Favourite Jam singles

My five: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, The Eton Rifles, Going Underground, That's Entertainment, Town Called Malice

 

Close to your list from me, with the only difference being - News of the World - love those chord progressions and the riff after the intro, and just edged out the almost as phenomenal Eton Rifles

 

In the City
Strange Town
Town Called Malice
That's Entertainment
Going Underground

 

Tough to narrow down to 5, what a band!

In The City
Down In The Tube Station
Going Underground
That's Entertainment
Town Called Malice

 

Only 5? Oh well, the first couple are very easy for me to choose, actually - the last three can be interchangable and I might change them for others, depending on the day.

Strange Town
Start!
Down In The Tubestation At Midnight
Funeral Pyre
The Eton Rifles

And these are all single-only or single-edit versions too.

I've got most of the original 45s and LPs, CDs plus the Direction Reaction Creation boxset. Oh, and they were the first band I ever saw live, when I was 10 in 1980 and around the time they were the biggest thing going... about when Going Underground was everywhere. Still a big fan to this day and I wish I could find an image online of the poster I had on my bedroom wall - it wasn't a million miles from this but there were Orange amps visible on it and the picture was very orangy itself as well, as I recall.


Pretty sure this is a still from the BBC show Top Of The Pops though and probably when they did Town Called Malice/Precious; which was a treat!

 

Town Called Malice
Start!
Going Underground
That's Entertainment

and IMO there finest moment-

The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow)

 

"That's Entertainment" and "Hero" were import singles...

Dreams Of Children
Going Underground
Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Town Called Malice
Tales From The Riverbank (I know,a B side,but in my mind is the A side)

 

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
Going Underground
Start!
That's Entertainment
Town Called Malice

 

Ha, I had that Orange-y poster too!

 

The same as me apart from I would drop That's Entertainment and add either Strange Town or When You're Young.

 

This is impossible. I can't narrow it down from 13 and even that's incomplete.

Should "Dreams of Children" be dropped from this list since it was a b-side, or is it being counted because that was a two-sided #1 hit?

 

Hard to limit to 5

Down in the Tube Station at 12:00AM
When You're Young
Going Underground
Dreams of Children
Start!..............and I do like the single of this better without the horns.

 

I thought it was a double A-side.

 

That's Entertainment is probably my favourite "song" on the list but as far as catchy, classic singles, I went with:

Going Underground, Start, Town Called Malice, Bitterest Pill and Beat Surrender.

 

"Strange Town" ... but only because it's b/w "The Butterfly Collector."

 

As perfect as 45s get.

 

Well, you're talking about a band that also put out Going Underground b/w Dreams Of Children. THAT, to me, is perfect.

"You'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns" NEVER fails to slay.

 

All Around the World
A Town Called Malice
Beat Surrender

If their cover of "In the Midnight Hour" was a choice, I woulda picked that too. Guess it wasn't an official single.

 

SO tough to pick. The lesser songs above would be career highlights for many good bands.

Arbitrarily, he said today:

In The City - the opening statement
Eton Rifles - the ^&$&(! apocalypse
Going Underground - the shining moment of perfection which will outlive us all
Start! - the refinement/maturation
Beat Surrender - the closing bow

Intellectually, I concede the last named is maybe a notch below the others. I have generally been immune to Weller's stabs at soul/R&B, but this one does work for me. A great way to go out. But the other four HAVE to be there.
And I also LOVE other As and Bs as well. . .Dreams Of Children, Strange Town, All Around The World, Tales From The Riverbank, the relentless bloodletting of Funeral Pyre, etc. . .Not to mention Boy About Town! Now how was THAT not a single? An embarrassment of riches, I tell yer.

 

"The Butterfly Collector" and "Smithers-Jones" - their best B-sides (of what were labeled B-sides)

 

AND That's Entertainment. Whoa dude.
This song shows Weller becoming a boxer, as opposed to a brawler/streetfighter. Bobbing, weaving, picking his spots. The way he punches the lines at the end of each verse ("slashed seat affairs," "kick in the balls" etc.) kicks harder that way. La la la la la indeed.

 

Voted : The Dreams of Children

runners up :
Strange Town
Going Underground
That's Entertainment
Town Called Malice

 

Didn't mean to but I cast my vote for the five front runners!

My UK double LP of Snap is a perfect start-to-finish listen. What a great band.

 

The version of SJ on Live Jam is absolutely brutal. WORK TILL YOU DIE! I played that over and over when it came out in '95.

 

Yeah, that shout is right up there with "YOUTH EXPLOSION!" in "All Around the World".