 "Jam Packed" | 2008-06-26 |
| - Reviewed By louvox |
| Direction Reaction Creation is the ultimate Jam package, offering 117 tracks over five discs -- essentially the band's complete studio recordings. With a strict adherence to chronological order, the box presents each single followed by its B-side(s) (six of which appear on CD for the first time, including the brilliant "See Saw"), followed by the proper album tracks -- oddly, though, the album versions of the singles are chosen in most places. Unfortunately, this approach sometimes disrupts the flow of the albums, especially in the case of All Mod Cons, which loses three tracks to the treatment, and Setting Sons, which loses "Eton Rifles" to a separate disc. This is a small point for purists to debate -- the difference is really unnoticeable in light of the truly great music found on the discs. In addition to the regular studio tracks, disc five offers over an hour of studio demos -- 22 previously unreleased tracks of considerably different takes of better-known material, a few never-before-heard Weller and Foxton originals, and some interesting covers like "Rain," "Dead End Street," and "Every Little Bit Hurts." A lavish 88-page booklet accompanies the set with great liner notes, an extensive band chronology and discography, and the band's complete gig list, along with plenty of rare photos and memorabilia. The Jam, simply put, were one the finest bands in rock & roll history, and Direction Reaction Creation offers the proof, showing both their remarkably rapid growth and their incredible consistency. |
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 "Direction Reaction Creation" | 2008-03-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: AO1BZIVAMN6MO |
An excellent 5 CD collection (if you take the CDs out of their tight cardboard sleeves and put them in normal cases on your shelves). You also get a book documenting the Jam with photos etc.
Here's the break-up:
CD1: Albums in full: In the City & This is the Modern World (plus loads of singles released around the same time).
CD2: Albums: All Mod Cons (I still bought the All Mod Cons deluxe edition for the demo versions), and loads of singles from the same time.
CD3: Albums: Setting Sons (in full), and "Sound Affects" (excludes the album version of Start! Does provide the single version though). Other singles from that time period also included.
CD4: Albums: The Gift (replaces the album version of Precious with the 12" version). Also singles from the same period, and The Beat Surrender (EP with 4 other songs).
CD5: Alternate versions of earlier songs, and some other singles and b-sides, and some songs I'd never heard in my addictive Jam collecting days of the 1980s-90s: "Rain" "Dead end street" "Stand by me" "Every little bit hurts" "Walking in Heavens Sunshine".
The exclusions of album versions of Start! and "Precious" are annoying, but don't let that put you off. You can always order "The Gift" and "Sound Affects" as well, or keep your old vinyl. |
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| "The Very Best" | 2008-03-01 |
| - Reviewed By dazedcat |
First of all, kudos to dcbuys, one of Amazons' partner resellers who advertised this box as new factory sealed....they delivered what they promised.
As for the box set, well there's not much I can add to other reviews here. The fidelity is tremendous throughout, the lack of any live material is a bit of a putoff (I'd rather have had the fifth CD full of live stuff instead of demos and alternate versions), and the original song running order of the various albums are all scrambled. But if you've purchased enough box sets, that's something you've learned to live with. The booklet truly does a wonderful job of tracking the history of the band from start to finish.
These minor complaints aside, you can't ask for much more as a Jam fan. The Jam were truly one of the finest bands from any era. The album tracks and the period singles truly paint a picture for the listener as to how it was. The musicianship was always top rank and Weller's songwriting seemed to grow with each passing month.
No doubt everyone has their favorite Jam album. Mine was always Sound Affects......which sounds truly glorious here. Get this box, it's beyond placing a value on it.
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| "ELEGANTE EDICION PARA EL PUNK DE SACO Y CORBATITA!" | 2007-03-12 |
| - Reviewed By pappokari |
| QUE QUISIERON SER LOS JAM?..LOS WHO BASTARDOS, LOS SMALL FACES SIN GLAMOUR?? NO IMPORTA..TODO LO CREATIVOS QUE FUERON ESTA REFLEJADO EN ESTA MONUMENTAL COLECCION, QUE ENCIERRA LA TOTALIDAD DE SU LEGADO..(ALGUNAS COSITAS PUEDEN LLEGAR A FALTAR, PERO...)GRAN SONIDO, GRAN BOOKLET, EL CD 5 TRAE RAREZAS Y GRABACIONES INEDITAS...SI SOS FAN DE ESTE GRUPO, ES IMPRESCINDIBLE TENERLO..SI TE SIMPATIZAN TENES LA RECOPILACION SNAP QUE ALCANZA Y SOBRA!! |
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| "Great collection of an essential band" | 2006-08-10 |
| - Reviewed By williammdavidson |
This is a first-rate box set. Practically everything a non-completist Jam fan needs is included, and the sound quality is much better than the various individual remastered CDs floating around, especially the latter albums. Check out the bass on "Set the House Ablaze" for a comparison-- it's practically nonexistent on the 1997 "Sound Affects" import, but here it sounds full and richly textured.
