LEGENDARY BAND JAMES SCORE FIRST NUMBER ONE ALBUM AND 'PUT A CRACK IN THE GLASS CEILING OF AGEISM'

James singer Tim Booth has spoken of his joy after the band’s 18th studio album became their first to reach the No1 spot after 42 years in the music ­business.

Booth, 64, said he hoped the achievement with their latest record Yummy would “put a crack in the glass ceiling of ageism”. The Mancunian nine-piece hit the big time with singles including Sit Down and Come Home in 1990 and Laid in 1993.

While their 1998 compilation The Best Off got to No1, Yummy is their first studio album to hit the top spot. But Booth said sales were never as important to the band as making music that their fans loved. He told the Mirror : “I remember in 2006 we were in the green room on The Jonathan Ross Show with Jay-Z, Will Smith and ­Charlotte Church.

“Jonathan pointed out we had only sold 25million records compared to Will Smith’s and Jay Z ’s ­quadrillions. I remember a few minutes too late coming up with the response, ­‘Jonathan, you of all people should know it’s not about size it’s what you do with it’. Numbers and sales figures never really registered with us in James. Most of our inspirations were not huge.

"The Velvet Underground never sold more than 20,000 copies in their ­lifetime. The aim was to make great music – focus on the music, not the numbers and eventually the people will come. Then we broke big and we watched Sit Down hover at No2 for weeks. We realised to other people it was upsetting that we didn’t make No1. Years later, in compilation shows, only the No1s were chosen as the great songs of the era and it p***** us off. We’ve had many twos and threes but only a No1 compilation album, which is cheating.”

The band won the Music Icon Award at The Ivors last year and Booth said they were also ­overjoyed to finally make it to the top spot. He added: “So after 42 years having a No1 is quite wonderful. We are having the best time of our lives, selling more tickets than we ever sold when we were so-called famous in the 90s.

"We are not a 90s band, a heritage band – we are a restless band of artists who keep on challenging ourselves. Our new albums are as good as our old as we hope this will testify. Because we are older, our new music tends to get less attention than we would’ve done when we were young.”

Yummy also topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart. Also, in the charts Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler secured a brand new entry at No3 with his latest record One Deep River. It is Knopfler’s ninth Top 10 LP to date as a solo artist. Linkin Park earned their first Top 5 album in seven years, and their first since frontman Chester Bennington died.

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2024-04-19T17:57:27Z dg43tfdfdgfd