THE JAM

[scotty]

(for Brian Take two )
From the moment i first started listening to music i knew that music was going to very important in my life and when i was around the age of 7 I first fell in love with the music that drifted into my bedroom from my sisters recored player.My first memory was listening to a song with the words " what you trying to say that you've never tried to say before your just another red balloon with a lot of hot gas why dont you ... "That song was called time for truth by The Jam. My music spectrum was changed forever and looking back now it was just me being in a time and place if maybe she was into Led zeppelin maybe this post would have been different.Well i know i wouldn't have a love affair with Rickenbacker's thats for sure.
Tha jam back then for me had not long spit up and i had the full catalog to listen to with eager ears.Lets kick off with their Debut LP In the city.Not much more than 30 minutes in length it was The Jam's supposedly "punk" album - their response to the eponymous "The Clash" and "The Ramones". Granted it was played at breakneck speed, but that is as far as the punk thing really goes. Scratch under the surface and the 60s beat group, American r'n'b and motown influences are discernable. The Who, The Small Faces, The Spencer Davis Group are all in there.A fast paced opener from the Jam that opened doors for the band to a wider audience of British listeners.

After the initial welcome of the jam their second LP was This Is The Modern World.Always acknowledged as a bit of a weak offering from the Woking wonders at the time, this rush released LP has always been sadly overlooked by Jam fans and almost finished the group during the difficult 1978 period.This is however a really fantastic Mod album containing some of Weller's finest compositions and representing a giant leap forward from the debut, released only 5 months previously.This in itself is a feat considering some bands today release a LP and tour for 2 years promoting it.Didnt do well in the polls though!
Moving on swiftly(im not an authour so bear with me)
Next studio LP was All Mod Cons this is where the band opened peoples eyes.On "All Mod Cons" Paul Weller finds a truly original lyrical voice, based heavily on the English storytelling tradition well-worn by the likes of Ray Davies, and the band kicks in with a tremendous jump in sophistication. The love/hate of "To Be Someone" and miserable circumstance of "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" capture the emotion of 20-something London with a closeness, a personalizes, that few achieved before or after in lyrical painting.Weller painted a canvas of England in a way that Davis did years before and people identified with the ideas.Stand out track English Rose later to be used on a promoting campaign for English holidays.
Next LP up is Setting sons.This album released in 1979 when Paul Weller was a mere 22 years old was originally intended to be a concept album with a common theme running through it, that of putting away the childish and nostalgic things in life in favour of growing up and embracing the corporate world. Naturally, those who are familiar with Weller's writing will know that he laments the tendency to do this and his English nostalgia is one of his most notorious features. Some of the tracks on this album, such as Burning Sky, Thick as Thieves, The Eton Rifles and Wasteland are written in this mould and each comments upon this theme in some way.Weller shows that even at such a young age he was a highly accomplished poet. The words of Thick as Thieves have been identified by the poet Simon Armitage as an exquisite example of British poetry and reflect that Weller had made a serious impact in music and the British public.Lets move on.

The Gift was to be the last studio album that The Jam made.
A 23 year old Paul Weller was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the music industry.He quit drinking, & whilst on tour to promote "The Gift" had taken to "Sloping off alone for a cup of tea" after the shows.Fellow band members Foxton & Butler also socialised seperately, the cracks had begun to appear & this would result in their split just a year later.The album starts explosively with the sublime & optimistic "Happy Together" then onto "Ghosts" another of Wellers beautiful & thoughtful ballads.The funky "Precious" works well, & "Running On The Spot" is a driving raw tune."Carnation" is quite simply a classic in the mould of Fly or English Rose & "Town Called Malice" is the big hit that everyone will recognise.My personal favorite is Trans global express this is a tip of the hat from Weller to World Column So is the sun.
Ok moving along!
Dig the new Breed .alive album spaning the greatest hits.Not much to say here but great performances from the late Glasgow Apollo on the last 4 tracks!( im biased i know)
After a farewell tour of the UK and appearances on Top of the Pops and The Tube to promote Beat Surrender, Weller disbanded the group.At the height of their fame, the flame was blown out much to the disbelieve of the Band and the fans.In retrospect Weller IMHO was right to end on a high note but the band brought a way of life to many fans and i think weller knew best to go out on a high note than to fade into a band that go downhill and flutter out into oblivion.This band still influence and reach out to many people today as they did from many a year ago,the recent tribute bands that are touring are an example of how the jam still mean something to people today!

