The JAM vs The POLICE

[Deebank]

If you are going to outdrone deebank, you really have gotr your work cut out Mike

Good luck with that!!!!

Another drone who didn't read the post but jumped in with both feet it seems - no surprises there then

[The Write Profile]

Just been listening to All Mod Cons recently and what sticks out is the sheer compressed energy. Perhaps it's the way that Weller's bitterness in "To Be Someone" or "The In Crowd" is defiant rather than misanthropic. Really, it's all to do with the way that the band bounce off oneanother musically, the whole LP really rushes by at a fast clip. And some of their material seems to 'dance' too, it's not all straight up-and-down slamming, that's for sure- the jaunty "It's Too Bad" displays a neat melodic touch that's quite sprightly.

Maybe the main difference as I see it is that the Jam made the most of their limitations, the Police didn't do enough with their strengths. For a band as musicianly as the Police, it's surprising how 'streamlined' they sound. Like I said before, they're not exactly Roxy Music or even Talking Heads in terms of wierdness, are they?

[Ranking Ted]

Maybe the main difference as I see it is that the Jam made the most of their limitations, the Police didn't do enough with their strengths. For a band as musicianly as the Police, it's surprising how 'streamlined' they sound. Like I said before, they're not exactly Roxy Music or even Talking Heads in terms of wierdness, are they?

Agreed. The Police were moonlighting prog/jazzbos highjacking new wave and creating a number of decent but not earth-shattering pop moments on the way (most notably Can't Stand Losing You, Message In A Bottle and Invisable Sun). In the interests of balance we either include Weller's 83 releases (the peerless Speak Like A Child included) or we exclude the curate's egg that was Synchronicity.

So, excluding 1983, lets now compare that straight-down-the-line, moderately diverting but ultimately compromised output of The Police with the vibrant, progressive (in all the right ways), more-than-the-sum-of-their-parts The Jam, and its a clear KO.

The accusation that this is a lifestyle choice is as daft in 2006 as it would have been 1980 (when they both had #1 singles and LPs in the UK). It's about Strange Town, When You're Young, Monday, Tube Station, Going Underground, Carnation, To Be Someone, Tales From The Riverbank, Ghosts, Eton Rifles, Mr Clean..... the list is as long as it is still impressive.

Where's Owen these days?; it's a case of whether you "get it" or whether you don't.

[Beno]

Where's Owen these days?

He's obviously doing something more interesting than this. Let me think. Ah yes, he's probably getting it.

[Ranking Ted]

Where's Owen these days?

He's obviously doing something more interesting than this. Let me think. Ah yes, he's probably getting it.

[Stirling Moss]

Maybe the main difference as I see it is that the Jam made the most of their limitations, the Police didn't do enough with their strengths. For a band as musicianly as the Police, it's surprising how 'streamlined' they sound. Like I said before, they're not exactly Roxy Music or even Talking Heads in terms of wierdness, are they?

Agreed.

Yer balls!

Hole In My Life, Masoko Tango, Deathwish, Shadows in the Rain, Voices Inside My Head (to name a few, I'm not going to get all Moddie on your arses and include error-filled lists from Wikipedia) are from clearly left-field and show how imaginative arrangers they could be.

...and why are the Jam exempt from a comparison to Roxy / the Heads? Reverse-fucking snobbery.

[Deebank]

Maybe the main difference as I see it is that the Jam made the most of their limitations, the Police didn't do enough with their strengths. For a band as musicianly as the Police, it's surprising how 'streamlined' they sound. Like I said before, they're not exactly Roxy Music or even Talking Heads in terms of wierdness, are they?

Agreed.

Yer balls!

Hole In My Life, Masoko Tango, Deathwish, Shadows in the Rain, Voices Inside My Head (to name a few, I'm not going to get all Moddie on your arses and include error-filled lists from Wikipedia) are from clearly left-field and show how imaginative arrangers they could be.

...and why are the Jam exempt from a comparison to Roxy / the Heads? Reverse-fucking snobbery.

Yes, well said.

[Stirling Moss]

...anyone want to switch their Vote?.

G-G-G-G-G-G-GO!



"...Runaround!!!"

etc

[The Modernist]

They were supposed to 'mean' something which the Police never did and never tried to.

