James had a habit in the 1990s of releasing each CD-single in three different versions, with alternate 'extra tracks' on each one. A sneaky sales-promotion technique aimed at getting their fans to help them into the charts. I was a fan, and I was suckered more than once, but not this time (I think the alternate tracks on the other versions were live performances that I didn't feel I needed). So this is the only version I have of this single.
Runaground was actually included in 1997's 'Best of' album, even though it wasn't released itself in any other format until 1998. That destroyed its chart success because lots of the people who liked James already had the song on CD (apparently one of the band had predicted it would be a massive hit). Again, I didn't have the 'Best of' because I already had everything else by James and I wasn't going to be suckered into buying an album just to get two new tracks.
I don't think Runaground is one of their best songs by any means, and I actually know the 'extra tracks'/B-sides better than the lead song. In about 1999, I compiled all my James B-sides onto mini-disks (it required two disks; that's how many there were), and used to listen to them a lot. This was before they released the B-Sides Ultra album, which, curiously, didn't overlap all that much with either of my disks. All of that goes to show the depth of their material.
What has happened to James since Tim Booth left? There's a message on their web site, which says (at the time of writing):
The band would also like to reiterate that regardless of anything you may read in the publicity or packaging for the DVD and live album, although Tim Booth has left the band, James is still going strong, and will be looking to find a replacement for him in the not too distant future.It's dated 2002.
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