Here Comes THE JAM.....Part 1

Late Edit : Was going this as a single post an discovered that I have WAY too much stuff for that. I'll split it in two, another poster says he has a bunch of Jam too that he'll share after I put mine up at the end of this we should have TONS of Jam rarities, boots, demos, etc, coz I know I have a BUNCH.... Today, just the obvious stuff.....t heir six studio albums, the live "Dig the New Breed", and the compilation "Snap!"...... that is still a LOT of shit, but it's essential and if we are going to do this we must do it right. Also had to decide between re-upping my scratchy vinyl rips or some nice clean FLAC files found on the Bay, gonna go with the FLAC's to save a little time...I know they are a bit of a pain in the ass for you, but with SO MUCH material here, manually uploading it would take a serious amount of my time! OK, here is the post as I originally wrote it, before deciding to split it apart:

The Jam were an important element of the punk/new wave movement of the 1970's, not as popular in the US as many of the other English bands, due being, for lack of a better terminology, "too" English. They were a motherfucker though, kicking out some damn great albums that still sound magnificent today. Headed up by leader/vocalist/guitarist Paul Weller, who was joined by bassist-extraordinaire Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler, they slammed out some great mod-influenced punk, ranking with the Pistols and Clash on the "angry" scale.

The first release was 1977's fine "In the City" ...a good but not great beginning, full of short, smart numbers like the title track and "Non-Stop Dancing" (they also covered the theme from "Batman") .....MUCH better was the followup, "This Is the Modern World", on which the band begins to create an identity for itself, define what it's sound would become, and give foreshadow to the great albums yet to come. "Modern World" is stunning, the title track, "In the Street Today" and "Tonight at Noon" standout among others, their by-now obligatory  cover version on this LP was a fine version of "In the Midnight Hour".

Better, yet, even, is 1978's "All Mod Cons"..... arguably their best record (we can argue also for "Modern World" as well as "Setting Sons", to me a testimony to their excellence), it is filled with standout tracks, and the anger by this point is boiling: "Mr. Clean" and "Down In the Tube Station at Midnight" best exemplify this, there is also a very good cover of "David Watts" by the Kinks who are an obvious influence. Tremendous album.

I think most music critics would disagree with me (preferring "All Mod Cons), but I will take 1979's "Setting Sons" as my favorite Jam album, generally the one I will pull out today. Maybe it was just where I was in 1979, but that album was a HUGE part of the soundtrack....." Burning Sky", "Smithers-Jones", (especially) "Saturday's Kids", "The Eton Rifles"...... about every track a standout. The one clunker in my estimation is their fairly listless cover of "Heat Wave". Nonetheless, this is a great album, ***** for my money, and as I said before, to me still sounds tremendous today.

The decline phase began with "Sound Affects", which is by no means a "bad" album, just not as excellent as its predecessors...... "Set the House Ablaze" is probably the hardest rocker they ever recorded, "Start!" and "That's Entertainment" standout as well. "Dig the New Breed" is a decent live disc which doesn't feature the same numbers I would have selected, there is a smoking version of "Set the House Ablaze". Sounds as though they were a hell of an energetic live crew and I wish I could have seen em.

1982's "The Gift" was their final studio effort, and I'd call it their weakest effort..... I will say there are STILL some good songs here ("Just Who Is the Five O'Clock Hero", "A Town Called Malice"), but by this point they were pretty much a done deal.

"Snap!" crams a bunch of their better songs onto a greatest hits package, in my estimation the albums stand on their own and should be heard as such, I'll put "Snap!" here in case we have some dabblers.

Tomorrow, I'll start with some rare stuff, including the five disc box "Direction Reaction Creations", lots of live, demos, rare, all kind of shit! Be there or be, uh, somewhere else.  This is going to be a good series, I think, I love the Jam and a "friend of the blog" has promised lots of rare material as well. I'm pretty excited about it, at least.

IN THE CITY-01 Art School/02 I've Changed My Address/03 Slow Down/04 I  Got By In Time/05 Away From the Numbers/06 Batman Theme/07 In the City/08 Sounds of the Street/09 Non-Stop Dancing/10 Time For Truth/11 Takin My Love/12 Bricks and Mortar

THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD-01 The Modern World/02 London Traffic/03 Standards/04 Life From a Window/05 The Combine/06 Don't Tell Them You're Sane/07 In the Street Today/08 London Girl/09 I Need You (For Someone)/10 Here Comes the Weekend/11 Tonight at Noon/12 In the Midnight Hour

ALL MOD CONS-01 All Mod Cons/02 To Be Someone (Didn't We have a Nice Time)/03 Mr Clean/04 David Watts/05 English Rose/06 In the Crowd/07 Billy Hunt/08 It's  Too Bad/09 Fly/10 The Place I Love/11 A-Bomb in Wardour Street/12 Down In the Tube Station at Midnight

SETTING SONS-01 Girl On the Phone/02  Thick As Thieves/03 Private Hell/04 Little Boy Soldiers/05 Burning Sky/09 Smithers-Jones/10 Saturday's Kids/11 The Eton Rifles/12 Heat Wave

SOUND AFFECTS-01 Pretty Green/02 Monday/03 But I'm Different Now/04 Set the House Ablaze/05 Start!/06 That's Entertainment/07 Dream Time/08 Man in the Corner Shop/09 Music For the Last Couple/10 Boy About Town/11 Scrape Away

THE GIFT-01 Happy Together/02 Ghosts/03 Precious/04 Just Who Is the Five O'Clock Hero?/05 Trans-Global Express/06 Running On the Spot/07 Circus/08 The Planners Dream Goes Wrong/09 Carnation/10 Town Called Malice/11 The Gift

DIG THE NEW BREED-01 In the City/02 All Mod Cons/03  Be Someone (Didn't We Have a  Time)/04 It's Too Bad/05 Start!/06 Big Bird/07 Set the House Ablaze/08 Ghosts/09 Standards/10 In the Crowd/11 Going Underground/12 Dreams Of Children/13 That's Entertainment/14 Private Hell

SNAP! DISC 01-In the City/02 All Around the World/03 Away From the Numbers/04 The Modern World (single version)/05 News of the World/06 Billy Hunt/07 English Rose/08 Mr. Clean/09 David Watts/10 A-Bomb In Wardour Street/11 Down In the Tube Station at Midnight/12 Strange Town/13 The Butterfly Collector/14 When Your Young/15 Smithers-Jones/16 Thick as Thieves

SNAP! DISC 02-01  The Eton Rifles/02 GoingUnderground/03 Dreams of Children/04 That's Entertainment/05 Start!/06 Man in the Corner Shop/07 Funeral Pyre (remixed version)/08 Absolute Beginners/09 Tales From the Riverbank/10 Town Called Malice/11 Precious (single Edit)/12 The Bitterest Pill Ever had To Swallow)/13 Beat Surrender

Good albums, all...... like the Kinks and the Who, each album made a "statement" and stood well on its own..... that is why "Snap!" is fairly redundant, but I know some dabblers would make it their top choice, so what can you do? Anyway, this is the OBVIOUS stuff...... check back tomorrow for the "fun" stuff, you'll not want to miss it!

"Saturdays boys live life with insults, drink lots of  beer for halftime results......." always DID love that lyric!