So whats your take did they mean anything to you or were this band just another cog in the wheel?All answers welcome cheers The Mad Scotsman.

[whojamfan]

I guess "Sound Affects" was never released in scotland
You're not getting a novel out of me on this one YET, but will say far and wide, "This is the Modern World" is their most overlooked album, and consistantly my favorite. The album gets slagged the most,yet it is truly a work of art in itself. I love all their other albums, and some songs off of other albums more than some off of "Modern World", but consistantly, I dig it the most. You will be hearing more from me on The Jam.

[scotty]

Whoops forgot about sound affects (This was my second post as my first took so long i had to log on again)While other Jam LPs hit brilliant peaks here and there, "Sound Affects" sustains their genius from start to finish.Sound Affects album's cover is a pastiche of the artwork used on the various "Sound Effects" records produced by BBC Records during the 1970s.
This album features the group's second UK number one single, "Start!", built around a bassline obviously inspired by The Beatles' "Taxman", the lead cut on Revolver. Ironically, Polydor pushed for "Pretty Green" to get the single release instead, thinking it a surer bet, but Weller insisted on "Start!" Perhaps The Jam's best known and most acclaimed song is the striking acoustic ballad "That's Entertainment"Weller claims he wrote in 10min after a night on the ****.

[whojamfan]

Didn't he say he wrote "That's Entertainment" on the way home from a carnival on an acid trip in 10 minutes? I'm pretty sure that's what the Snap! biography book released in the mid 80s said.

[antipodean]

Great work Scotty! The Jam was one of the great bands of their era, and Sound Affects remains one of my all-time favourite albums - it manages a fine balance between rage and artistic sensitivity that a lot of contemporary acts just couldn't manage.

Without trying to be a smart-alec, I do have a suggestion, having the same problem with the automatic logout. I now write up long posts in a word-processing program and then cut and paste into the post window. I find my swearing has been reduced by 75% since adopting this approach!

[winston]

Starting with the advent of glam poser bands followed by disco and later on other forms of repulsive music, like the **** that was being dispensed by the Culture Club and The Thompson Twins, I lost all interest in playing in a band because there was nowhere really to play and the musical taste of the record buying public seemed to have taken a highway route that I preferred not to travel on.

There were only a few bright sparks that appeared during this time for me. Even though much of their music was sort of 60's retro with a twist more of rebellion, the Jam stands out as a band that I could listen to and not have bouts of nausea.

When I look back and I listen to them again today The Jam were in fact outstanding compared to a lot of drivel that was being played on the radio.

[scotty]

Reflection is a funny thing Brian.I think we all in sometime of our lives get caught up in a box in who we are and what we absorb.We might like what we see outside the box but we always climb back in to what we are comfortable with.Music is typical with this and sometimes going back and listening to something you thought was "OK" on hearing the music again you think Wow that was great but i wasn't in to it at the time.Ive been very guilty of this and the older i get the more I like to keep my eyes and ears open with a little bit more respect to what im taking in.Years ago if i didnt like something instantly i would completely dismiss it but now i am a little more tolerant. This is probably due to age and getting (allegedly) wiser,but on reflection to writing this post i wonder how many great Bands that i dismissed in the past have great songs that i would really like. My loss,i realize that now but with age comes Knowledge!
The years teach much which the days never knew. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

[whojamfan]

That's what I've found to be one of the beauties of this forum, the possibilities of getting someone elses opinion on something, that isn't bound by the barriers we put up when we were younger. I can find these bands that I may have "missed in the day" because they weren't this or that, and I didn't want to know them.I'm older now, and its really cool to be able to not give a **** what "genre" music it is, and just to be able to hear it for what it is.

I'm sure, if not another note was recorded today, that if I was to die from natural old age, I would still not hear all of the great music that's already out there. It's actually really mind boggling to think about all the great stuff I have yet to discover.

