"All Mod Cons" by THE JAM featuring Paul Weller (June 2006 Polydor/Universal 2-Disc 'Deluxe Edition' Reissue with 1CD and 1DVD – Gary Moore Remaster) - A Review By Mark Barry...

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"...English Rose..."

Even though I probably wasn’t consciously aware of it - by 1978 I was already an old fart. Yet like all my mates at the time (kids of the early Seventies) - we knew the real deal when it hit our eardrums. Amidst the amateur clatter, concert gobbing and clenched fists - the English New Wave was also producing The Clash, The Damned, The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks, The Undertones, The Sex Pistols and so many more - all of whom were evolving past mere spit and snarl. What was not to love?

But with a genuinely articulate wordsmith/songwriter in Woking's own Paul Weller - especially on the subject of all things British, working class and growing up – two years into Punk's explosive and abusive journey - The Jam in 1978 somehow stood above them all. Their undeniably angry yet life-affirming third platter "All Mod Cons" pierced my heart and grabbed my pogoing crotch with equal force - a musical and lyrical grip that has never loosened across 40 years. This is a fabulous album and I remember fondly discussing "…Mod..." with John Reed who had just penned a 26-page appraisal of his emotional-crave for England's Record Collector Magazine (he was compiling the first Price Guides for them at the time as well as writing one of the largest articles they’d ever done on this supremely collectable band) - his eyes ablaze like a kid who'd just found a new sixpence on streets awash with muck.

The albums "In the City" and "This Is The Modern World" from May and November 1977 were undeniably great opening bids and exciting mission statements in themselves (the second even made the lower reaches of the US charts) - but the mighty "All Mod Cons" was an entirely different toffee wrapper. Hell it even seemed to have a hidden-track on Side 1 - the gorgeous "English Rose". Much like "Train In Vain" on The Clash's "London Calling" the following year - "English Rose" was not credited on the rear cover artwork - but in this case did at least turn up as a label credit. And entirely out of keeping with the rest of the record's kick-'em-in-the-nadges mood (except maybe for the equally sweet "Fly") – the straight-up love song and its pastoral acoustic sound wrong-footed everyone (Weller even seemed embarrassed by it at the time).

What a blast "All Mod Cons" is and this 2006 2-Disc 'Deluxe Edition' remaster - itself sporting fresh material (both Audio and Visual) - only hammers home the greatness and legacy of that period masterpiece with Mod gusto. In fact this is one of those reissue instances when I would cry 'give me more' and not less. So with no bonds that can ever keep me from she, let's get to the Billy Hunts...

UK released 20 June 2006 - "All Mod Cons: Deluxe Edition" by THE JAM on Polydor/Universal 9839238 (Barcode 602498392386) is a 2-Disc Reissue (1CD and 1DVD) with Previously Unreleased Audio and Visual elements that plays out as follows:

CD - 78:54 minutes:

1. All Mod Cons [Side 1]

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 [Side 2]

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

Tracks 1 to 12 are their third studio album "All Mod Cons" - released November 1978 in the UK on Polydor Records POLD 5008 and Polydor PD-1-6188 in the USA. Produced by VIC COPPERSMITH-HEAVEN (real name Victor Smith) - it peaked at No. 6 and No. 204 in the UK and USA LP charts. All songs written by Paul Weller except "David Watts" which is a KINKS cover version written by Ray Davies.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. News Of The World

14. Aunties And Uncles (Impulsive Youths)

15. Innocent Man

Tracks 13 to 15 are the A & two B-sides of a February 1978 non-album UK 7" single on Polydor 2058 995

16. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight (Single Version)

17. So Sad About Us

18. The Night

Tracks 16 to 18 are the A & two B-sides of a October 1978 UK 7" single on Polydor POSP 8 (2059 068)

19. So Sad About Us (Demo)

20. Worlds Apart (Demo)

21. It's Too Bad (Demo)

22. To Be Someone (Demo)

23. David Watts (Demo)

24. Billy Hunt (Alternate Version)

25. Mr. Clean (Demo) - Previously Unreleased

26. Fly (Demo) - Previously Unreleased

All songs written by Paul Weller except "News Of The World", "Innocent Man" and "The Night" by Bruce Foxton while "David Watts" by Ray Davies of The Kinks and "So Sad About Us" by Pete Townshend of The Who are cover versions

DVD – NTSC REGION 0 - Aspect Ratio 4:3, Sound 5.1 and Stereo

1. The Making Of All Mod Cons - Directed by DON LETTS (36 minutes)

Features new interviews with all three members of The Jam, Promo Clips from the period and previously-unseen live footage

2. New solo rendition of "English Rose" by Paul Weller (2:30 minutes)

THEJAM was:

PAUL WELLER - Lead Vocals, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Piano and Harmonica

