RFI James Yorkston

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Please tell me your opinions on James Yorkston.

Richie Cunningham, Friday, 14 March 2003 14:10 (twenty-three years ago)

he is rather good

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 14 March 2003 21:39 (twenty-three years ago)

he is shit

Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 14 March 2003 22:01 (twenty-three years ago)

i like "moving up country". it sounds like nick drake

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Saturday, 15 March 2003 00:44 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...
The new album 'Just Beyond the River' is growing on me slowly, much as 'Moving Up Country' did. The Four Tet production is not very Four Tet-ish at all really, but probably all the better for it.

I can see him doing something amazing in a few years' time maybe: after releasing a few solid albums he'll do a 'Solid Air'. Or maybe that's wishful thinking.

bham, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

The little recorded work I've heard sounds ok - sort of what you'd expect on Domino really. However, I caught his set in the Guardian Lounge at Glastonbury and thought it was pretty dull, veering off a little too far in olde english folk directions for my liking...

Braces Tower, Tuesday, 5 October 2004 08:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i think the debut album is lovely lovely, the arrangements are way more complicated and lush than they seem on first listen.

the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

"i know my love" is wonderful. and i cannot work out why he left "the lang toun" off the album....

the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i found moving up country really tedious and I like this kind of stuff

kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 5 October 2004 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

I'm in the mood for a new Yorkston album.

djh, Sunday, 22 January 2012 21:21 (fourteen years ago)

four months pass...

http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/landingpage/22-05-12/james-yorkston---i-was-a-cat-from-a-book/

Strangely, the game pieces put me off buying the deluxe version.

djh, Thursday, 24 May 2012 22:50 (fourteen years ago)

Aaaargh! Shall I pre-order it? Any hopes for the remix album?

djh, Monday, 28 May 2012 20:35 (fourteen years ago)

two months pass...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/aug/06/james-yorkston-album-stream

djh, Monday, 6 August 2012 21:50 (thirteen years ago)

Out today (I was paralysed with indecision about whether to buy the box set or the ordinary CD, so have bought neither).

djh, Monday, 13 August 2012 17:58 (thirteen years ago)

No one heard?

djh, Tuesday, 14 August 2012 20:18 (thirteen years ago)

(The Big Eyes Family Players album is probably a bit too ... folk for me though the title "Folk Songs II" does signpost this quite clearly.)

djh, Wednesday, 15 August 2012 19:23 (thirteen years ago)

I've bought the album today, listening now but only on track 2. Originally meant to get the box set but just got the normal CD.

I have the JY + Big Eyes album on Domino but it doesn't do much for me I'm afraid.

michaellambert, Thursday, 16 August 2012 19:56 (thirteen years ago)

Near the end of the last track I declare 'I Was A Cat' to be very good.

michaellambert, Thursday, 16 August 2012 20:38 (thirteen years ago)

i've got it but yet to listen to it.. reviews so far have got me a bit excited about it though

like a sunrise (electricsound), Thursday, 16 August 2012 23:11 (thirteen years ago)

Some very good tracks but some duff ones, too.

Need to find someone to copy me the box set bonus disc.

djh, Monday, 27 August 2012 19:25 (thirteen years ago)

one month passes...

Having lived with this a bit ... I still think the same as my last post.

djh, Wednesday, 3 October 2012 06:48 (thirteen years ago)

Love Border Song, Sometimes The Act of Giving Love and I Can Take This All. Dislike Just As Scared. Never did hear the second disc.

djh, Saturday, 6 October 2012 18:58 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

Quite in the mood for a new album by him.

Never did hear that bonus disc.

djh, Sunday, 13 April 2014 18:29 (twelve years ago)

Was sat up last night listening to "When The Haar Rolls In" contemplating how beautifully recorded is.

(Self-produced ... and I much prefer it to his albums produced by Kieran Hebden and Rustin Man).

djh, Friday, 25 April 2014 20:50 (twelve years ago)

one month passes...

hey, the new song is pretty great!

erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 28 May 2014 20:20 (twelve years ago)

I only just finally got a copy of I Was a Cat from a Book... backlog!

erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 28 May 2014 20:21 (twelve years ago)

two months pass...

Early days with the new album. I've so far thought "Oh, this is boring" and "Oh, this is magical".

djh, Sunday, 17 August 2014 15:53 (eleven years ago)

four years pass...

OK getting namechecked by The 1975 these days, guess that counts as relevancy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfTyaBxYwUw

beats your Richard Dawson bisnes with a stick, imo

Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Sunday, 16 December 2018 00:56 (seven years ago)

Yorkston is emblematic of a particular kind of listening experience for me wherein I get so much from one record, I never quite get past it enough to listen to anything else with any kind of objectivity - in this case Moving Up Country, which I love to distraction. I've dabbled here and there and seen him live a few times, but nothing quite lives up to that ongoing relationship with the first album.

Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Sunday, 16 December 2018 10:31 (seven years ago)

Happy he's going for spoken word again - I love love love Woozy With Cider

Daniel Giraffe, Monday, 17 December 2018 09:56 (seven years ago)

the Yorkston/Thorne/Khan album from a few years ago is very good.

fetter, Monday, 17 December 2018 10:06 (seven years ago)

the album he did with the Big Eyes Family Players is also excellent, although his last couple of solo albums haven't clicked with me.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 17 December 2018 14:25 (seven years ago)

> the Yorkston/Thorne/Khan album from a few years ago is very good

Their version of Norma Waterson's "Song for Thirza" is devastating.

john. a resident of evanston. (john. a resident of chicago.), Tuesday, 18 December 2018 16:04 (seven years ago)

love these opening three posts

Please tell me your opinions on James Yorkston.
― Richie Cunningham, Friday, March 14, 2003 6:10 AM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he is rather good
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, March 14, 2003 1:39 PM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he is shit
― Cozen (Cozen), Friday, March 14, 2003 2:01 PM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 18 December 2018 18:39 (seven years ago)

two weeks pass...

