Greatest Hits - Jam

Paul Weller has today got cult and iconic status amongst today's music fans and critics and is a massively lauded and respected solo artist. However, its very easy to forget that much of this status was really gained during his time as the front man and writer of probably one of the most influential and original British bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s. This was further enhanced during his time with The Style Council in which the strings based intro of Shout To The Top is possibly in the top 10 contemporary music intros of all time and is a big clue and indicator of the musical genius of the man. This Greatest Hits album says and plays it all really. ...  Read the complete review

For those unaware of the Jam the greatest hits is the album for you. It shows the easy development of their sound through the difficult years at the end of the 1970's and the beginning of the 1980's. The Jam may have held a sound and image somewhere between the sixties mods and the seventies punks, but they were something different. Yes they were angry but the anger had more than awareness, it had purpose and direction as highlighted in All around the World the second track on the album. Those years marked a recession in Britain, the public were angry and the young musicians of the time were vocally and musically telling the story of how it was ...  Read the complete review

The Jam's punk minimalist style of the late seventies and early eighties sounds so fresh and breathtakingly raw nowadays that this CD is worth getting for anyone who has listened to Coldplay and Blur too much. Weller never looked more at ease than with The Jam, and all the hits are included, such as the four number ones and that absolutely bouncing chart-topper A Town Called Malice (Used to great effect in Billy Elliot). The Jam's style doesn't vary much throughout the compilation, although some slower numbers such as Thats Entertainment and The Bitterest Pill certainly provide lighter moments. Real Jam fans should opt for the five CD box set, but if you ...  Read the complete review

The Jam were one of the most important bands of the early 80's. Four number one singles(Going Underground, Town called Malice, Start! and their final hit Beat Surrender) three of which entered at number one, when this was a very rare thing to do, and numberous another hits was the Jam's contibution. Songs like "Going Underground" and "Town Called Malice" will be the songs from this collection that everyone will know and listen to first, but they are only two of the excellent songs on offer. This collection contains all twenty one of the Jam's hits in chronological order, which shows the bands development from angry ...  Read the complete review