While raking around in the cupboard for the copy of the 12 singles by The The that I featured the other week, I remembered that there were a few other bits of fantastic plastic from Canada that made their way onto the plane and back across the Atlantic with me after my stint working there back in 2007. Like this 12" EP:-mp3 : The Jam - Absolute Beginners
mp3 : The Jam - Tales From The Riverbank
mp3 : The Jam - When You're Young
mp3 : The Jam - Funeral Pyre
mp3 : The Jam - Liza Radley
Three of these tracks were of course massive hit singles in the UK, while the other two are a couple of the finest b-sides that the band recorded (and as someone said in a comment left behind a few days back, there weren't many better than The Jam for giving you b-sides that were as good as if not better than the actual single).
I really don't think there's all that much to add other than Absolute Beginners is one of those singles I can't quite make my mind up on....I was disappointed in it at the time, but every now and again when I hear it for the first time in ages I'll reflect that my initial judgement was a bit harsh. But then again, when I play it alongside a bundle of other Jam songs, I realise that it is not all that high up in the all-time list. It certainly is the weakest of the five on offer on this particular EP for which I paid $9 according to the sticker still on the front of the sleeve (talking of which, isn't it a fabulous photograph?)
And purely for nostalgia's sake, especially for the delightful Davy over at The Ghost Of Electricity who is a proud Londoner, here's something filmed on the capital's streets and in one of its many lovely parks (someone please put me out my misery and tell me which one)
Thank you for your assistance.
21 comments:
Interesting. I've never heard it before actually!
Good!
Cheers
Albin Loan
Best. Jam. Video. Evah.
That was great. Thanks so much posting.
I'm sure I remember reading years ago that this was filmed in a park in Woking, but a judicious trawl of the internets reveals no bandstands like this thereabouts. There's a nice one in Godalming, but it's different.
Someone on YouTube is saying it is Kilburn Grange Park in Kilburn...???
All over the country the lights are going out....x
PS: I was born in Devon and that's my excuse.
Oh.
Touristontracyisland on YouTube sez:
'The footage in the park was filmed in Queen's Park, in north west London, England. The footage showing the high road is Kilburn High Road and the footage of the escalator was filmed in Kilburn Square which is almost directly opposite Woolworth.
The escalator has long since been removed (it was out of order most of the time!) and the filming took place in June or July 1979.
How do I know this? I grew up in the area and I am one of the boys in the 'clapping' scenes in front of the bandstand'.
I do like a mystery solved.
Move on up x
They've given the bandstand a facelift.
There should be more bandstand debates in music blogs. Nice post JC. For the record I like Absolute Beginners
Great Bandstands Of Our Time, No. 2 - Trumpton.
Forming a band? Try this blueprint for assuring integrity forever:
Hit the mark - Call a halt - Then fuck off.
The Jam recorded for 5 years (1977-82). In that time, they changed the lives of many, whilst (incidentally) becoming the biggest band in the UK.
They were accused at times (Weller in particular) of being fashionably nihilistic, inherently miserable and steeped in unremitting cynicism.
That, my friend, is complete bollocks. (I’m an old curmudgeon – so I know what I’m talking about) Besides, it is a fine line between cynicism and reality!
Much of the message of the music of The Jam was, in fact (to scattergun a phrase or two), about bringing hope into hearts, cuddling a warm girl, and dancing the night away with the gift of life. Because, when all is said and done, life is a drink – and you get drunk … when you’re young.
In the days when records had 2 sides, The Jam released strong ‘B Sides’ - which, by design, were rarely found on their albums.
Tales From The Riverbank was c/w the single ‘Absolute Beginners’ in 1981. The stark contrast of a picture sleeve depicting grey damp terraced houses in industrial England was firmly against the narrative backdrop of ‘Tales From The Riverbank’ - a nostalgic lament to days with ‘no fears or worries … just a golden country’.
And, as JC's blog is worldwide, you certainly don’t need to be British to appreciate the song’s message. I guess it works in the US, Europe, South America or even Japan.
As the sun finally breaks through this interminable winter of gloom, stick these simple spirit-lifters on loud, and warm your old bones and your bitter, bitter soul.
Wow one of the best ongoing comments I have read in a long time! Way to go davy h !!!
Absolute Beginners is among my real fave Jam songs. I know I am in the minority when I say that I welcomed their move towards brighter, brassier tracks, but this song just feels like London in a Colin MacInnes novel. Weller never lost any of his lyrical bite during this stage.
Another fave from this EP - was it Canadian only release, cause I swear I have it in my collection as well - is Tales from the Riverbank. Some almost psychedelic rock from the Mods who were sometimes more Punk than the Punks themselves.
Oh yeah, for those who might not have heard, Foxton appears on one or two of the tracks from Wellers latest offering, and I believe they recorded more than what's on the release.
I know what you mean about Absolute Beginners - if you're not in the mood, it can sound like the Jam doing an impression of themselves - but I've got to put in a word for Funeral Pyre. I'm old enough & sad enough to remember it being premiered on Radio One's Roundtable, to a generally nonplussed jury (including a very bemused Annie Nightingale, IIRC).
Ghost Town gets all the Sound Of 81 boxticking these days - & fair do's, it's an utter classic - but FP's bitten-lip hysteria, only just reined in, deserves its mention too. Strangely written out of their history, I actually reckon it better than Eton Rifles or Going Underground. So there!
yrs aye
DMcA
Davy H
Thanks for all your detective work. And for mking me laugh with the Trumpton photo.
DvD
Once again, you demonstrate an uncanny ability to capture everything so perfectly. Your comment should be a posting on its own.
Echorich
Not sure if it was a Canadian-only release. Just know that what I have has Canada all over it right down to multi-lingual information.
Davis
With you all the way on Funeral Pyre and said so last August:-
http://thevinylvillain.blogspot.com/2009/08/weak-get-crushed-as-strong-grow.html
Fantastic
I gotta hand it to whoever wrote this, you've really kept me updated...
great video..
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