"If we get through for two minutes only, it will be aaaaaa... POLL!" - The Jam - Singles (1977-1982)

"The Modern World" intro will always in my mind be the intro to "The Modern Rock Report" on Live 105, the local modern/alt-rock station I listened to in the 80s (albeit with lots of static because I lived in the sticks)

Turrican’s mention of the unusual structure of Strange Town led me to write a few lines in praise of this song, and a band led by a talented, angry, but shy and curiously inarticulate youth (despite some fine lyrics). This person, armed with Strummer’s bullshit detector and informed by a fierce punk/mod discipline, has little in common with the man he later became. The Jam always were about the primacy of youth and the power of the single.
Weller’s guitar playing in the Jam usually provides simple, rhythmic lines that allow the rhythm section to lead. The intro over Strange Town’s 5-note guitar figure is dominated by drum patterns, snare rolls, and the verses by a muscular bassline that is a joy. The perspective is the working class lad feeling alienated in the city, the same one as in their debut single 2 years earlier, but with some of the idealism knocked out of him. I love the delivery of the “dreadful snow” line, nailing English small-talk, just as “we don’t know, we don’t care, we gotta go mate”, captures our stand-offish manner with strangers.
Next there is a chorus that has more of the feel of a bridge, chords IV and V and Townsend-like suspendeds. We get a brief, blues-attack guitar solo for half a verse (when he knew that less is more), then that gorgeous middle 8 “I’ve finished with clubs.. etc”. Chord II7 is like the sun coming out at this point, then the surprise E major, dang dang, again showing the skills of his 60s masters. If your face still doesn’t crack a smile, we get a Mr Sheen reference a few moments later which surely will, though only Brits would have known he meant furniture polish.
Instead of a return to the verse, the pace is wound down for a descending guitar pattern that gradually thickens with overdubs, feedback, pickslides and bass riffs towards a point of momentary chaos, such that it’s hard to accurately predict the moment of return for the first verse, even if you know the song well. Yet the instruments lock in so tightly in the verse that the pace is immediately restored. (The Buzzcocks also did this sort of thing, sometimes to even greater effect). The coda resurrects the intro’s five-note figure, but moved up to C major, plus the machine-gun rhythms, a new ascending guitar riff and a line the boys can all shout along to: “Break it up!” What more could you ask for in 3 mins 50?

Wow. Booming post, Dr. X.

I had to go back and read the lyrics because I always found Weller's accent to be a bit thick to my midwestern ears (it was years before I deciphered the line "'Jesus saves' painted by an atheist nutter"). But you nailed it, Dr. X, and it struck me that that level of pop craftsmanship (for lack of a better term) hasn't been heard in his work in several decades.

Other brilliant parts of "Strange Town": the layered feedback in the intro, and Rick's 16th-notes near the end when Paul's singing "straaange town" in falsetto.

Yes! It's just so dense and lovely. Just dug into the extras on the CD boxset again, and found the origin of the Strange Town Middle 8 in a demo, World's Apart, with some different lyrics and context. There was talk of another recycled M8 upthread, I think. Much better on the same CD is a bouncy-pop lost gem, Walking in Heaven's Sunshine

Going Underground

How come they never got back together? Was it just Paul Weller being stubborn?

Excellent post, Dr X O'Skeleton - thanks for that!

Rick's 16th-notes near the end when Paul's singing "straaange town" in falsetto.

^ Which, let's not forget, is the only time that particular bit of music features in the song, and it's not part of the middle 8 or anything - it's like a small bridge to the coda.

How come they never got back together? Was it just Paul Weller being stubborn?

― kornrulez6969, Sunday, April 30, 2017 5:44 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Basically, yes. The reason why The Jam split up in the first place was because Weller wanted the band to "count for something", the thinking being that rather than let the band fade away into irrelevance, he decided to split the band up while they were in their prime and at their commercial height so that they'd always be remembered for being "on top" ... I think part of it was that Weller was a huge fan of the '60s work of The Who and The Kinks and he hated what both bands had turned into, and maybe he felt that the Small Faces had the right idea in splitting up after Ogden's and leaving their fans wanting more. He's also said that he didn't feel that Rick and Bruce would be up for going in some of the directions he wanted to go in with The Style Council etc.