Completists, though, will still need more: none of the Jam's BBC sessions or live material from "Live Jam" and "Dig the New Breed" are represented here, and there are additional demos and alternate versions on the "Extras" compilation. And there's at least one troubling omission in the box: the album version of "Precious." Instead, we get an extended single mix that adds some horn soloing and subtracts some vocals. Both the album and single mixes of "Smithers-Jones" are present, so why does "The Gift" (my favorite Jam album) get shortchanged?
Still, the five discs of "Direction Reaction Creation" give you practically everything the Jam ever put to tape in the studio, all in sterling quality. That's a good deal, and I'd recommend this set even if you already own most of this material on other discs. |
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| "Missing something important to me" | 2005-02-08 |
| - Reviewed By dmax |
Interesting - I was about to spring for this when I noticed that it's missing something that I've loved for years: a B side recording of "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" live. It's sloppy at times, but they regain their place. But have it on cassette somewhere, taped from a friend's vinyl 20+ years ago.
And, it's not here. So I'll wait... |
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| "Buy direct from UK and get it for half this price!" | 2005-02-01 |
| - Reviewed By strict_tempo |
| Amazon's UK site has this same box set selling for £28.97. Under the current exchange rate that's about half what it sells for here, so even with the overseas shipping charge it's still a lot less money for the same product. Shop smart! |
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| "This is what a box set should be" | 2005-01-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: AMERMO0C2O04T |
| I had every Jam album and most of their singles and EPs back in the early 80s when they were still recording and performing. I saw them play the Palladium in NY in 1982 and couldn't hear out of my right ear for a week. Now it's been about 20 years since I've seriously listened to a Jam album. Then I got this box set as a gift this Christmas. A week later, I started listening to the discs, one after the other. I was up until 3:00 in the morning listening to all these great songs I hadn't heard in two decades. They sounded even better than I remember and I have an entirely new respect for Paul Weller and The Jam as musicians and composers. They were truly a great band. Even the 5th disc, containing previously unreleased songs and alternative versions of Jam classics is completely worth listening to. The booklet, photographs, and other historical material within the set are terrific. Every old or new Jam fan should have this set. |
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| "A great sounding reissue" | 2004-08-12 |
| - Reviewed By davie123 |
I won't repeat all the lavish praise of previous reviews, but rather emphasize a couple of things. First, the sound quality on this set is *much* better than the previous Polydor (U.S.) individual album masters I own. This really helps recapture the impact of the Jam's crunchy power-trio sound that I remember from the original 45's. Second, a lot of the non-album material that I haven't heard for a while sounds quite good and fresh -- not just "Going Underground" but also singles like "Beat Surrender" that back in the early 80s seemed not quite up to standards.
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| "Just one tiny blemish." | 2003-11-23 |
| - Reviewed By jay_banerjee |
| The Jam were one of the greatest rock and roll groups in history. Their entire catalogue, from "In the City" all the way through to "Beat Surrender" is fresh, vibrant, urgent, and real. They were a band whose B-sides (such as "Smithers-Jones") could be the top A-sides of lesser groups. Nothing in their catalogue is worthless...not even their cover of the "Batman" theme! And they didn't just stay in one place after finding success. "In the City", their debut single, is rough-hewn, Who-derived punk rock. A million sounds and fusions of pop, punk, and soul later (the crunching "All Around the World", the bright but alienated "Strange Town", the driving, hard-hitting "Eton Rifles", the gorgeous anthem "Going Underground", the wistful Motown rave "Town Called Malice") we get "Beat Surrender", their bow, an uptempo, horn-and-piano-driven sophisticated soul scorcher. Along with The Buzzcocks, The Jam are at the top of the stack when it comes to singles bands of their era. And ANY era, really. That said...there is one tiny fault. This is a fault only a completist fanatic would quibble about, but anyone willing to spend $100 on just one band is probably, like me, a completist fanatic. The problem is this: one of the most acclaimed entries in The Jam's catalogue, and my personal favorite, "That's Entertainment", does not appear in its ideal form. The version from "Snap!" (known in CD release as "Compact Snap!") is nowhere to be heard. They include the psychedelic-tinged version that graces "Sound Affects", and they include some bizarre up-tempo demo on the "rarities" disc. But for some strange reason, they don't include their greatest rendition of "That's Entertainment". The version is minimal but has a fiery intensity that the somewhat muffled album version just doesn't have. There's a note written muttering about "another version available on the 'Snap!' compilation", but would it really have been that hard to include it? Like I said...it's just one song on a collection of a hundred, and it might seem petty. But for someone hoping to capture The Jam's entire catalogue on CD with this purchase (ESPECIALLY my personal favorites), the disappointment was palpable. But that's the only problem. Everything else is aces. If you're new to The Jam, I suggest you buy "Compact Snap!" anyway just to get acquainted with them. But if you've heard some of Weller, Foxton, and Buckler already and think this is the way to go, then it almost definitely is. I certainly don't regret my purchase. But it's just not quite perfect! |
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