The band only existed for 5 years and the 95 songs on the first 4 disc of the boxset prove that The Jam made some great songs. In The City, The Modern World, Standards, David Watts, Down In The Tube Station At Midnight, In The Crowd, The Eton Rifles, Private Hell, Going Underground, Start!, That’s Entertainment, Town Called Malice, Ghosts and Beat Surrender are all brilliant pop songs.

And, rightfully so. Just for this song alone, the name Paul Weller is a name that must not and can not be forgotten. The end of The Jam One month after The Jam’s demise, record company Polydor re-released all of The Jam’s 16 singles at the same time: nine of them actually re-entered the charts! Compilations One day earlier, December 10th, 1982, 35 years ago today, the farewell album was released: the live-compilation Dig The New Breed. Just over 5 years after the release of their debut single ( In The City: April 29th, 1977) The Jam chapter was closed indefinitely. These recordings were made over a five year period, and should give more than just ‘an account of songs played live’, or a ‘Greatest Hits’ type album.The Jam was a typical British band. Therefore, it’s not very remarkable that The Jam was incredibly popular in the United Kingdom. The Jam has never made an impact in the USA. In March of 1982 they had their first chart-entry in The Netherlands with the song Town Called Malice, a Motown pastiche that did very well. The next chart success came in 1983 with the single Beat Surrender. By then, The Jam had already disbanded.

Loyalty from the fans has always surprised and amazed me. Traveling around the world to give us the support we badly needed in places such as the States. I would like it to be treated with RESPECT! Something we always tried to give our audience, and hopefully they to us.Playing live, to me, is still the roots of all music, it can be and should be a spontaneous and exciting event for those involved but to capture this atmosphere on record is near impossible for obvious reasons. I have never been a great fan of live albums that try and emulate a studio recording with a cast of thousands, but instead a more basic and honest account.