I don't think there would have been any perfect time to re-form The Jam in all honesty. You could have said 1994-1995 would have been the best time to do it, but by then Weller's solo career had taken off. Stanley Road sold over a million copies - he didn't really need to reform The Jam. If they re-formed now it would be absolutely terrible - and there's still tensions between Buckler and the rest of the band.

I think part of it was that Weller was a huge fan of the '60s work of The Who and The Kinks and he hated what both bands had turned into

The Jam's final concert took place six days before (what was assumed to be at the time, and remained so for about three years) the Who's final show.

and maybe he felt that the Small Faces had the right idea in splitting up after /Ogden's/ and leaving their fans wanting more.

Ah, but the Small Faces did the reunion thing! They put out two universally panned records in the late '70s, Playmates and '78 In The Shade. I've heard neither, and I assume listening to them would be a very depressing experience.

Of course they did, and there's no way that Weller was going to make that mistake!

The Small Faces reunion albums are, well look up 'curates egg' on wiki.

There ate some excellent tracks like "Stand by me, I'll stand by you", but there are awful tracks like .. well, one of them is like 'Lazy Sunday' but much worse.

One of them is/was on Spotify.

There's footage of Small Faces playing on Whistle Test during the late '70s era and Marriott is clearly high as a kite.

I remember that at the time, yes.

i listened to snap enough between 83 and 86 to fully internalize most of these songs, but i've not listened to them too often in the past 25 years. hearing the sentimentality of "when youre young," but now very much in the light of my own kids just peeking at some of the zones described in the song, had me almost tearing up while out running today. that was a really weird and surprising change.

so many great singles but "start!" was my start and it sounds as perfect to me today as it did the day i first heard it.

Cafe Bleu is a great album and while I'm sure Weller could have done it with Foxton and Buckler, would it have been any better because of it? I doubt it.

When You're Young is so often overlooked because of the other great singles from that time, but it carries such a charge, musically and lyrically. Similar arrangement tricks to Strange Town, with the layered feedback and descending guitar figures, so easy to fall in love with....

It's hard to imagine tracks like 'A Gospel' existing if Cafe Bleu had been a Jam album.

'Thick as Thieves' is as OTM as 'When You're Young' lyrically, IMO.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

There are several votes I could justify here, these songs are _meaningful_ to me in ways I think no band will match for me, even though I never really felt the Jam were my _favorite_ at any time. Just the damn songs-- so good. Going Underground wins here, though Thick as Thieves might nip it, if it were present. I was astonished how strongly Absolute Beginners (damn, Foxton) and When You're Young finished with me, I don't remember those being particularly big for me those decades ago.

1979:

But you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to comprehend why you set up your dreams to have them smashed in the end
But you don't mind you've got time on your side
And they're never gonna make you stand in line
You're just waiting for the right time

2005:

Fly little bird when you fly
Fly little bird when you fly
Fly little bird when you fly
Fly little bird when you fly
Fly little bird when you fly

What happened to him? I was listening to Saturday's Kids this morning, and was struck by how accurately he caught working class life in the late 70s, beyond the kitchen sink clichés, by reporting what people actually said:
Saturday's kids play on one armed bandits
they never win but that's not the point, is it?
Dip in silver paper when their pints go flat
How about that? Far out man.

I don't know. I think he was still capable of a great lyric up to Wild Wood or possibly Stanley Road... I think he either got lazy or ran out of new things to write about after that. I think 'All The Pictures On The Wall' is a great lyric, for example.

Also, if anyone were ever curious as to what The Jam would have sounded like if they hadn't split, look no further than 'There's No Drinking After You're Dead' from Weller's Heliocentric, which is probably the closest he ever got to sounding like The Jam after they split.

Toss up between Start! and Funeral Pyre for me. Not a single, but Sound Affects was the second record I ever bought (aged 7) and my favourite song was Scrape Away, but I wouldn't have had a clue what it was about.

Toss up between Start! and Funeral Pyre for me. Not a single, but Sound Affects was the second record I ever bought (aged 7) and my favourite song was Scrape Away, but I wouldn't have had a clue what it was about.

Scrape Away has one of my favourite lines (albeit spoken), "You say power is all, it's power you need"

'Scrape Away' is great, IMO... one of those tracks that proved that Weller wasn't all '60s influences. 'Scrape Away' was very contemporary. 'Funeral Pyre' too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Fucking hell!

