Tag: The Jam Live Albums

Live Albums By The Jam

While The Jam were linked with the punk and new wave movement in the late 1970s, they arrived as mods with a punkish, aggressive attitude. They developed to produce some excellent power pop that received significant success in the UK singles chart before integrating soul into their sound.

Before looking at their live albums in detail, it’s worth understanding the timing of the studio albums.

Studio Albums By The Jam

1977 In the City
1977 This Is the Modern World
1978 All Mod Cons
1979 Setting Sons
1980 Sound Affects
1982 The Gift

The Jam may not have lasted for many years before Paul Weller wanted to move in a direction that Bruce Foxton (bass) and Rick Buckler (drums) didn’t want to go.

They did shine brightly with four #1 singles in the UK – Going Underground, Start, Town Called Malice and Beat Surrender. They also had four other top 5 hits in the UK – The Eton Rifles, Funeral Pyre, Absolute Beginners and The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow). Their other top 20 hits in the UK were All Around the World, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Strange Town, When You’re Young, and Just Who Is the 5 O’Clock Hero? Surprisingly That’s Entertainment only made it to #21.

Live Albums By The Jam

Live albums should be a natural place for The Jam to thrive as they pick up power, energy and enthusiasm in front of an audience. They also have a lovely evolution of sound over their albums that make concerts from the different tours have a unique flavour.

Unfortunately the two main live albums by The Jam are live compilations

1977 to 1982 Dig The New Breed was released in December 1982
1979 to 1982 Live Jam was released in 1993.

Fortunately in 2002, the BBC came to the rescue with…

1977 to 1981 The Jam At The BBC
This excellent album has live in studio sessions plus two BBC recorded concerts from June 1978 and December 1981 on the two CD version. There is also a limited edition 3 CD version with an extra live concert, this time from 1979.

This 1979 concert also appears on the Super Deluxe version of Setting Sons which came out in 2014.
Live At The Brighton Centre December 1979 (sold with Setting Sons Super Deluxe)

It’s said that this has better sound quality than the recording on the The Jam At The BBC bonus CD.

On the 3 CD version of the compilation Snap, the third CD has four songs from Live At Wembley in December 1982. The complete concert, there last ever, is available on the super deluxe version of The Gift.
Live At Wembley (The Gift Super Deluxe)

In October 2015, we finally had a box-set of six live concerts from The Jam, one from each year between 1977 and 1982.
Fire & Skill The Jam Live

To help you to find the best live recordings by The Jam, The Style Council and by Paul Weller, I have a readers poll:

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Buying Albums By The Jam

You can get these albums by The Jam from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

The All Time Best Live Albums

I have albums by The Jam in three categories – punk/new wave, power pop and classic rock.

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You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk

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You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk

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Because there are so many excellent classic rock live albums I have split the poll into two and you may find some of your favourites in the second division. Albums will be promoted when they get enough votes.

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You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk.

The Jam Live At The Brighton Centre December 1979 (sold with Setting Sons Super Deluxe)

Live At The Brighton Centre December 1979 is a live in concert recording by The Jam and is sold with Setting Sons Super Deluxe.

This box set includes three CDs and a DVD.

While their fourth studio album, Setting Sons is excellent, the interesting songs for lovers of live music are:

CD 2 Tracks 19 to 22 from a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1 recorded on 29 October 1979.
CD 3 Tracks 1 to 20 recorded live at the Brighton Centre recorded in December 1979.
The DVD includes promotional videos, appearances on Top Of The Pops for Strange Town, When You´re Young, Eton Rifles and Going Underground and two songs for Something Else (When You´re Young, Eton Rifles).

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The Best Live Album By The Jam, Paul Weller And The Style Council

Arguably The Jam were the post successful of the British punk/new wave bands although, in many ways, they didn’t fit into that category and were more of a power pop band. Paul Weller then formed The Style Council to continue the drift towards soul and R&B and since that band split, he has received success as a solo artist and has been a major influence on the development of Brit-Pop.

What Is The Best Live Album By The Jam, Paul Weller Or The Style Council?

I have a readers poll to help you to find the pick of Paul Weller’s live albums:

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The Jam Fire & Skill The Jam Live 1977 to 1982

Fire & Skill: The Jam Live is a box-set of live recordings by The Jam.

It is a collection of six full concert recordings, one for each year they were together:

100 Club in London on September 11 1977,
Music Machine on March 2, 1978,
Reading University in February 16, 1979,
Newcastle City Hall in October 28, 1980,
Hammersmith Palais in December 1981,
Wembley Arena in December 1982.

This exciting live box-set is due to be released October 30, 2015.

Previously we’ve been limited to the two live multi-year live compilation albums from the band – Dig The New Breed and Live Jam – together with the live in session and in concert Live At The BBC. Some tracks from the 1982 Wembley concerts have appeared as bonuses on re-releases of the Snap and The Gift.

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The Jam Live At Wembley 1982

On the 3 CD version of the compilation Snap, the third CD has four songs from Live At Wembley in December 1982 which can be purchased as digital downloads.

Move On Up – 2:44
Get Yourself Together – 2:11
The Great Depression – 3:10
But I’m Different Now – 2:09

Unfortunately, there is only ten minutes of music here and it would be nice to think that the full concert recording will be released sometime. Continue reading The Jam Live At Wembley 1982

The Jam At The BBC 1977 to 1982

The Jam At The BBC is a collection of live in the studio and live in concert recordings made by the BBC between 1977 and 1981.

It comes in two forms:

The standard two CDs version with concerts from 1978 and 1981
A limited edition three CDs version with an extra concert from the 1979 Setting Sons tour.

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The Jam Live Jam 1979 to 1982

Live Jam is a live compilation album by new wave group The Jam. It was recorded between 1979 and 1982.

Shortly after The Jam’s first live album, Dig The New Breed came their second with a much wider collection of songs.

Unfortunately it is again compiled from different gigs in different times of the band’s evolution. This is frustrating as I feel I am still deprived of the proper experience of The Jam live.

The Jam Live Jam

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The Jam Dig The New Breed 1977 to 1982

Dig The New Breed is a live compilation album from The Jam featuring songs recorded at concerts between 1977 and 1982.

I remember the heady days back in 1977 and The Jam were caught up in the punk/new wave scene. It was a bit strange because their image and music was a long way from the Sex Pistols.

The developed into a very successful singles band with a series of number ones in the UK and created excellent albums including All Mod Cons and Setting Sons.

The Jam Dig The New Breed

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