The Jam - the thread

[sloopjohnc]

The run of "Tube Station" "Strange Town" "When You're Young" "Eton Rifles" and "Going Underground" is about as good as good as the 7" single gets.

They made some good albums too but I will always think back to the rush of hearing those being released within 18 months when I think of The Jam.

As a Melody Maker subscriber in the early '80s, their singles were almost always perched at No. 1. All Mod Cons and Setting Sons is their height, in my mind. Weller and Davies are probably the best at epitomizing London and its suburbs to the world. Weller used way more words than Davies to do it though. Sometimes I felt like he had a quota he had to reach per song.

[Diamond Dog]

Is PW still worth seeiing live these days? Whilst not a massive fan - only have two or three albums - he's on at the Olympia THeatre in Dubliin in Feb next year and they still have some TX left.

FWIW, it's a lovely little venue with a capacity of about 1500.

Just go. It will be a great night.

For all of those knocking his solo career... I wonder how many truly know what they're on about, or are the majority (as I strongly suspect) the type that have heard bits of "Wildwood" and "Stanley Road", and basically gave up around the time of "Heavy Soul" and haven't heard a damn thing of "As Is Now" "22 Dreams" and "Wake Up The Nation", his superb triumvirate from 2005-2010?

[The Slider]

I did
You sent As Is Now to me unsolicited
I tried it
It was utter shit

[Diamond Dog]

I did
You sent As Is Now to me unsolicited
I tried it
It was utter shit

Now that's odd - because I remember you actually praising it, in particular the trombone on "Here's The Good News".

Maybe I'm 'mis-remembering'....

[Quaco]

I've been thinking about "Mr. Clean" lately. It's a bit dickish. I mean yeah, Mr. day-in/day-out office man, it's an empty existence sometimes. But then again, Paul, have you never gotten pissed at an office party? Don't you like thinking about pretty young girls once in a while? You're picking too easy targets here. Corporate drones can't help it, and, in fact, are real people trying to get along.

[...]

Is PW still worth seeiing live these days? Whilst not a massive fan - only have two or three albums - he's on at the Olympia THeatre in Dubliin in Feb next year and they still have some TX left.

FWIW, it's a lovely little venue with a capacity of about 1500.

Just go. It will be a great night.

For all of those knocking his solo career... I wonder how many truly know what they're on about, or are the majority (as I strongly suspect) the type that have heard bits of "Wildwood" and "Stanley Road", and basically gave up around the time of "Heavy Soul" and haven't heard a damn thing of "As Is Now" "22 Dreams" and "Wake Up The Nation", his superb triumvirate from 2005-2010?

WTF, got the tickets.

Having spent 30-odd years in places where gigs were manna from heaven, it's a godsend to have Dublin a E50 train ride away as it's possible to see so many great gigs in great venues there.

[The Write Profile]

I've been thinking about "Mr. Clean" lately. It's a bit dickish. I mean yeah, Mr. day-in/day-out office man, it's an empty existence sometimes. But then again, Paul, have you never gotten pissed at an office party? Don't you like thinking about pretty young girls once in a while? You're picking too easy targets here. Corporate drones can't help it, and, in fact, are real people trying to get along.

I share your views on that track, but it's interesting that he was actually capable of being quite deft and even gossamer at his best- I'm thinking of the way "Fly" (ahem) takes off, or the strangely affecting clumsiness of "English Rose" or the tightly wound "Butterfly Collector". Certainly, he had a real ability for creating miniature portraits from an dogged outsider's point of view- it's just that most of the time, even on some of his best songs ("Going Underground", "In the Crowd", "Eton Rifles"), they were outsiders who thoroughly hated those in the 'in crowd' while simultaneously being desperate to join them. The Jam get their power from their anger, even on their most melodic album Sound Affects, which probably explains why their covers were so bludgeoning (their take on "David Watts" has none of the generosity or saving-grace irony of the original, for instance). I'd agree with hatz that the Jam peaked with "Going Underground"/"Dreams of Children"- a surprisingly forthright and forward-thinking single, but Christ, they had an incredible run either side of it. Their best songs often had a sense of desperation to them as well. So yeah, I'm a fan of the Jam.

[Tom Waits For No One]

I've been thinking about "Mr. Clean" lately. It's a bit dickish. I mean yeah, Mr. day-in/day-out office man, it's an empty existence sometimes. But then again, Paul, have you never gotten pissed at an office party? Don't you like thinking about pretty young girls once in a while? You're picking too easy targets here. Corporate drones can't help it, and, in fact, are real people trying to get along.

