The Jam Album: “Snap!”

I owed this album on vinyl (still do, in fact) and played the daylights out of it. It was the soundtrack to my angst filled teens. And the editorial review above is spot-on: I bought the original CD, which had about 25% of the songs trimmed away, robbing the record of its soul.

This is a welcome return for the record. It is a brilliant overview of the group, capturing the band's fire as a unit and Paul Weller's skill as a composer.

The artwork faithfully restores the original LP art while beautifully augmenting it with lyrics and 7" single & LP covers (which, for fear of overreminiscing, I had on a Snap T-shirt I bought in London in '84).

The coup de grace that makes this superior to all the other Jam retrospectives is the inclusion (finally!) of the Live ep, which, to these ears, is the best live recording of The Jam available.

This is a magnificent piece for the long time fan, and a well worthwhile purchase for the novice looking to understand why Paul Weller is called The Modfather and The Godfather of Britpop, and why The Jam is one of the best bands England ever produced.

Paul Weller is often seen as Daddy Britpop. Maybe even more than the Beatles, he was the main influence behind the Britpop revival in the nineties. Bands as Oasis, Supergrass and the Verve all got to pay their dues to Mister Weller and it all started with the Jam.

The Jam rose to legendary status during the dawn of Punk rock. Although they never sounded as raw as the Sex Pistols or the Clash they are considered to be one of the greatest bands of that generation. Their sound is deeply indebted to Northern Soul, Funky and thrilling. Their songs were Snappy pop gems, pure working-class poetry. Unlike other Punk Rockers, their image was pristine, with cool sharp cut suits or expensive leisure wear. They were almost a movement on their own within the Punk scene.

Snap was originally released as a double vinyl (remember those) and then comprised to a single disc. Because not everything of the original vinyl release fitted on a single disc eight tunes were cut form the release. The bonus EP that came with the original release disappeared all together. For decades fans had to make do with either the complete discography on disc or lacking compilations. This atrocity is finally set right with the re-release on disc of Snap in it original form, including the EP and a beautiful booklet. This truly is a must have for anyone interested in British music and an essential for any Punk Rock fan.

This will be brief.

The Jam's hits package Snap! was an incredible overview of the band. The truncated CD release Compact Snap was a far cry from the original.

This new limited edition package is gorgeous. The restored live EP is a very nice bonus.

If you love The Jam, this is a no-brainer.

5-stars for the music. 5 stars for the packaging.

Best compilation of The Jam out there. Worth the price of admission solely for the demo version of That's Entertainment, which I enjoy much more than the slower album version from Sound Affects. This was how I got introduced to the band and it's nice to see the disc mimic the old cassette version I had. How they could leave Man In The Cornershop off it in the first version I don't know!