The Gift (The Jam Album)
The Gift is the sixth and final studio album by the British mod rock band The Jam , released in 1982 .
Background information
Unlike previous albums by the band, the album shows influences from jazz . Even Paul Weller's penchant for Northern Soul is recognizable. This is in contrast to the band's earlier sound, which was still fond of punk and new wave on releases like In the City or Setting Sons . This reorientation is mainly due to the front man and main songwriter Paul Weller. After the release of The Gift , he disbanded the group in order to devote himself to newer music projects that he could not musically associate with The Jam. Weller wrote almost all of the songs on The Gift , only the song Circus was contributed by bassist Bruce Foxton .
On January 29, 1982, Town Called Malice (B-side Precious ) was released, the album's first single. It reached number 1 on the British charts. The song Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero? (B-sides War and The Great Depression ) was only released as a single in the Netherlands. In 1982 the singles and EPs The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) (B-side Pity Poor Alfie and Fever ) and Beat Surrender (B-side Shopping ), which once again reached number 1 in the charts, were released . The tracks were not included on the original The Gift release, but can be found on a 2012 re-release of the album. This is accompanied by a second CD on which, in addition to the singles mentioned, some B-sides, demos and alternative versions of some pieces can be heard.
The Gift was the first album by The Jam to reach number 1 on the UK charts and number 82 on the US Billboard 200 . In the UK, it stayed in the charts for 25 weeks and was awarded a gold record .
Chris Woodstra gave two and a half stars out of five on Allmusic . In his opinion, the album is ambitious, but it would not show Weller's complete ability.
Track list
- Happy Together (Weller)
- Ghosts (Weller)
- Precious (Weller)
- Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero? (Weller)
- Trans-Global Express (Weller)
- Running on the Spot (Weller)
- Circus (Foxton)
- The Planner's Dream Goes Wrong (Weller)
- Carnation (Weller)
- Town Called Malice (Weller)
- The Gift (Weller)