Colin James: The music speaks for itself

I saw Colin James is coming to Lethridge next month and it got me thinking: when did I first hear him sing?

It was on the radio in Edmonton, then he played on campus at the University of Alberta.

Debut
Colin James’ debut album came out in 1988 and is aptly named “Colin James”. It received heavy airplay, in part due to Canadian Content regulations, but also because it had some great songs.

“Voodoo Thing” was the first release, peaking at number 19 in Canada and number 30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart.

His next two singles were “Dream of Satin” which peaked at number 49 in Canada, and “Chicks ‘n Cars (And the Third World War)”, which peaked at number 51 in Canada.

“Five Long Years” was the next single, and is by far my favourite Colin James’ single. It is just a great, upbeat song. I am absolutely shocked it didn’t chart in the States, but especially in Canada.

In 1989, he also released “Back in My Arms Again”, a cover of the 1965 Supremes’ song. It was for the soundtrack of the movie “American Boyfriends”, which is the sequel to “My American Cousin”. It charted at number 80 in Canada.

James won the Juno in 1989 for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year and was nominated for Entertainer of the Year.

As the decade was ending, Colin James was on the rise, and his greatest chart success was yet to come.

The cover of Colin James' self-titled debut album in 1988.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_James_%28album%29

(May be subject to copyright)

Missed him by that much
Colin James made two appearances right in my own backyard. In March of 1988, he played at the Dinwoodie Lounge which was a small venue in the Student Union Building. I was still new to campus, and didn’t even really know where Dinwoodie was at that time. I also missed the Tragically Hip in that period. Colin James was back on campus at the Butterdome on September 23, 1988. That would have been Bear Country, a big party that I always missed because I had a student leadership retreat that weekend.

So twice I missed Colin James by that much.

The years after
Colin James released his second album, “Sudden Stop” in 1990. The first single was “Just Come bBack”, which is a catchy tune with a blues twang. It became his greatest chart success, peaking at number five in Canada and number seven on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart.

That would be the height of his commercial success. However, he keeps on writing, recording and performing rock, swing and blues, including several successful albums with the Little Big Band.

What’s in a name
In 1990, I was part of a hiring committee and we got an application from a friend of mine. His name was ‘Colin James’ Peters. When we were going through the resumés, someone read his name aloud and emphasized the “Colin James”. We all snickered.

The things a group of 19 year olds will find funny.

Parting thoughts
There was a time in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s where Colin James was regularly on the airwaves. When his first song came out, it kind of sounded to me like Boulevard, another Canadian band that released a song in that same period.

His presence on the airwaves was due in part to radio stations meeting their Canadian Content requirements, but also because “Five Long Years” and “Voodoo Thing” were great songs.

In fact, I recently came across a Top 80 countdown of Canada’s greatest songs leading up to Canada Day. It was the Boom 97.3 Top 80 Totally ‘80s with Stu Jeffries. He was a great deejay in the ‘80s and a host of the CBC music show “Good Rockin’ Tonite”.

There, at number 36 was “Five Long Years”.

The music speaks for itself.