The Very Best Of The Jam

The Very Best Of The Jam - The Jam

Year Released: 1997

Label: Polydor

Year Bought: 1999

Kicking off with 'In The City' – which still sounds just as urgent as it did in 1977 – this collection brings together all of the The Jam's A-sides before Paul Weller broke up the band in 1982.

I remember buying this CD in 1999 with money I had earned from my paper round, and I played it constantly. I knew every lyric, every bass fill from Bruce Foxton, every machine gun snare roll from Rick Buckler.

I was pretty into 70s punk as a teenager, but The Jam appealed more than most as they seemed to look beyond the nihilism.

"What's the point in saying destroy, I want a new life for everywhere," sings Weller on 'All Around The World'.

The Jam's early singles are pretty good, but all feel a bit derivative of 'In The City'. It's not until you get to 'Down In The Tube Station At Midnight' that you realise this is a band – and a songwriter – that can deliver something truly special.

The three singles released in 1979 – 'Strange Town', 'When You're Young' and 'Eton Rifles' – are all brilliant, and contain some of my favourite lyrics.

"Tears of rage roll down your face / But still you say 'it's fun'" and "It's so hard to understand, why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam" from 'When You're Young' meant so much to me when I was younger.

Many of these songs were single-only releases, and didn't appear on albums, including the group's first number 1 – 'Going Underground' – and their last two releases: 'The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)' and 'Beat Surrender'. As I've said before, in the days before streaming collections like this could be the only way to hear these songs.

Listening to Weller's songwriting journey is a treat. The Northern Soul inspired 'Town Called Malice', the no-frills of 'That's Entertainment', the pseudo-funk of 'Precious' – these are all Weller trying on different hats to see which one fits best. It would, of course, be a constant theme for the Changingman.

The Jam really were fantastic. This singles collection should be on the national curriculum. What a catalyst they turned out to be.

10/10

Comments

Eye To The Telescope – KT Tunstall

Year Released: 2004 Label: Relentless Year Bought: No Idea I'm not sure why I have this record. I have no record of buying it. I've never listened to it. But then I do own two Dido albums so it's not exactly out of character of me to have it. I've always thought KT Tunstall was a pretty cool person. She's clearly talented. But this album, I just can't really connect with it. There's some good tunes on here. 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' is great, as is 'Suddenly I See'. 'Another Place To Fall' hints at some darker tones, and 'Under The Weather' builds nicely. But overall it's just all a bit safe. I vaguely remember reading an interview with Tunstall a few years after this came out in which she said the original mix was a lot more rough and bluesy, but the label wanted it more polished. You can definitely hear how this album could have been scuffed up. 'Stopping The Love' is a good example of that. It's a mi...

Coming Up – Suede

Year Released: 1996 Label: Nude Year Bought: 2011 I know lots of people love this album, and it has got some great songs on it, but I just can't love it. It's too trebly, too thin, too cold. It kicks off with 'Trash', which is an absolutely brilliant tune with fantastic lyrics. Brett is at his absolute best here, with talk of "nowhere towns" and "cellophane sounds", and being the "litter on the breeze". I love it. But, alas we go from one of Suede's best songs to one of their worst. 'Filmstar' feels incredibly lazy. The riff is nothing, and as for the lyrics: Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car it looks so easy Filmstar propping up the bar driving in a car tonight These are Noel Gallagher-on-an-incredibly-bad-day lyrics. I hate the riff, I hate the chorus, I hate the lyrics. I hate how shiny it is. It's lazy ... which is the title of the next song. This tune sees the first use on the album of the "here the...

Intimacy – Bloc Party

Year Released: 2008 Label: Wichita Year Bought: 2008 Bloc Party's first two albums were absolute mainstays of my uni years, but their third, 2008's 'Intimacy', didn't touch the sides. All I remember of this album is that they were trying to be nu-rave and the beginning bit of 'Mercury'. Listening to this album for the first time in 16 years, I can see why I didn't get on with it at the time. It's a dense, loud album, with hardly any room in the songs for air. The drums – and drum machines – are all very in-your-face so it is a struggle to really sit and actually listen to. The use of electronic drums is one of the main departures from Bloc Party's previous efforts, which for me is a real shame. One of the strengths of the group was that Matt Tong was a one-man drum machine, and using actual drum machines just feels like a step backwards. Opening song 'Ares' kicks things off with a searing guitar and huge drums that sound like something...

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