The Jam - In the City / This Is the Modern World - 1977

 

Sorry for missing my post, yesterday.  I've had this horrible head cold and it's seeped down into my lungs.  I came home from work last night and collapsed on the couch, and fell asleep.  I got up about 11pm just to take some medicine and take my clothes off, and then went to bed.  I'm feeling better today, but I'm still in bad shape.  So, because I missed yesterday, and because these albums are so short (and because I had already planned it this way ;) ) I am posting the first two albums by our beloved Jam. 

I didn't get into the Jam until I got a two-fer album from Collector's Choice music about 15 years ago.  Back then, as the internet was just becoming popular, I started exploring different genres of music as my tastes developed.  I liked Punk, but I had always been very particular about which bands I listened to.  I had never heard The Jam before then, that I remember, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Two albums for the price of one sounded good.

As many of you already know, getting two Jam albums for the price of one is an outright steal, as these albums are like gold.  I fell in love with them almost instantly.  Every song is full of pophooks and full of energy.  Weller's voice, instantly recognizable, fits the music perfectly.  It's not whiny and nasally, and he doesn't have to scream.  He actually sings.  And you can tell, that he and the band are really having a lot of fun.

There were only a few singles from these albums, and just a couple b-sides.  I also put the non-album single All Around the World on there, too, just to give it a home.  The covers were cut-and-dried, straight forward covers.  Nothing special.

Now, back to the couch...

The Jam - In the City - 1977

The Jam - This Is the Modern World - 1977 

Peter Gabriel - Untitled One - 1977

Even though the cover of PG's first album is cool, I wanted to use some of the beautiful images from his singles for this cover.  And, in an attempt to add a title for his first album, I used the single Modern Love as the title for the entire album.  Call me a heretic, but I think it works.

As for the album...

Being a 16-year-old boy, in love with So, I wanted to hear other PG albums.  I thought, naively, that starting with his first album might be the best.  Boy, was I shocked.  At the time, I wasn't a huge fan of Prog and 70s Rock.  I was wondering upon listening to the first album if a mistake had been made, as this didn't sound like PG at all to me. I tried really hard to listen to and like this album, but for the life of me, I couldn't.

Years pass, and my taste in music developed and shifted and I picked this one up again.  By that time, I had fallen in love with Genesis' tLLDOB epic, so I thought that a re-evaluation of the first PG album was in order.  Again, I tried to like the album, but, again, I didn't.  It took time, revisiting again and again, along with his other early albums, and I eventually came around and now I truly love the work that he put into it.  It's definitely an acquired taste.

It should be expected, especially from PG, that a transition from his Prog beginning would take time and experimentation.  I feel that starting with this album, he wanted to make music that he liked to make, that would eventually be a universal sound that expressed his art and mind, and also tried to avoid the trappings of being classified into one genre or another.  Honestly, listening to him from his early roots through his sound today, he has run the gamut of sound and art.  Sort of like his contemporaries in Sting, Phil Collins and U2.  Standing in one place too long creates stagnation and irrelevancy.

This is still a pleasant ride, as long as you have an ear for Prog as well as Rock and the rest of PG's work.  If at first it doesn't succeed, try and try again.

Peter Gabriel - Untitled One - 1977

The Clash - Self-Titled - 1977

So, I have no anecdotal story to go along with this post.  I bought both versions of the album when they reissued them on CD.  It always bugged me that you had to buy two different albums to get all of the songs.  It would be okay if each album had different songs, but they shared a lot, more than enough to make me feel a little cheated when I bought them.

But, it is a classic "album", no matter which version you had.  I put all the tracks on one disc, and added some extras to make it special.  Please forgive me for changing the colors on the album, as I wanted mine to be different than the regular releases.  It still looks good.

There you have it!  Short post tonight.  I have to make some covers, so...

The Clash - Self-Titled - 1977 

Joy Division - Warsaw - 1977-78-80

Short post tonight, as I don't have anything special to say about this fantastic album.  All I can say, is that I didn't add any extra tracks and I simply updated the cover.  Why?  Because the original cover is a DUMB.ASS.COVER.  It wasn't befitting of the release.  Mine is.

So, if you want the album, great!  I have it right down below, here.  But, this post is all about the cover.

So have at ya....

Joy Division - Warsaw - 1977-78-80