BRUCE FOXTON - Bass, Guitar and Vocals

RICK BUCKLER - Drums and Percussion

A plastic/stickered DELUXE EDITION wraparound slipcase houses a four-way fold-out card digipak with the two discs. The 28-page over-sized booklet has fresh liner notes from Mojo Magazine's LOIS WILSON that features new interviews and reminiscences from all three - with Weller honest about what he now knows was a watershed moment for his band. Working class roots, the influence of songwriters like Ray Davies and Pete Townshend who wrote about England with wit, honesty and dare-we-say-it 'affection' - the trappings of sudden stardom and his 'spokesperson for a generation' mantle, Soul Music and the Modfather image, the rip-off grind-you-down nature of the music industry who just wanted more pithy hits and clearly didn't think Punk or its New Wave music would evolve into something special - it's all here. There are comments from Producers Vic Coppersmith-Jones and Chris Parry as well as other key players, the NME front cover, a Strawberry Acetate for "Down In The Tube Station…", a Japanese Picture Sleeve and some UK 45s - but if I'm honest the booklet is also strangely lacking. The inner sleeve to the original album showing the boys photo/memorabilia collage of Soul, Ska and Mod roots (Creation singles, Tamla Motown 45s, 100 Club flyers, Battersea Power Station and Coffee cups etc.) along with the rear LP sleeve is reproduced on the inner flaps as are lyrics beneath the see-through CD trays.

Better news comes in the shape of a new GARY MOORE Remaster from original tapes that lifts up the record even more than the 1997 'Jam Remasters' version did (Audio Engineers PASCHAL BYRNE and DENNIS MUNDAY also helped with the remixes of the two Previously Unreleased demos dovetailing Disc 1). This reissue sounds fantastic - lickety split attack from the guitars, head boy snooty snarl in the vocals and Mister Clean f-u-up power to that pumping two-piece rhythm section (a great job done). Let's get to the place I love...

Side 1 opens with a triple upper-cut - first up being the short and angry 1-2-3-4 attack of "All Mod Cons" where Weller goes after the industry and its supposed 'artistic freedom'. But that's trampled on by the brilliant "To Be Someone..." where a killer Revolver riff kicks you in the nuts only to be followed by a fabulous musical interlude - Paul worrying about his very soul being swallowed up by the cocaine life of guitar-shaped swimming pools - a world that can 'quickly diminish' into cold streets after the pub has shut, stumbling home with all the other clowns to lonely rooms. The bolshy "Mr. Clean" sees Weller go after the 9-to-5 suits and their annual Christmas do – its vicious lyrics suddenly matching the killer beat as he threatens to f-up Mister Squeaky's missus and their cosy life. The angry-young-man then gets his teeth into Ray Davies' angry-young-anthem "David Watts" - head boy of the school and captain of the team - a pure and noble breed - and you suspect a bit of a knob. Then you get the completely unexpected - a wash of waves and acoustic guitars - a love song amidst the inner city angst that floored me when I first heard it. I've always thought "English Rose" a Weller gem - and the new version on the DVD is a highlight for me.

"In The Crowd" is surely one of album's best tracks too (I prefer it to "Down At The Tube Station At Midnight") - a song that doesn't sound like 40 years ago in any way. But rage is not far away. In the stabbing-riffage of "Billy Hunt" someone is a little dog messing up Paul's tree - our hero longing to be Clark Kent’s Superman or Steve Austin’s Bionic Man – superpowers/six-million dollars enabling him able to defend himself against Staff Sergeant Bob and his barking first-day-on-the-job commands. "It’s Too Bad" gets dangerously close to calling in the Beatles lawyers with its guitar melody – but it does at least lower the rage thermostat a few degrees and again shows a songwriting maturity way past the two preceding albums. Then just as you think you know the band – Weller hits you with another warm one – the fabulous "Fly" where again his songwriting leaps out of the speakers. Same thing happens with "The Place I Love" where he makes a stand against the world – the fantastic chug underpinned up by subtle organ giving the song a sort of Soul-Rock power. And of course it ends on the double-whammy of "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street" (an apocalypse in Doc Martins) and "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" (miscreants after the pub and too many right-wing meetings). What an album…

The Jam were also a stunning singles band and the Bonus Tracks amply show why fans fretted over their 45-releases with such must-buy-it-the-day-of-release passion – even the flip-sides were cool and worth owning. In August 1978 Polydor UK put out two of the album tracks as a single - "David Watts" with "Wardour Street" as the B-side (Polydor 2059 054) – following that with "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight" in October 1978 on the A (Polydor POSP 8 – its two non-album B-sides are amidst the bonus cuts) – rewarding the band with No. 15 and No. 25 chart positions. Bruce Foxton got his two moments too on the "News Of The World" 45 that pre-empted the album in February 1978 (Polydor 2058 995 - Weller playing piano on "Innocent Man"). It's just one of the excellent single-sides that bolster up the CD. I love that Motown-ish cover of Pete Townshend's "So Sad About Us" (the demo is slightly disappointing) and it's unfortunately easy to hear why the awkwardly piano-happy "Worlds Apart" was not used. But the yeah-yeah-yeah demo of "It's Too Bad" is already showing greatness, as does "To Be Someone" where Foxton's Bass lines are more to the fore. The final two Previously Unreleased cuts are rough for sure but again only add more icing to an already tasty cake.

"…Didn't we have a nice time..." – Weller shouted 40 years ago. Well I don't know about nice, and I haven't met the Queen yet either, but I'm still listening and I'm fa-fa-fa-fa f***ing loving it. Nice one son…