I always imagined that Weller was writing about a character like





Interestingly,it looks like the track before provides the title for the proposed film after,

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/q ... 5143694535

[The Modernist]

I've been thinking about "Mr. Clean" lately. It's a bit dickish. I mean yeah, Mr. day-in/day-out office man, it's an empty existence sometimes. But then again, Paul, have you never gotten pissed at an office party? Don't you like thinking about pretty young girls once in a while? You're picking too easy targets here. Corporate drones can't help it, and, in fact, are real people trying to get along.

Quite possibly, but that's a mature viewpoint. He was writing it as an angry 19 year old growing up in a commuter town with a real sense of them and us. Personally I love its venom.

[Goat Boy]

There's a class element to it as well. It is immature but then it's universal too.

[echolalia]

Certainly, he had a real ability for creating miniature portraits from an dogged outsider's point of view- it's just that most of the time, even on some of his best songs ("Going Underground", "In the Crowd", "Eton Rifles"), they were outsiders who thoroughly hated those in the 'in crowd' while simultaneously being desperate to join them.

I’ve always heard Mr Clean as Weller writing in persona. There are loads of Jam songs that use the same device – To Be Someone, Tube Station, Burning Sky, Wasteland and so on. In the case of Mr Clean it’s clearly a disaffected youth/suburban malcontent who’s talking. No doubt with much in common with Weller himself. Billy Hunt on a bad day, if you like.

I do love the bit where he sings “If I get the chance I’ll fuck up your life.” It’s a nasty sentiment for sure, and if I find it more powerful/shocking now than I did then it’s maybe because I identified with it more then than I do now, I dunno.

[Matt Wilson]

After this thread I listened to all my favorite Jam songs on the iPod. Thirty something of them, so the band is fresh in my memory. They were great yes, with a youthful power and sense of righteous anger which was contagious. I often can't tell what Weller is saying because of his accent and the way he sings in a rapid-fire delivery. He does strike me as being somewhat dickish to use Quaco's verbiage, but that's to be expected I guess. I can't see how anyone could not come to the conclusion that All Mod Cons and Sound Affects are their two best albums either.

[bobzilla77]

I love love loved them when I was 15-16. Ever since I've never NOT liked them but I don't listen to it that often. I do like it when I hear it though and went on a bit of a Jam binge earlier this year.

As I was listening to Setting Sons recently, I remembered one week when I was 15 when my mom had gone out of town & left me alone in the house. That whole week I was reading Helter Skelter and listening to Setting Sons. And I started to develop this real dread about grownup existence. Like, I'm going to have to give up my dreams and work for the man only to be fired and hung out to dry, and all my friends are going to become assholes, and I'll be beaten by football hooligans and drafted into the army to fight a useless war and even if all that fails, and I manage to become a successful musician, I'll just get carved up by crazed hippies and made into a purse.

[bobzilla77]

I had never bothered to pick up the album The Gift as I already had Town Called Malice on their hits collection and wasn't that impressed by their other neo-soul stuff. But I heard the whole thing this year & it's a lot better than I'd imagined.

I did see Weller live about four or five years ago and enjoyed it very much. I don't own his solo albums but the stuff he did at that show was respectable. Maybe I'll get into them later.

[pcqgod]

No nostalgia from me. When I belatedly discovered punk I got the 'Snap' compilation on cassette and it wasn't what I was expecting at all. I wanted fast and loud at the time, since this was well into the hardcore punk era. I actually gave them another chance more for their connection to the Mod revival, a much later musical interest for me. Now I think they're pretty great at times, but sometimes ridiculously morose and too political for my tastes.

[Quaco]

So much is said about the Weller lyrics and attitude, the music may sometimes be overshadowed. The music behind the "getting pissed" section of "Mr. Clean" is magnificent. He has some of the best guitar tones of all time ("News of the World", "Set the House Ablaze"). The song "Monday" full stop. Et cetera. There's a lot of great music on those record quite apart from the words and singing.

[naughty boy]

The song "Monday" full stop.

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Dr Markus]

Great band, makes me wish I was a teen back then discovering the Jam.

[naughty boy]

Bloody do it then!

[Dr Markus]

Bloody do it then!

Aye, lend us your delorean there..............