The Album Review Club - Christmas Break Until 8th January

[threespires]

Supported Blue Oyster Cult in 1978 over in the States.
That was never going to work for them.

If a double a-side of A-Bomb and David Watts couldn't convince them nothing would. That year in the US the top selling single was by Andy Gibb and Debby Boone's 'You Light Up My Life' was third having previously spent 10 weeks at no 1.

You can lead a horse to water but....
:-)

 

[mrbelfry]

The Jam are one of those bands I'd say I like whilst only really knowing 4 or 5 songs that got played in night clubs in the 90's. Don't think I have heard anything off this album (except David Watts which is the kinks) so will enjoy listening.

Agree with Roman above that they feel like a London band which may irritate me or I may just get over myself.

I like a lot of the stuff that influenced the Jam and a lot of stuff they influenced so it'll be fun to see how this stands up to my scrutiny

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

If a double a-side of A-Bomb and David Watts couldn't convince them nothing would. That year in the US the top selling single was by Andy Gibb and Debby Boone's 'You Light Up My Life' was third having previously spent 10 weeks at no 1.

You can lead a horse to water but....
:-)

Maybe it would have if the Kinks original version of DW wasn’t so much better.

But I do recall the horribleness of Debby Boone. God awful (pun intended).

But a lot of good stuff was percolating under the surface in NYC too . . .

 

[threespires]

Maybe it would have if the Kinks original version of DW wasn’t so much better.

But I do recall the horribleness of Debby Boone. God awful (pun intended).

But a lot of good stuff was percolating under the surface in NYC too . . .

I'm not going to argue that it's better than the original but I dont think it suffers much in comparison. I like it partly because of the novelty of Foxton on vocals. Also it's quite possible without the Jam's version most people wouldn't be familiar with the original because it was only ever a b-side for the Kinks on a single that only did business in the UK. The story of how it got written is quite funny if Ray Davies is to be believed.

Re. your last comment, clearly I wasn't being serious in suggesting that US popular music of the time was a cultural void. After all that was the year Copacabana came out ;-)

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I'm not going to argue that it's better than the original but I dont think it suffers much in comparison. I like it partly because of the novelty of Foxton on vocals. Also it's quite possible without the Jam's version most people wouldn't be familiar with the original because it was only ever a b-side for the Kinks on a single that only did business in the UK. The story of how it got written is quite funny if Ray Davies is to be believed.

Re. your last comment, clearly I wasn't being serious in suggesting that US popular music of the time was a cultural void. After all that was the year Copacabana came out ;-)

Think I heard of it.
Is that that the hottest place north of Havana?

 

[Saddleworth2]

I’m in Falkirk tomorrow. Camelon to be exact. Will play this loud with the car window down. I liked Bruce Foxon a lot on base back in the day.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Love Weller and seen him live a few times but only listened to The Jam Best Of in the past. Nice pick.

 

[bennyboy]

I’m in Falkirk tomorrow. Camelon to be exact. Will play this loud with the car window down. I liked Bruce Foxon a lot on base back in the day.

Hope it is for golf.

 

[threespires]

I’m in Falkirk tomorrow. Camelon to be exact. Will play this loud with the car window down. I liked Bruce Foxon a lot on base back in the day.

A lot of my write up on this will revolve around Foxton's basslines which were imo completely integral to The Jam's success. I get where Foggy's coming from re. Weller not being a particularly hooky writer in terms of his melodies but then he didn't need to be because often the bassline provided that. Just as an example off this album, think about Down In The Tube Station without that baseline.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Well, it was about time these show up . . . .

To the point made by @bennyboy, The Jam are very English, and Americans could never quite grasp them. As I've noted previously, my problem with them is that I don't think Paul Weller writes very good hooks often enough, though I do like a number of songs on Setting Sons, and some on In The City. In fact my favo(u)rite by them is a Foxton job: "Smithers-Jones". I haven't heard this one in a long while, but I do vaguely recall my Jam-obsessed college roommate played AMC less than the others. That all said, I've always liked Paul Weller as musician -- he's forthright, he tried a lot of new things, apparently he (with SC or The Jam) was remarkable in concert, which I am sure some of you will attest to -- so it's stupid to gainsay him as a "fake punk" like some people do/will.

“Fake punk”?
Interesting. I never regarded them as punk at all. They came out of that period but the clue is in the title as far as I’m concerned.They were pioneers of the new mod scene.
The Clash were far nearer to punk, but I wouldn’t regard them as punk either. I don’t know, maybe they were. Makes you question what was punk.

Punk to me was a rejection of how overblown music had become. Believe me, i idolised the likes of Yes, but I totally get the rejection of musical elitism.
These bands and countless like them cut through the bullshit and brought it back to basics.
The trouble is, like all trends, it developed its own brands of bullshit.
Bands like The Jam, The Stranglers, The Clash all had something about them. They could play and ultimately had something to say. They evolved out of that era and progressed.
Punk rejected all before it. It threw the baby out with the bath water.
Rory Gallagher was reported to have gone to see The Pistols in America at the end of the seventies and it inspired him to strip back to a three piece.
Do you think Jonny or Sid would have had time for Rory’s brand of honesty though. I really doubt it. Punk could be blinkered.

Anyway. I digress. I dont regard The Jam as punk. They may have held some of the movements ideals in esteem but they were better than that short lived trend by some distance.