Well we can agree The Police were meaningless then. I'm glad we've reached a consensus after 17 pages!

[Bungo the Mungo]

Good post, but a horribly deluded piece of writing. Zenyatta regatta de blanko, or whatever other fucking gobbledegook it was called, was lamentably poor. You might enjoy it if you were a complete imbecile..All the de doo da keoooooooh bullshit made me ill. Lazy inconsequential and totally disposable. Music for drones and taste free students.

To compare any any album the police made with any Jam album is just stupid. They were not even trying...it was just sellling a cakky white boy reggae...an insult to anyone who heard it. And the fact that they were good musicians only makes it worse. A wicked and unforgivable oportunity to make great music was wasted. The one time they did try, it was already too late, and they hated each other too much to finish it properly.

To compare a few pop singles with the sucstancial and worthwhile work of the Jam is a digrace.

How fucking dare you.

Fantastic. I just noticed this for the first time.

It has inspired me.

There should be more of this kind of thing. We shouldn't have to have a 'rant competition', for fucking crying out loud. How pathetic that we need to resort to such playground shite. The rants should arise naturally out of our heated discussions here. Unfortunately, in recent months, the debates have been as heated as SoT's hot water bottle first thing in the morning.

Stop fucking pussyfooting around.

[The Prof]

as heated as SoT's hot water bottle first thing in the morning.

That's a bad thing, right?

[Bungo the Mungo]

as heated as SoT's hot water bottle first thing in the morning.

That's a bad thing, right?

Erm....I think so. I wouldn't know. Maybe we should ask someone who's seen it.

Anyone?

[Livet]

Stop fucking pussyfooting around.

No pussyfooting, you say? Agreed!

[Clippernolan]

There's currently an "x" beside the Police choice. Have some of you revoked your votes?

[The Slider]

I think the X indicates that that was the option for which you voted.

[Deebank]

They were supposed to 'mean' something which the Police never did and never tried to.

Well we can agree The Police were meaningless then. I'm glad we've reached a consensus after 17 pages!

So what did the Jam mean them hmmm?
You obviously swallowed the bollocks shovelled out by Paulo Hewitt et al hook line and sinker. A bunch of 'the kids are all right'-type platitudes re-heated for a new generation. That's not to say Weller didn't write a few decent tunes before he dissapeared up his hole, but the Jam were on the whole woefully patchy.

The Jam - A fake mod band with a clutch of great singles.
The Police - punk-inspired pop band (no more fake than The Clash) with a shed load of top notch tunes.

At least Sting's forays into jazz can't be labelled pseudish - unlike Weller's most embarrassing periods - Stinko did afterall earn his spurs in various jazz bands in Newcastle - both trad and modern.

People still seem hung up on the 'authenticity' which at this remove is utterly irrelevent.

[The Prof]

There's currently an "x" beside the Police choice. Have some of you revoked your votes?

Seemingly, you can keep swapping your vote.

[Tom Violence]

Police - some decent singles and i don't mind the first and last albums but they ain't that great really.

THe Jam - 20 odd superb singles, some great b-sides and six fantastic albums. And Sting isn't in the band.

The Jam are in a completely different league to the Police. The Police are decent enough, but Sting isn't fit to be in the same room as Paul Weller who is a true legend for his work with the Jam.

Sting is a second-division player to Weller's Ronaldo.

[Stirling Moss]

THe Jam - ... six fantastic albums.

No offence Floyd, but not even Weller would defend this LP - it's shoddy, third rate hack-work. It's most definitely not fantastic (in my book anyway).

THe Jam - 20 odd superb singles, some great b-sides and six fantastic albums. And Sting isn't in the band.

The Jam are in a completely different league to the Police. The Police are decent enough, but Sting isn't fit to be in the same room as Paul Weller who is a true legend for his work with the Jam.

Sting is a second-division player to Weller's Ronaldo.

I've no problem with steadfast band loyalty at all (on the contrary - it's an all too rare commodity these days) - but it's interesting that the Jam-philiacs here (on the increase, according to the polling) continue to come up with such hyperbole.

Sting is a twat, most definitely. But it's obvious that unconditional, vociferous hatred of the man is blunting any objectivity of his abilities as a musician, songwriter and arranger.

[The Modernist]

We've got you on the run Wolfie!