Fontana Int'l
2002
The Jam At The BBC
About This Album
Amid the plethora of Jam compilations and anthologies issued, the arrival of a full BBC sessions collection was long overdue. Past glimpses into the archive, after all, were never less than illuminating, and the knowledge that the single session (from February 1977) released on a Strange Fruit EP in the late '80s was merely the first of five broadcast between 1977-1981 had long frustrated fans and collectors. The Jam at the BBC doesn't quite answer every prayer. Three discs wrap up four of the studio sessions, together with three In Concert live broadcasts; absent, for who knows what reason, is a mid-1978 session for DJ David Jensen's show, featuring spiky renditions of "News of the World," "The Night," and the then-latest single, "'A' Bomb in Wardour Street." Live versions of the first and last named offer vague consolation, but the lack of completeness is irritating. On the plus side, the growth of the band from the deeply indebted post-mod rockers who first emerged in the shadow of punk to the brightly individualistic successors to the throne of classic Kinks and Who is documented with unrelenting precision. The opening blast of eight songs from two John Peel sessions races past in a roar of snarling adrenaline; the first In Concert, from June 1977, likewise.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 13,15,16 and 18)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,4,5,8,14 and 18)

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