"My Mouth Ain't No Bible" sounds a good un'.

djh, Thursday, 3 January 2019 20:25 (seven years ago)

(A long time since I've wanted to play a track over & over).

djh, Thursday, 3 January 2019 21:05 (seven years ago)

three weeks pass...

beautiful new song, featuring Tom Arthurs on trumpet
https://youtu.be/OzdKpDL2q7M

Daniel Giraffe, Thursday, 24 January 2019 16:18 (seven years ago)

eight months pass...

Collaboration with Max Cooper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFVM40mTUtA

djh, Tuesday, 24 September 2019 17:14 (six years ago)

one year passes...

I'd never really noticed that ILXOR isn't particularly into Yorkston.

Anyway,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhJw5K-LLpw

djh, Saturday, 23 January 2021 17:27 (five years ago)

I love him, everything up to 2009's Folk Songs with the Big Eyes Family Players is great, but after that he committed to that kind of rapid, crammed-together lyrical style that I just don't like. Still gonna buy the new album, just to see what he's up to.

thousand-yard spiral stairs (f. hazel), Saturday, 23 January 2021 18:13 (five years ago)

this new song I like, and the video is absolutely gorgeous!

thousand-yard spiral stairs (f. hazel), Saturday, 23 January 2021 18:18 (five years ago)

three weeks pass...

I adore the new album. I will try and think of something more articulate to say.

Alternate version of one of the songs:

http://dominorecords.s3.amazonaws.com/jamesyorkston/James_Yorkston-Struggle-Miles_Mix.mp3

djh, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 22:58 (five years ago)

New album is very good. JY has one of my favourite voices.

hamicle, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 23:30 (five years ago)

one month passes...

The latest one sounds damn fine tonight, from a 2-days-back-on-the-drink perspective at least. (just deleted like 3 lines here cus i just scanned back and even I had no idea what the fuck I was on about, seemed to be mainly COASTAL WEATHER related fwiw)

Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Saturday, 10 April 2021 23:10 (five years ago)

I'd never let alcohol stop you posting.

djh, Sunday, 11 April 2021 19:31 (five years ago)

It sounds like there is going to be a Second Hand Orchestra version of the album?

djh, Sunday, 11 April 2021 19:31 (five years ago)

nine months pass...

Alternative version of the Wide, Wide River:

https://singasongfighter.bandcamp.com/album/reimagining-the-wide-wide-river

Surprised it hasn't sold out, to be honest.

djh, Thursday, 27 January 2022 08:29 (four years ago)

I haven't yet been tempted by the J Wright Present LP - an electronic one. Has anyone played that?

djh, Monday, 31 January 2022 20:46 (four years ago)

ten months pass...

A Yorkston playlist started a while ago but added to after seeing him play live recently:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7C3dPDcC1imWkxcK4t9HIj

Nice to see him in a pub/community centre venue, with - I guess - 100 people. I had a weird worry that seeing him live would put me off, for some reason. "Broken Wave" seemed particularly moving.

(I quite like making playlists like this out of a wonder of what others would include - a sort of "what am I missing?/what should I relisten to?")

djh, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 20:16 (three years ago)

Nice selection. He played not far from me recently but I couldn't make it. I'd probably have to have 'Lang Toun' on any Yorkston playlist.

Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Tuesday, 13 December 2022 20:37 (three years ago)

Considering how much I loved "Moving Up Country" when it came out, I feel a little shady for basically completing forgetting about James Yorkston for 15 years. Where's good to catch up? (apart from your playlist)

Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 20:41 (three years ago)

I adore "When The Haar Rolls In". Then I think there are great tracks on everything else.

I know friends who went off him came back with "The Wide, Wide River".

djh, Tuesday, 13 December 2022 21:06 (three years ago)

"Where's good to catch up? (apart from your playlist)"

I really like The Route To The Harmonium, on which Tom Arthurs' trumpet works beautifully.

giraffe, Wednesday, 14 December 2022 09:31 (three years ago)

I too drifted away after the first couple of albums...everything was set in place with Moving Up Country and he never seemed to develop enough to keep my interest. Failure of my own weak attention-span I'm sure, I wanted him to progress like John Martyn in the 70s.

fetter, Wednesday, 14 December 2022 12:34 (three years ago)

the cover of “Song for Thirza” from the first Yrokston/Thorne/Khan album is so staggering beautiful. just sitting here crying…

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Thursday, 15 December 2022 02:34 (three years ago)

ten months pass...

Realised I've bought but not really played "The Great White Sea Eagle" - certain I've never played it all the way through before but it sounds decent tonight.

djh, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 21:21 (two years ago)

one year passes...

"When The Haar Rolls In" appeared on a randomly played compilation in the car and I thought "Haven't played Yorkston in an age". Must admit I'd forgotten about "The Great White Sea Eagle" and had to look at the track list before remembering what it was.

How are his books?

djh, Monday, 10 February 2025 20:18 (one year ago)

two weeks pass...

Anyway, I got "Tommy the Bruce" from the library. Enjoyed more than I was expecting, to be honest. Fairly compelling.

djh, Tuesday, 25 February 2025 20:45 (one year ago)

five months pass...

Anyone seen any interesting versions of the new CD? I don't know why but I always assume Rough Trade or Monorail are going to have a bonus disc.

djh, Tuesday, 19 August 2025 14:45 (nine months ago)


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