BCB 100 - The Jam

[Beno]

I'm going to be a dissenting voice to this I love in. To be fair I only know them through greatest hits comps and All Mod Cons but for me, whilst they are good, they just aren't that special.

The Kinks do the '"stories about English life" thing much better and plenty of bands are better at injecting punk/new wave energy. Maybe the combination of the two is what is so highly rated but I'm not totally convinced.

Looking at similar acts I'd say that Elvis Costello was a far better songwriter, in fact far better all round.

you know, he never grabbed me by the balls like the jam did. he's a clever songwriter, like a latter-day cole porter or sammy cahn, but for me he rarely spoke to me.

there was something about weller that just connected. listen to "that's entertainment" or read the post i did about "town called malice" to see what i mean. both are probably observational writers (or were back in the day) but the young weller seemed like he was looking at it from the inside.

I wasn't around at the time for either of them in a record buying sense so possibly see things from a different perspective. I actually love 'That's Entrtainment' the best thing they did by far, and whilst The Jam had more of an edge, Costello tops them on both a heartfelt level, 'Alison', and on a compositional level, with the mini-masterpiece 'Beyond Belief', which for me gives him the prize.

[The Prof]

Certainly in the 'dull', 'worthy' and 'earnest' stakes, Costello is head and shoulders above Weller.

[Phenomenal Cat]

I've never really liked the Jam, which is weird, because I just realised I actually like all the songs I've heard, eg the singles. My favourite one of which is That's Entertainment.
I should probably give them a proper listen at some point.

They're okay, but they're no Husker Du.

[Jeff K]

Album - This is the Modern World

Song - Down At the Tube Station At Midnight

[The Modernist]

Certainly in the 'dull', 'worthy' and 'earnest' stakes, Costello is head and shoulders above Weller.

Well yes exactly.

[Tom Violence]

Album - This is the Modern World

Song - Down At the Tube Station At Midnight

I'm heartened that someone has this as their fav album (not trying to be condescending as I am a fuckwit and an ignorant one at that), I'm going to give it some more listens til I damn well like it a bit more.

[Quaco]

I always liked This Is the Modern World the best too, for some reason. Probably because it seemed to display the most Who-like tendencies: "I Need You" (same title as a Who song [and a Beatles song]) is very harmonic and Anglophilic), there are some filler songs that still sweat ("London Traffic", "Don't Tell Them You're Sane"), there's a rocked-up R&B cover ("In the Midnight Hour"), the Foxton jump on the back is fantastic and great to look at while you're listening to the album, and in general there is more of a Townshend-anthem approach ("Standards" and "This Is the Modern World" trying to be like "My Generation"), rather than the observational style Weller later adopted (which probably came more from Ray Davies). In general, I think I gravitate toward transition albums, like this one and A Quick One. Plus, "I Need You" and "Tonight at Noon" are two of my very favorite Jam tracks.

Album: This Is the Modern World.
Song: "Away from the Numbers" ... oh yes, still powerful.

[king feeb]

Favorite album: Sound Affects

Favorite song: "I've Changed My Address" (from the first four notes, it makes me want to bounce around the room, slamming into shit. I'm healing nicely, thank you.)

[Shagger Dave]

Album- Sound Affects

Song- Art School. Not Wellers most polished or erudite moment but like Feeb said above, it make me wanna jump around the room.

[The Modernist]

Song - Dreams of Children. It and Going Underground- another great song- is their best single by a large margin.

that's just silly.

Dreams Of Children would be my choice as well.
Album: All Mod Cons.

[Tom Violence]

I'm not sure why 'Dreams of Children' seems to be quite a hated Jam song, I love it me...when i first got 'Very Best Of' which has just the singles and some of the b-sides I was surprised when I checked out which songs were singles and which b-sides...i think it's as good as most of the singles. So is 'A-Bomb in Wardour Street'.

[Jock]

Album: All Mod Cons

Song: Too many to choose from

One of the best live bands ive seen

[Scally Mcgrew]

For me, The Jam were the greatest British singles group after The Beatles.

Album: Snap! (or 'Sound Affects', if you like).

Song: So many to choose from, but I'm going for what is one of my favourite songs ever:

Liza Radley.

[The Modernist]

I'm not sure why 'Dreams of Children' seems to be quite a hated Jam song, I love it me...when i first got 'Very Best Of' which has just the singles and some of the b-sides I was surprised when I checked out which songs were singles and which b-sides...i think it's as good as most of the singles. So is 'A-Bomb in Wardour Street'.

I don't think anyone's said they've hated Dreams Of Children have they? The Jam understood the single brilliantly. Not only, as you say, did the B sides contain some of their best tunes, but it was also where they would experiment offering tantalising glimpses into their future direction. Dreams Of Children came across as rather oblique and mysterious with a clear psychedelic tinge. This seemed a distinct departure from the usual "tell it as it is" social realism of The Jam. Likewise Tales From The Riverbank seemd very different offering a pastoralism that he's since pursued, rather patchilly at times it must be said, in his solo work.

[Scally Mcgrew]

Anyway....The Style Council.

Album: Cafe Bleu.

Single: Speak Like A Child. Just one of the most uplifting, fun-on-a-summer's day songs ever.

[The Modernist]

Single: Speak Like A Child. Just one of the most uplifting, fun-on-a-summer's day songs ever.

Absolutely. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be swept away by its sheer joyous infection.

[Jumper k]

Single: Speak Like A Child. Just one of the most uplifting, fun-on-a-summer's day songs ever.

Absolutely. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be swept away by its sheer joyous infection.

Its fucking rubbish of course. Poncey soul-lite done by dullards.

Anyway I couldn't say I liked a Jam lp all the way through so I won't put one forward, they were a great singles band though and I'll go for A Bomb In Wardour Street.

[Jumper k]

Single: Speak Like A Child. Just one of the most uplifting, fun-on-a-summer's day songs ever.

Absolutely. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be swept away by its sheer joyous infection.

Its fucking rubbish of course. Poncey soul-lite done by dullards.

don't be daft, it's great.

What the fuck do you know about music cloth ears?
The Style Council were and never will be any good. Laughable maybe, to be pitied definitely. Dreadful, every goddam thing. Oh, Mick Talbot should be shot on sight, shooting is obviously a waste of a bullet as far as Weller is concerned.

[Tom Violence]

The Style Council are astonishingly bad compared with the Jam. To this day I actually find it hard to believe that the same man wrote songs for the two bands. It almost seems deliberate.

[The Modernist]

The Style Council are astonishingly bad compared with the Jam. To this day I actually find it hard to believe that the same man wrote songs for the two bands. It almost seems deliberate.

And I find it astonishing they are so easily dismissed, did people really expect him to keep singing angry rock songs for the rest of his career? Of course they were infuriatingly patchy and they badly lost their way, but they did record some great stuff and some of the songwriting is up there with Weller's best.