The Jam Album: “Jam at the BBC [International]”

First, I am a huge Jam/TSC/Paul Weller fan, so my low rating is for the package of this disc, not the fabulous music. I own every Jam disc and purchased this to complete my collection. I have other Jam live discs including some boots. I thought I was getting the full BBC collection when I purchased this set. But, buyer beware! When I loaded this set into iTunes I noticed that it referenced disc 1 of 3 and 2 of 3. Apparently iTunes knew what I didn't - there is a third BBC disc. I dug a little deeper and found another "Jam at the BBC" set on Amazon that features three discs - another 18 tracks. The cost is only 21.99 for a used set (much higher for a new set). The other set is listed as an import (which my two disc copy also was stickered on the shrink wrap), but as of this review had not yet been reviewed. So, if you want the entire BBC package search out the complete BBC set and buy it instead of this one. Happy shopping.

This album is a great live retrospective of the Jam's career. The only weaknesses are the lack of material from Sound Affects and a horrible horn sound on the later performances. If the liner notes didn't give credit to the horn players, it would be very easy to assume the horn section was actually a Casio keyboard.

Aside from the cheesy horns, every track is full of energy and fire. In particular, the songs from All Mod Cons and Setting Sons hugely benefit from the stripped down, no BS attack of live Jam. The influence of the Who on Paul Weller has never been more explicit--the Jam is truly the second coming of "Maximum R&B", down to the perfect cover of "Sweet Soul Music".

Overall, this is a must for any Jam fan, not just completists, and would serve as a fine introduction to the band for anybody not familiar with them. Four stars.

Two Jewels missing and these are the only reason why I don't RATE this 5 stars: "That's Entertainment" & "Goin' Underground"! GREAT CD without these two anyway!