CD: THE JAM DIRECTION REACTION CREATION 5CD BOXSET 117 TRACKS INC 88 PAGE BOOKLET

THE JAM DIRECTION REACTION CREATION 5CD BOXSET 117 TRACKS 88 PAGE BOOKLET.

EXCELLENT CONDITION

The legacy of the Jam is founded on just half-a-dozen studio albums--all crammed into an incident-packed five years. Yet their impact was much, much more significant than a mere six albums would suggest. The trio's intensity was born of punk but, uniquely at the time, the Jam were willing, quite literally, to wear their musical influences on their sleeves--the Who, Tamla Motown, James Brown, the Kinks, soul, the Beatles, etc. This was heady stuff for the revisionist Year Zero that was punk.

The Jam hammered out of 1977 with punk singles like "In The City" and "The Modern World"; but soon Paul Weller was finding his own voice as a writer, with songs like "Down In The Tube Station At Midnight", "Saturday's Kids", "The Eton Rifles" and "Town Called Malice"--songs which reflected the suburbia that bred him and put Weller in line with Pete Townshend and Ray Davies as an observer par-excellence of the English scene. And like them, Weller was also capable of knocking out striking pop singles like "Going Underground", "Start!" and "Beat Surrender".

Direction Reaction Creation is a welcome 5CD box which gathers together pretty much everything the Jam ever recorded: B-sides and hard-to-get singles as well as every track from those six albums. The package also includes a strikingly designed and well-written 88-page book commemorating every release and every gig the Jam played. But the fifth disc is the real bonus: 22 unreleased tracks, including demos ("In The City", "Precious", "The Bitterest Pill"); covers ("Rain", "Dead End Street", "Stand By Me"); and alternate takes ("A Solid Bond In Your Heart", "Billy Hunt", "That's Entertainment").

The music here is a fine reflection of those frantic times a quarter of a century ago, and you can only marvel at the quality, and the quantity, of material the Jam produced--they were gigging constantly, yet still managed to churn out a string of singles and albums that lived up to Weller's high standards. Albums like Setting Sons and Sound Affects saw the Jam really coming to the boil, but sadly--with Weller's interest taking him off into folk, jazz and R&B--the band's days were already numbered. Direction Reaction Creation is, however, a fine souvenir--and one that offers positive proof that, after the Sex Pistols and Clash, the Jam were the most original band to be thrown up by the New Wave. --Patrick Humphries

Product Description

Unavailable in the U.S.! Digitally remastered five CD box set of their collected studio albums and singles. Includes 117 tracks, 22 of those were previously unreleased or rare. The 88 page accompanying booklet is superbly annotated, illustrated and detailed, chock full of great graphics and pics. One listen will remind you how vital Paul Weller's poetry and insight was regarded by the punk/new wave fan base. This is an essential necessity for any Jam fan. Since their official break-up in 1982, The Jam's musical legacy continues to inspire new generations of fans year after year. While Paul Weller insists that there will never be a Jam reunion, we can all relive the memories over and over again with this stupendous box set. Universal.

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1 In the City

2 Takin' My Love

3 Art School

4 I've Changed My Address

5 Slow Down

6 I Got By In Time

7 Away From The Numbers

8 Batman Theme

9 Sounds From The Street

10 Non-Stop Street

11 Time For Truth

12 Bricks and Mortar

13 All Around the World

14 Carnaby Street

15 The Modern World

16 London Traffic

17 Standards

18 Life From A Window

19 The Combine

20 Don't Tell Them You're Sane

21 In The Street Today

22 London Girl

23 I Need You

24 Here Comes the Weekend

25 Tonight at Noon

26 In the Midnight Hour

Disc: 2

1 News of the World

2 Aunties And Uncles

3 Innocent Man

4 David Watts

5 'A Bomb in Wardour Street

6 Down in the Tube Station at Midnight

7 So Sad About Us

8 The Night

9 All Mod Cons

10 To Be Someone

11 Mr. Clean

12 English Rose

13 In the Crowd

14 Billy Hunt

15 It's Too Bad

16 Fly

17 The Place I Love

18 Strange Town

19 The Butterfly Collector

20 When You're Young

21 Smithers-Jones

22 The Eton Rifles

23 See-saw

Disc: 3

1 Girl On the Thick As Thieves

3 Private Hell

4 Little Boy Soldiers

5 Wasteland

6 Burning Sky

7 Smithers-Jones

8 Saturday's Kids

9 Heat Wave

10 Going Underground

11 The Dreams of Children

12 Start!

13 Liza Radley

14 Pretty Green

15 Monday

16 But I'm Different Now

17 Set the House Ablaze

18 That's Entertainment

19 Dream Time

20 Man in the Corner Shop

21 Music for the Last Couple

22 Boy About Town

23 Scrape Away

Disc: 4

1 Funeral Pyre

2 Disguises

3 Absolute Beginners

4 Tales From The Riverbank

5 Town Called Malice

6 Precious

7 Happy Together

8 Ghosts

9 Just Who Is The 5 O'Clock Hero?

10 Trans-Global Express

11 Running On The Spot

12 Circus

13 The Planner's Dream Goes Wrong

14 Carnation

15 The Gift

16 The Great Depression

17 The Bitterest Pill

18 Pity Poor Alfie/Fever

19 Beat Surrender

20 Shopping

21 Move On Up

22 Stoned Out of My Mind

23 War

Disc: 5

1 In the City

2 Time For Truth

3 Sounds From The Street

4 So Sad About Us

5 Worlds Apart

6 Billy Hunt

7 Its Too Bad

8 To Be Someone

9 David Watts

10 Best of Both Worlds

11 That's Entertainment

12 Rain

13 Dream Time

14 Dead End Street

15 Stand By Me

16 Every Little Bit Hurts

17 Tales From The Riverbank

18 Walking In Heaven's Sunshine

19 Precious

20 Pity Poor Alfie

21 The Bitterest Pill

22 A Solid Bond in Your Heart