The Gift available on February 16 2026 from Amazon for 15.51
The Jam - The Gift (2 CD Deluxe Edition) (Music CD) available on June 29 2018 from Base for 13.89
UPC bar code 602537158195 ξ1 registered November 13 2013
UPC bar code 602537158195 ξ2 registered June 29 2018
Product category is MUSIC CD - CD - Pop Audio
Manufacturered by Polydor/UMe
Product weight is 0.29 lbs.
Record Label: Universal * Catalog#: I99 CD109639 "I was very proud of it - I thought it was another advance on what we'd done before." Paul Weller - 2012Disc One - Original album, singles & b-sidesDisc Two - Singles, b-sides & demosTo celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Jam's final studio album and to mark the 30th anniversary of the band's startling split, Universal is proud to release a deluxe edition of THE GIFT.Surprisingly this was the band's only No. 1 album in the UK and marked the departure from the classic Jam sound to a more soul-influenced style, ushering in Weller's ideas for the Style Council. THE GIFT includes the classic UK No. 1 single "Town Called Malice" plus other highlights "Running On The Spot" and "Carnation."THE GIFT, released in March 1982 was The Jam's final studio album, in which Weller strove to bring as close to perfection as was humanly possible. Plenty of its songs number among The Jam's best. It is also a fascinating glimpse of its time: of musical currents that were swirling around London and beyond. THE GIFT's energy was not just focused on the state of society: it had a lot to say about where music was going, what had happened to the righteous fires lit by punk, and how to remain relevant and vital when music was taking some very wrong turns indeed. The challenge it answered was simple enough: if blaring guitars and rock poses had run out of road, what could embody the kind of passion that The Jam were all about? The answer lay in the soul music that had bled into their collective identity from the start, and a push to make it less of an influence, than a key part of who they were.Looking back, some of The Jam's associates have speculated about what lay behind Weller's frantic drive to put everything he could into THE GIFT: increasingly of the belief that the group should break-up, Weller was simply trying ensure that their last album should be their best.Since the breakup of The Jam, Paul Weller's career has thrived and evolved. From his days fronting The Style Council to this year s critically acclaimed new solo album SONIK KICKS, the reissue of THE GIFT can almost be viewed as the jumping off point for Weller s long and illustrious career.
I'll plump for 'Sound Affects' as the Jam's best album, but although 'The Gift' is a flawed work there is an emotional intensity about many of the tracks that appeals. Particularly the first three - 'Happy Together' (which, with the constant 'Fa-fa-fa' backing vocals on several songs seems to be an oblique nod to US sixties band The Turtles) is sardonic; while 'Ghosts' and 'Precious ' have some of Weller's best ever lyrics. 'Running on the Spot' and 'Carnation' are in a similar vein - intense and emotio..
It's hard for me to give any Jam album less than five stars...they are, after all, one of my favorite bands. Paul Weller, before forming the Style Council and eventually going on to a solo career, was the singer/songwriter/guitarist for this influential mod/punk trio that was enormously successful in their native England but never really hit it off in the States. As their albums progressed, Weller began moving the band further away from straight punk and into more R&B-flavored territory. Here are the ultima..
Paul Weller is ready for a big musical change.While on"The Gift" Weller and The Jam deliver some typically catchy,sponanious Brit pop like "Happy Together","Ghosts" and "RunningOn the Spot",much of this album seriously attempts to blend inheavy funk,jazz,Carribean and even African styled music intoThe Jam's framework.This approch doesn't always succeed entirelybut on numbers like the Sly Ston-ish "Trans-Global Express",thebombastic afro-funk of "Precious" and the classic,almost ready-made Motown beat of the..