The Jam are an important band to me for many reasons, and have influenced me in a number of ways. They were really one of the few bands that came out of the whole 77 thing that were about empowerment and trying to affect positive change. As a songwriter, it is much easier to write about something that bothers you in a negative way, but very difficult to express the need for a positive solution in a productive way. I always found them to be more positive minded and inspiring than a lot of other stuff of the period. Of course, they have their "put the boot in" moments, but what surprises me is how it can be told from the victims point of view, but not come across as whining. Both "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" and "A bomb in Wardour Street" are good examples of this.

[captsandwich]

As a young punk, I grew increasingly disheartened by each subsequent release.
As I age, their later releases have really grown on me.

True story: I was kicked out of a band in high school because I couldn't play enough Jam songs. Damn you and your tricky non-power chords, Paul Weller!

[paologregorio]

I love all of their albums, even "This is the Modern World". It is probably their weakest, but I love it nonetheless; two of my faves from that recording off the top of my head, in addition to the title track of course, are "London Girl", and "Tonight At Noon".

I cut my musical teeth on the Jam; when was first learning to play music with my friends, we played a lot of Jam songs: Ghosts, Art School, In the City, Start, the Jam's version of "Batman", along with any other cool, simple song we could figure out. My first bass was a Fender P bass copy that was an exact match of Bruce Foxton's all black P-bass. Three months after that I had enough cash to buy a second hand "closet classic" JG 4001. When I switched to guitar, I likewise bought a Rickenbacker-a 360 WB. It wasn't a JG or ruby 330, but it had the same shape as PW's Ricks, though I preferred the binding and triangle inlays of the WB models. The AZ Blue color I chose was due to seeing Mitch Easter playing his AZ 330 in the "Every Word Means No" video, as well as seeing him use the guitar live with the band while opening up for Echo and the Bunnymen at the Hollwood Palladium.

The Jam remains a favorite band of mine and probably always will; at this point they're stuck in my head for good! I think PW is an eccentric oddball, and sometimes comes across as a bit pretentious, but he has a down to earth side as well and I like him nonetheless.

[scotty]

Not much of a video here but this is my favorite jam song by far.Always has been always will be.Heres a true story the "Badger" Jam shoes that Weller is wearing on the vid I bought, and on my first day wearing them to school my maths teacher told me not to wear my trainers to class! I promptly told him they were shoes.I was most annoyed!

[scotty]

Not much of a video here but this is my favorite jam song by far.Always has been always will be.Heres a true story the "Badger" Jam shoes that Weller is wearing on the vid I bought, and on my first day wearing them to school my maths teacher told me not to wear my trainers to class! I promptly told him they were shoes.I was most annoyed!

[godber]

Not much of a video here but this is my favorite jam song by far.Always has been always will be.Heres a true story the "Badger" Jam shoes that Weller is wearing on the vid I bought, and on my first day wearing them to school my maths teacher told me not to wear my trainers to class! I promptly told him they were shoes.I was most annoyed!

I thought that I had lost mine, but I found them years later...gassed to death in a hole in the ground.

[godber]

A major influence on me.
Nice song, nice image compilation.

[fireglo67]

THE JAM are the reason I dress like I do now, write songs like I do now, and the reason I got into Rickenbacker guitars.

Though the band are more widely lauded these days (after much name checking by the 'Britpop' bands of the 90's), it still makes my blood boil when I see lists of 'Great British Bands' in magazines and on telly, they always mention the Smiths and the Stone Roses and Oasis, but very rarely mention The Jam.

None of these groups can hold a candle to The Jam.

Each of The Jam's studio albums had a distinctly different sound, no other band (even the Beatles) changed their sound so much on each subsequent album.

Most of their single releases were not included on studio albums.

The B sides to their singles were mostly great and never less than good.

They always looked great.

They were one of the best live bands ever (live, their songs always sounded better than on record), and had an amazing sound for a 3 piece.

For 99% of the time, Weller played a Rickenbacker.

I still find it hard to watch Weller these days playing Epiphone Casinos and Fender Tele's. And I hate it when he tries to play Jam songs on those guitars...... it's all WRONG!!!!

I lived for The Jam.
I thought the early Style Council stuff was OK.
I can take or leave the Weller solo stuff these days.
Weller went down in my estimations BIG TIME when he started giving away and selling his old Rickenbackers. What a fool!
He should have given them to me, I'd know how to use them properly!