I always thought that *everybody* of my generation was well into The Jam. From my cousin, eight years my senior to my brother, seven years my junior.
So it was a bit of a shock back in the summer when I made a passing reference to Paul Weller, to find a stream of invective unleashed in my comment box. And somebody - admittedly somebody trying to get an afternoon's nap - asked me to turn it down when I played it yesterday.
I taped this off my brother. Or rather, he taped it for me, and wrote out the cassette case in impeccable handwriting.
The great thing about a Greatest Hits album is that you get all the best singles on one easy to play cassette. You also get the opportunity to overview the development of the band and see whether they are really great. Or whether they have just produced a few outstanding singles.
One of the things I always liked about The Jam was the fact that they are all so ugly. The counter-pop idols. Punk enough to have credible. Mainstream enough to be safe for nice girls like me.
It's an album that gets better as it goes along. I really don't like the first three tracks, and I get really into it by Eton Rifles. That's Entertainment is a real gem - listen to the words - or read them
My most favourite tracks are Town Called Malice, especially for the lyrics. And beat Surrender. there was something about the way they performed this on TOTP that just grabbed me.
To conclude. The Jam. Good but not great.
