The Jam Album: “Sound of the Jam [Bonus DVD]”

I was actually able to get my hands on the Jam's greatest hits collection Gold. It's a two-disc set with disc one being the UK version of Sound of the Jam. The only difference with the US and UK versions is that the UK has six more songs. So basically, I own Sound of the Jam, and it is hard to say I am not pleased with. It serves as perhaps the perfect start and introduction to this very under appreciated band. It's in a nice chronological order, so it's easy to see how far the band progressed in their short career. In America the Jam is a very underrated band and this CD shows how underrated they truly are.

Unlike most greatest hits compilations, this one is dominated by album cuts. This is both good and bad. The good is that songs that only big fans who own the albums hear, can now be heard by a wider audience. Great songs such as "Thick as Thieves "and" Ghosts, which are not usually put on other compilations, are now thrown with songs worth of their company. The bad part about the album track domination is that many great singles, some which helped define the band, are not present. "Strange Town" and "When You're Young" were some of the Jam's greatest singles and just flat out good songs, yet they are nowhere to be found. Neither is "Dreams of Children", which was the other half of their 1980 UK number 1 single. Even standout album tracks like `"A' Bomb on Wardour Street"', are not here.

While Sound of the Jam serves as probably the greatest introduction for this amazing band, there is a lot to be desired. Key tracks in the bands catalog are missing when they should definitely be on here. However, it is good and should be bought by anyone interested in the Jam, or late seventies-early eighties music for that matter. While not the biggest band in the US, they are of much historical importance in music of the last 30 years.

Standout tracks: In the City, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Eton Rifles, Thick as Thieves, Going Underground, Start, That's Entertainment, Town Called Malice.

Across their six albums, The Jam touched on virtually every style in existance, and this CD is a great chance to see that. Their roots were in the punk / new wave scene, but frontman Paul Weller also had a lvoe of soul, funk and jazz, as well as an itneresting socio-political approach that had a different kind of bile to the Sex Pistols - it was perhaps more positive and inspirational, even in their early days.

The selections are roughly 50/50 split between singles and album tracks, which means that a lot of singles are missing - although only the lush ballad The Bitterest Pill and the obscenely catchy When You're Young are really missed. Album tracks such as the poignant English Rose and the powerful Liza Radley are certainly among tehir finest tracks.

Their artisitc progression is quite easy to chart from the tracks here. With a love of 60s pop, they somewhat tagged onto the punk vibe in tehir early days, before coming into real form with the amazing, edgy Down In the Tube Station At Midnight, which builds into a truly stunning climax as its sad tale reaches its conclusion.

The Eton Rifles then burst them into the UK Top 10, with it's hilarious lyrics on the class struggle - "all that rugby puts hairs on your chest, what chance have you got agaisnt a tie and a crest?" - before they increasingly took influences form black American music. Start! is especially inventive, and seems to be several songs in one. The acoustic social commentary of That's Entertainment is perhaps their greatest track - no wonder its one of the few that still features in Paul Weller's solo set.

Having been heard in the film Billy Elliott, and covered by Britpoppers Gene, A Town Called Malice is their best known / least unknown song. With a very Motowny baseline it's representative of their later material, and extremely hummable, while lyrically still down to earth and quite English.

The band were soon finsihed, as the artisitc differences become too much - bassist Bruce Foxton formed punk band Stiff Little Fingers, while Weller fronted the soulful, romantic Style Council (both great bands as well). Their legacy is impressive, and too easy to overlook.

Great CD, I'm not a fan, but I enjoyed it very much. It contains all the songs you need to listen from this british group and that definitely defines it as one of the best of their time

The Jam is great and this collection is very comprehensive, but the DVD is not Region 1, and will not play on most DVD players in the US. If your DVD player can support PAL format, you will be OK.

Great collection. Drink a couple of cups of really strong coffee and listen to "Thick as Thieves"; the rush is like surfing a 6' peak at H.B. on a 5-10 twin fin in June.