Ha, "Town Called Malice" is one of my least-favorite Jam singles. I don't hate it as a song, but it always struck me as too much of a pastiche, and pastiche wasn't what made the Jam great.

Went with "The Bitterest Pill."

'Going Underground' still retains its power for me, probably because when I listen to The Jam, I usually tend to go for the studio albums rather than any compilations, so I'm far more burnt out on 'Town Called Malice' and 'That's Entertainment' ... I didn't vote for any of those.

I can't remember what I voted for, think it was 'Strange Town' ... I'm not arsed about 'Precious' not getting a vote, and I expected a poor showing for 'News of the World' as much as I like it. Can't believe 'When You're Young' didn't get a vote, though.

Surprised at Funeral Pyre, I do think it's amazing, though I'm wondering if I've ever heard the proper version? Snap says it's special edit.

In a way I thought when you're young is too on the nose, but it still seems more legit than town called malice, which is goopy, if fun imo. I should've noted ilx ruined down in a tube station for me perfectly and forever.

Snap'sversion is a less murky mix.

'When yr young', lost out but would have done OK on 2nd preference?

I should have stuck to my first thought of voting for "Precious"

I should've noted ilx ruined down in a tube station for me perfectly and forever.

ha, ilx did the same with Eton Rifles for me -- though I dunno about ruined, to be honest, just that it was one of the first "phrases you inexplicably start singing to the melody of something else" posts, and now so many phrases that have the same cadence as "The Eton Rifles," I sing to the tune of "Eton Rifles" and there are so damn many!

"Eating Trifles" et al

I should've noted ilx ruined down in a tube station for me perfectly and forever.

Collateral Damage: "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" by The Jam - What Does It Mean?

Ha, "Town Called Malice" is one of my least-favorite Jam singles. I don't hate it as a song, but it always struck me as too much of a pastiche, and pastiche wasn't what made the Jam great.

Never liked it much either. Neither did Mark E. Smith...

In his notes accompanying the 2005 expanded version of Room To Live Daryl Easlea writes: "The intro to 'Solicitor [In Studio]'...showed again Smith's dalliance with topicality, as the title was a swipe at the UK's then-no.1 single, 'A Town Called Malice' by The Jam." [Note: this wasn't actually the case, as the number one single at the time was The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Tight Fit; The Jam's had been the previous chart topper]. Indeed, the riff which goes with the song on its second recorded performance (details opposite) veers from an imitation of The Jam's track to something resembling 'I'm Into CB'. The lyrics include the line: "I look for suits." On its first gig rendition, there was no accompanying riff, and somewhat different lyrics: "Got to get out of that city called Crappy/Now I don't like Maggie/All the money I made out of mods has made me feel guilty/A town called Crappy"

From the review on this website of the following gig: 1 April 1982 Nightmoves, Glasgow: "Second and last (?) version of "Town called Crappy" although on this version I think Mark says "Cranky" or "Crikey".... Mark laughs and says to the crowd "you don't even recognise our impersonations."

Hahaha.

It was the closest they ever got to a US hit, though -- #31 on Billboard's "Mainstream Rock" chart, whatever the hell that is/was.

Ah right, now I understand why it won this poll.

Also Billy Elliot, which wasn't a massive box-office success in the US, but it's safe to say it was the first/only time most of the film's American audience ever heard the Jam.

Also it's their best song.

I forgot to vote.

haha, no problem at all with Town Called Malice as #1.
I always found those Style Council albums a snoozefest, should I revisit?

Our Favourite Shop is a good album from start to finish, and Confessions of a Pop Group is a personal favourite of mine as the first half of the record was Weller (at that point) outside of his comfort zone and producing some really beautiful music.

On the whole, though, The Style Council were more about individual moments rather than the LP's, which is why the box set is so essential if you're a Weller fan, and the best way to approach The Style Council rather than any of their LP's.

Also it's their best song.

― dorsalstop, Friday, May 5, 2017 1:50 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If it's the only one you've heard, sure.

The Mark E Smith jibe I remember was: "I understand you, I live in a town called m.. m.. marquis cha cha!"
Solitary vote for Absolute Beginners. I always thought it was a big dip in quality - especially after the post-punk attack of Funeral Pyre - then I played it again this week and remembered the guitar, funk that growls! plus the bass and the horns carrying the tune. That sound got tired quickly on the last album, but its perfectly balanced on that single.