On my Radio (1) : I Changed My Address

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'On My Radio' is a series - for the forseeable I'll post once a day (not at weekends) with random thoughts about a track and hopefully get some debate going. Here goes :

Round this manor the Jam seem to be as fashionable as leg-warmers. It's easy to see why - Union Jacks, sweat, dodgy suits, foursquare guitar thrashing and a hod-carrier's bellow. So why do I find 'Address' and the rest of the In The City LP (LP!) so thrilling ?

1) I'm 41, 2)The guitar playing on this is fantastic - the circular riff and the toppy AC30 whine sounds like 5 people playing at once, and I'm a sucker for that 'Townshendy scraping down the fretboard and waggling the pickup switch' thing 3)Weller and Foxton could both jump miles in the air with bent knees and land at *exactly* the same time - these things matter. 4) I's a great song, as Mr. Devoto said 'pissing adrenaline'(let's gloss over the slightly mysogynistic hue)- the way the whole song's structure mirrors the main riff, pushing and pulling and returning back to base.

Of course Weller's an arse now - the rot set in the day they included 'solo demos' on Extras. Still love The Jam - what about you?

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 May 2003 06:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

I *liked* the dodgy suits actually.

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 May 2003 06:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

agreed re gtr playing, some of Weller's later (recent) stuff is bearable if you just filter out everything but that. give it a chance!

dave q, Thursday, 1 May 2003 09:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Other magnificence from In The City - Slow Down (ferocious!) and Time For Truth ('why don't you just... fack off!')

Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 1 May 2003 09:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'd still rather listen to the Jam over the Who (and the C***h) any ol' day, I can tell ya that. But I can't say much about the first album because even though I have it the only songs that stick with me are the singles and/or stuff on Snap!.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 1 May 2003 15:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dr. C, speaking of changed addresses, what's yr real e-mail addy these days? I've tried mailing you twice @ aol recently and the message bounced twice.

If you want you can mail it to me privately:
Jeff.W******@ir.gsi.gov.uk (I'm sure you can fill in the blanks)

oh, I've never heard this song, sorry. Will look out for other posts in this series tho'.

Jeff W (zebedee), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm an american 24 year old girl and The Jam are my second favorite band . Your thread reminds me that I have to watch my Jam dvd that I just bought.

Carey (Carey), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:33 (twenty-one years ago) link


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