City Could-have-been Slicker (In The City - The Jam)

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	In The City - The Jam
Date:	28/02/08 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: In The City, Away From The Numbers, no bad songs

Disadvantages: Apart from those 2 songs, none that really stand out either

There are few bands in British music history as highly regarded as The Jam, with the band being regarded as being one of Punk's premier acts, almost single-handedly responsible for saving Mod culture and touted as the band who laid the foundations for Britpop, it's safe to say that the band have proven fairly influential over the years, and are one of the most quintessentially British of acts, something which cost them big when it came to trying to crack America.

Formed by school friends Rick Buckler(drums), Bruce Foxton(bass), Paul Weller(guitar/vocals) and Steve Brookes(guitar) in the mid 1970s, Brookes left the band shortly after the group started, and the band played various pubs, with set lists based around R&B covers from the 1960s, and a healthy dose of idolisation of The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces would be necessary to take in the band.

However, it wasn't until the advent of Punk in 1977, spearheaded by The Sex Pistols, that The Jam would get their break. Helped out by The Clash for publicity, The Jam even scored a support slot on one of The Clash's tours before an argument over pay that lead to bad blood between the two acts, and even ended up on the Polydor records contract that was created for Joe Strummer and company before they jumped ship last minute to CBS.

2 months into their Polydor contract, the band released their debut single, In The City, which would prove to be the title track for their album which followed on 2 months later. Recorded in 11 days, In The City is regarded by many as one of Punk's classic albums, and just one of 1977's many fantastic albums. Up until a few years back, my only exposure to The Jam had been in the form of their more famous singles and 2 compilations, the disappointing Beat Surrender and the slightly better Snap!, but I decided that this had to change, a decision which, luckily, coincided with the reduction of all of the group's 6 records, in their 1997 reissued CD format, dropping to £5.99 in price. Out of all of the group's albums, In The City was perhaps the one I was looking forward to the most. My favourite work by both The Clash and The Stranglers came in their early days, and the 2 songs I recognised from In The City's track listing were two I liked, in fact in the case of the title track loved, so more so than any other of the band's albums, I had expectations that would be tough to meet.

Naturally, given that it was the album I went into with most expectation, it also proved to be the most disappointing album for me. Not to say that it is the worst, far from it in fact, however it didn't even come close to meeting my expectations, and all it, and upon subsequent listens, all of the group's albums, did was really make me wish someone would release a thoroughly good 'Best of' compilation of the band's work.

You see, In The City only really boasts 3songs that stand out, ironically enough, 2 of these are the songs I recognised. The title track is one of them, with it's biting attack on life in the city, and people's refusal to accept that "the kids know where it's at". Indeed, The Jam were second only to The Clash in terms of politically tinged lyrics about life in Britain, and essentially all of the songs on the album have lyrics of this flavour, (Weller later admitted that The Jam's early lyrics were "basically ripping off what the Clash were singing"), but In The City stands out amongst these, if not just for the fact the lyrics and their delivery contains more venom, but for the superior musical aspects of the song.

From Weller's spiky opening riff that opens the song, followed by Foxton's bouncy bassline before Buckler's drums, and in turn the song proper, kick in and Weller begins his vocal tirade. The song contains all the hallmarks of a Jam classic, Buckler's drums that make you want to do that thing where you nod your head and twitch your left shoulder, lyrics you want to sing along to and a dilemma over whether you want to play air-guitar or air-bass. In The City is undisputedly the best track on the record, and one of the band's classics, and one of Punk's highlights. The fast pace and angry delivery of the vocals from Weller make this a stalwart of Punk compilations, and for good reason.

The other song I recognised is easily the most bizarre, a cover of the Batman Theme, as heard in the Adam West TV show. It's as ridiculously catchy as it was on the show, and Foxton's bass is fantastic. It's really more of a cool oddity than a proper good song though.

The next best thing to a classic on the album is Away From The Numbers, a more ponderous and melancholy number that works thanks to the nice backing vocals and the fact it stands out on the record for it's slower and slightly more chilled tempo. I wouldn't call it a classic, but it is certainly one of the more interesting tracks on the album.

You see, In The City consists of 12 tracks, 3 of them I've looked at above, and the remaining 9 being, essentially, diluted versions of the title track. I wouldn't go as far as calling any track on the album bad, but the rest of the tracks are very guilty of sounding alike and rather generic. I mean, you can spot brilliant lyrics and fantastic musical touches across all of the songs, but that's the problem, 1 song will have a good line, another have a good bassline, another fantastic drumming, but in general none of the other tracks see everything gel together as with In The City. I mean, I can quite easily listen to any song from the album, and in all cases take some enjoyment from them, but the problem is that they seem like rather mediocre songs that have a good factor in their defence, instead of through-and-through good songs.

So, while In The City is a song that fans of the band will want, although they probably already own it, and doesn't contain any bad tracks, it is rather guilty of being underwhelming, if still rather enjoyable, and it's hard not to put the album's problems down to there being a lot of pressure upon the band to deliver their debut on time.

So, while In the City was worth the money I paid for it, it's far from a classic, and while I do recommend it, especially to those of you whom are interested by the prospect of a sort of merging of Punk and 60s Mod Culture, but it certainly isn't the band's best album, and while it is consistently decent, and never falls below that level, it certainly could have done with a few more standout tracks, and doesn't stack up to 1977's finest very favourably at all.

Summary: Not the classic it's often described as, In The City does have 2 good songs, and is total-dud free