The Jam-All Mod Cons
Track Listing:
1. All Mod Cons
2. To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time?)
3. Mr. Clean
4. David Watts
5. English Rose
6. In The Crowd
7. Billy Hunt
8. It's Too Bad
9. Fly
10. The Place I Love
11. 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street
12. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Best Track: It's Too Bad
My Generation,circa 1978?
I'd never heard of The Jam until two weeks ago, when I decided to take the plunge on them when I saw one of their cds. This was
All Mod Cons, which is a superb if a little derivative art-punk album.
The sound on this album is pretty standard for the Punk era; being guitar, bass and drums but that doesn't stop the individual tracks from being quality. The title track opener sets the scene for the majority of the album with it's gritty yet melodic guitar riffs, it's effective bass lines and Paul Weller's harsh and heavily accented vocals. I really do like Weller's vocal style, as it has that punk angryness in it but yet it also conveys a very attractive essence to it, which I find uncommon for vocalists of this era.
This album seems to have taken a lot of cues from The Who's
My Generation. Certainly it combines the art punk style of My Gen whilst it also has srtikingly similar vocal harmonies. It's Too Bad sounds beautiful because of these harmonies, which seem to have been inspired by The Kids Are Alright. Down In The Tube Station also uses these harmonies to good use, but the real good stuff here is on the smart guitar riffs that blend in so well with Weller's literal and immediate lyrics that he sings in a quick and decisive style. Add a few typical "Tube" sounds and you get the best description of a late night bashing that you'll ever get.
Just too balance out the general feel of the album there is the touching English Rose. One would think it's acoustic guitar and quite sweet love lyrics would make the song stick out like a sore thumb, but the song is sung with a sincere enough feel to keep it tasteful. Certainly it feels like an island of tranquility in the sea of kitchen sink style (not quality
) lyrics and a largely non acoustic sound. David Watts is a nice Kinks cover that continues the My Generation era feel that parallels the more modern punk elements that are also present in the music. And The Jam certainly manage to combine the two rather nicely with no obvious real faults. Perhaps Weller's vocals can get a touch too gritty in songs like To Be Someone, but other than that there's not much wrong here.
The Jam have made a brilliant album that manages to combine the musical spirit of two eras, which is certainly a step up from most other punk albums in the era (even though this wasn't straight out punk). Certainly one to lend your ear to.
14/15