AMG'd. How do I keep doing this? I really liked Sound Affects, and really liked All Mod Cons, but somehow missed the (equally acclaimed) album in between.
This feels for me like an interesting missing piece. While the other two albums were enjoyable, they were comparatively messy and rough and punk, while this is hookier, a bit more cleaned up. As a result, it serves more obviously as a bridge between punk and new wave, between punk and mod revival (as inspired by none other than the just-discovered Small Faces, I'm told!); and between the late 70's and modern bands like Bloc Party (see Private Hell) and late-era Green Day (see the shoutalong chorus on the way-ahead-of-its-time hit Eton Rifles).
This is, to overuse the word yet again, catchy, falling somewhere between The Clash and The Buzzcocks, with a good balance of showmanship and bile, and plenty of inventiveness for good measure. There's nothing quite as confrontational as Down in the Tube Station at Midnight here, nor anything quite as smooth as That's Entertainment, but it's awfully unpredictable across the board. The downside of all that swerving in style and angle was that it didn't feel overly cohesive, and I found the experience a bit disorienting. I think, once I get used to it, this album it could be my favorite of The Jam's, but for now I'll hedge with a 4/5
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