "you're up there and look where we are, back with Nick in Out Of the Blue".
When watching the Happy Mondays live, the band noticed them using a drum machine. Booth said James were against using non-organic instruments in their songs, until seeing the Happy Mondays use it, which convinced the band to "stop worrying and realise that you can get away with everything if it sounds good". They experimented with the Madchester sound, with it directly influencing "Come Home", a track that was written in the studio. Booth wanted to re-record "Sit Down" during the sessions in a faster form, similar to how the band was playing it live. Recording then moved The Windings in Wrexham, Wales, close to Baynton-Power's house. Vinny Corrigan, who was a big fan of the band, and trumpeter Andy Diagram of the Diagram Brothers were brought into the sessions. Though, Corrigan's saxophone did not work well with the band's material, much to his dismay, they enjoyed Diagram's contributions. Glennie said the latter's work was "very odd, lots of effects, very experimental". Diagram had known the band when he was giving them a lift back home after a show in 1983. By the time James was recording, he was living with the person that printed their t-shirts. When Diagram was told that James was looking for people to sweeten the recordings, him and Corrigan visited the studio. Diagram initially added trumpet to "Gold Mother", before being invited to add it to other songs they had recorded. The album was mixed at Square One in Bury; Tim Palmer remixed "How Was It for You".

Composition and lyrics

Musically, the sound of Gold Mother has been described as arena rock, and indie rock, compared to the likes of U2 and the Waterboys. Author Michael Heatley said the band's sound varied too much to consider Gold Mother part of the Madchester sound, in favour of arena rock and influences from folk. John Slater played additional percussion on "Come Home" and "You Can't Tell How Much Suffering ". Booth's girlfriend and the band's manager Martine McDonagh sung backing vocals on "Hang On" and "Crescendo", while the Inspiral Carpets contributed backing vocals on "Gold Mother", which also featured saxophone from Corrigan.
"Come Home" was written in an hour, and is based around Booth's separation from McDonagh, with whom he had a son. Booth said they had written the song accidentally, as they were trying to play "Sit Down"; it features a house-esque piano riff. "Government Walls" talks about the 1989 secrets act, and the case against Peter Wright. "God Only Knows" is an attack against people that think they are speaking for God, and organised religion as a whole. It opens with sample of a televangelist denouncing rock music as a tool used by the devil; he learned of the sample and later threatened to sue the band. "You Can't Tell How Much Suffering " discusses emotional restraint and British stoicism. "Crescendo" is an atmospheric track that was originally called "The Last Whale", with Miles Davies-esque trumpets from Diagram. The Stone Roses-indebted "How Was It for You" talks about consuming alcohol and doing drugs to avoid sexual guilt.
"Hang On" showcases the band's softer pop side, with its lyrics detailing the disintegration relationship between Booth and McDonagh. The ballad "Walking the Ghost" is driven by Glennie's bass parts, and is about the ghost of a woman revisiting her former home, akin to the work of the Triffids. The title-track "Gold Mother" is about women finding courage after child birth, and the birth of his son Ben. Booth originally wrote it about Margaret Thatcher and greed, but changed topics after his girlfriend had given birth. In spite of this, he retained some lyrics from its first incarnation as he felt they were still relevant. It was edited together from two separate improvisations, and later given overdubs. The album's closing track, "Top of the World", is a ballad full of country blues guitarwork from Gott, and was reminiscent of Brian Eno's Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. The baggy track "Lose Control" was written by Booth at night about an insomniac being burdened by fear and doubt.

Release

In September 1989, James headlined a benefit for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The release of the "Come Home" single was promoted with a month-long tour of the UK, with support from the Band of Holy Joy; Diagram joined James for this stint. He was hesitant at first, due to the implosion of his band Dislocation Dance, and a grow resentment to any kind of pop, as he was more enthralled by experimental jazz. During the London date of the tour, the band had learned from their sound engineer that Dave Bates of Fontana Records was in attendance, alongside A&R people from other labels.
Gold Mother was planned for release in February 1990; around this time, the band were in talks with Fontana's owner Phonogram as they had recently relaunched the label. While this was occurring, Rough Trade was struggling with insolvency issues. Travis expected the band to sell around 20,000 copies, and in response, they asked to be released from their contract from Rough Trade. The band wanted a label that had the ambition to sell more copies than Travis' estimation, and eventually signed with Fontana Records, who cleared their £50,000 debt to Sire.
Gold Mother was eventually released on 4 June 1990, through Fontana Records. The Japanese release included "Lazy" as an extra track between "Crescendo" and "How Was It for You". Following this, the band embarked on the World Cup Tour in the UK, which saw dates organised around the England team's matches in the World Cup. James appeared at Glastonbury Festival, and supported David Bowie and the Cure at separate one-off shows. In November 1990, they played their first show out of the UK in France. The following month, the band played a handful of UK shows, including two at the G-Mex Centre in their hometown of Manchester. The band had planned to close the year with a series of shows in Russia, though these were cancelled.