Jam All Over

I was a big Jam fan in their heyday. I DJed in college and Town Called Malice became a favorite song to play. It was the ultimate seguer (note: you could segue almost any song into and out of it). It got people dancing, even though they had no idea who The Jam were. Malice was a great conduit to bridge songs like To Hell With Poverty and Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) or Uptight, which of course would work it's way into Really Saying Somethin' by The Velvelettes which had to lead into It Ain't What You Do It's the Way That You Do It (Fun Boy Three's introduction of Bananarama to the world). It probably broadened The Jam's fan base. You can't help but get sucked in the minute that song starts. It's political and I think angry, but it's disguised as a perfectly constructed pop song.

As Paul Weller was closing three nights at Irving Plaza in New York (I believe one night was dedicated to the songs of The Jam), the remaining two thirds of of the Jam: bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler were announcing they are reuniting for a tour without Paul called "From the Jam: Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler." They will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Jam's debut In the City. As of now, there are only UK dates planned.

Record of the Day featured Little Man Tate. This band wears its Jam badges on it's sleeve. It Must Be Love was described as having charmingly juvenile lyrics and the melody is catchy, catchy catchy. This is among a pack of songs coming from the UK recently, that have justified my belief that songwriting is making a comeback. There's more music on their MySpace site, including the wonderfully titled, Man I Hate Your Band. Worth a listen.

Response to Sequencing

A friend and former music writer from Houston, Sandy Adzgery had the following to add to the discussion on sequencing:

Your bit on albums and the order of songs made me think about XTC's "Skylarking" -- Todd Rundgren used his "continuity concept" to "marry" certain songs as Andy Partridge told me at the time... It doesn't work on a CD, because there is a real break that is noticeable, and the US wanted "Dear God" on the album, which they had decided didn't fit... But that is an element of music making (along with album art and worthwhile album notes) that are a thing of the past. CDs may still use art, but an album cover was a REAL piece of art!