28
S
FROM THE UNDERGROUND
The
JAM
THE JAM
IN AMERICA
B
With their fifth album, Sound
Affects the Jam further transcend
their Mod roots to produce a
coherent powerful statement
about maturity and the individuals
role in modem English society. The
Initial single. Start a #1 hit on the
UK charts take its musical
may t
cue from the Beatles' "Taman
but the urgency and call-to-arms
is vintage Jam Songs like Pretty
Pretty
Groon" and "That's Entertainment
deal with the issue of depression-
economics in searing fashion with
biting Paul Weller lyrics like "This is
nothing
unless
society/You can't do
its in the pocket and "A police
car and a screaming siren
Paint splattered walls and the
cry of a tomcat. That's entertain-
ment For the first time, the Jam
confront their own roles in the
system
with honesty and compas-
sion The-trio shows its romantic
side on love songs like "Monday"
whore Weller makes the important
admission, I will never be embar
rassed about love again" On
Sound Affects the Jam show they
have grown up, personally and
musically, to become one of the
most perceptive, important bands
in the world
cited last year's Jam show at the
Palladium as one of the best he'd
seen. Although the first four albums.
In The City. This Is The Modom World
All Mod Cons and Setting Sons
were universally praised by the
critics, the Jam had some problems
relating
to American audiences
and vice versa. "As far as we're
people accept us
concerned.
there, great explains Weller about
the Jam's American invasion, "but
I'm not going to four there six
months of the year. It's just such a
conservative country, I'm not willing
to make the compromise. It's really
easier for someone like Elvis Cos
tollo, because he's always had
that Americanized sound anyway."
Jam may well be the ulti-
mate English
glish rock 'n' roll band for
the 80's, as they express the con-
cems of the motherland with
The
almost too colloquial a bent. The
band has even been accused of
being a '60s nostalgia
с
label Weller vigorously disputes
and perhaps dispells for all
all time
with Sound Affects virtuosity.
mean, we're really inspired by
certain aspects of the '60's, super-
ficial things like clothes and music
but we updated that stuff for now.
it's not just a revival. How can you
revive something you don't even
remember in the first place? I'm
just as inspired by 80's people.
contemporary bands, stuff like
Bowle I draw on influences from
everybody
The Jam have certainly matured
from the full-sit anger that charac
torized in The City to the eloquent
compactness of tunes liko "Al
Mod Cons" "English Rose" "The
Place I Love," "Down in The
The Jam have been together as
Tube
an ensemble for almost eight
Station At Midnight Thick As
Thieves" "Private Holl" "Monday"
years. Drummer Rick Buckler, 25,
"But I'm Different Now" and "Man
first got together with guitarist/
In The Comer Shop. Sound Affects
songwriter Woller in the music
continues this growth process
room of their school when they
were 15
As Paul Weller puts it himself,
on a bit of
Jamming
were just
"Obviously, when we started off
rock 'n' roll and the Jam was bom
there
three and a half years ago."
bassist Bruce Foxdon, 25,
Eventually
was that anger of wanting to prove
and another friend who played
ourselves. I thought we had some
lead guitar joined up, and the
great individual songs, like "In The
quartet began playing youth clubs
in their hometown of Woking
City which I could sing with con-
viction at the Sme. But I really
England. At that time, Bruce played
can't now because it would be
rhythm guitar and Paul played
bass A year later, after the band dishonest. Ive got to find a way of
writing about things which really
secured a series of dates in Lon
inspire me, but also remain honest
don, their lead guitarist left and
to my fans and myself.
the group became a tria, with
Paul on Rickenbacker guitar and
Bruce on bass
Along with the Clash and the
Sex Pistols, the Jam were one of
the first of the new bands to come
out of the burgeoning UK punk
scene, and also one of the first to
four America, playing gigs at
CBGB and the CBGB Theater
before returning to headline the
Palladium for the release of both
All Mod Cons and Setting Sons
Their live shows are kinetic, exciting.
precision bursts of solid r'n't, with
the trio demonstrating a tightness
that can only come from experi
ence. Robert Palmer of the Times
"Melody is very important to me,
as a way of communicating more
than anything else. A good melody
is a form or plane of communica
Bon which everyone can relate to.
I've always been a Beatles fan
and I also like the old Tamla and
rock steady stuft When I first started
writing, it depended on what I was
into that week. If I was listening to
Otis Redding all week long, then
fd welle an Otis Redding-type
song, and so on.
It sounds sort of cory, but I
have to be inspired to write some-
thing. It's got t to be something in
everyday life, like people inspiro
me. There are so many ironies in
afe and I'm really in a fortunate
position to sit back and be able to
observe things. Being in the band
really enables you to do that. Being
caught up i
o in this business for a
start is pretty routine at times, but
not as routine as going to a factory
from nine to five. All you are sur-
rounded by is the music business.
and le I ain't
I going to write about
that
"Unless a song's got some heart
in it, it's pretty pointless anyway, so
lately Ive been starting to get the
words together first. If I believe in a
set of words, then Ive got enough
conviction to go and put a tune
And those tunes have certainly
proved successful "Going Under-
ground" a single released by the
Jam in the UK last March, reached
the #1 position its first week out, a
feat unheard of since late 1973
Likewise with "Start" which also
climbed to the top. In last year's
New Musical Express Reader's Pol
the Jam earned the the of Best
Group
Sound Affects is another solid
Jam effort, marking this talented
trio's steady improvement from
album to album. Above all, the LP
should eliminate the confusion
surrounding the band this is no.
nostalgic look back, nor is it "too
English for American tastes, nor
too raw. Sound Affects is quite
simply, yet another right-on
glimpse at the modern world
through the eyes and ears of young
Paul Weller. It is honest, sincere,
ambitious provocative
and power-packed with universal
statements about what it means
to live in this universe which offen
sooms to be at odds with itself. The
Jam have been ready for America
for a long time. Lets hope we are
finally ready for them...
vulnerable,
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