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UMC-Polydor, in association with Nicetime Productions Inc., is proud to announce the release of About The Young Idea – The Very Best Of The Jam. A comprehensive, 47-track anthology, released to tie in with the eagerly anticipated Jam exhibition of the same name at London’s Somerset House from 26 June – 31 August 2015

In May 1977, a three-piece rock group from Woking in Surrey appeared on Top Of The Pops with an explosive single called In The City. The song fizzed with the energy and sense of purpose that was firing what had been called Punk and was now mutating into New Wave, and is one of the most incendiary debut singles ever. The Jam became one of the most popular bands to emerge from the English punk rock scene of ’77 and had a phenomenal impact on popular music and the wider youth culture. Five and a half years later – when lead singer Paul Weller was a mere 24 – The Jam split up. But between 1977 and 1982, the band released an incredible array of music, and developed at breakneck speed. In their short career they influenced a generation with their music, style, attitude and inspiration.

Each phase of their progress is here: the period when they brought eloquence and creative dazzle (“Fire and Skill”, as a sticker on Weller’s guitar put it) to the musical moment that had been started by the Sex Pistols and The Clash; their flowering into a group with incredible depth and breadth, positioned at the end of a lineage that went back to English pop’s purple patch in the mid-’60s; a sharp transition into the wiry, unsettling and quite brilliant music that defined the career-high that was 1980’s Sound Affects; and their final embrace of an influence that had bubbled away in their music from the start – soul, which sparked some of the best music they ever made.

The collection includes all the classic singles – 13 top-20 hits, (including four number ones), key album tracks, b-sides and live favourites; as well as the unreleased demo – Takin’ My Love from 1977 and the rare radio ad for ‘In The City’, both exclusive to this release. The package also features sleeve notes by John Harris plus period photos and memorabilia.

Tracklisting:

CD One

1. In The City (radio ad)
2. In The City
3. Art School
4. Away From The Numbers
5. Takin’ My Love (demo – previously unreleased)
6. All Around The World
7. The Modern World
8. In The Street Today
9. News Of The World
10. David Watts
11. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
12. Billy Hunt
13. To Be Someone (Didn’t We Have A Nice Time)
14. English Rose
15. In The Crowd
16. ‘A’ Bomb In Wardour St.
17. Strange Town
18. The Butterfly Collector
19. When You’re Young
20. Smithers-Jones
21. The Eton Rifles
22. Thick As Thieves
23. Private Hell
24. Saturday’s Kids
25. Burning Sky (demo)

CD Two

1. Going Underground
2. Dreams Of Children
3. Start!
4. Liza Radley
5. Pretty Green
6. Monday
7. That’s Entertainment
8. Man In The Cornershop
9. Boy About Town
10. Funeral Pyre
11. Absolute Beginners
12. Tales From The Riverbank
13. Town Called Malice
14. Precious
15. Ghosts
16. Just Who Is The Five O’Clock Hero?
17. Carnation
18. The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)
19. Beat Surrender
20. Move On Up
21. Shopping
22. Pop Art Poem