Reviews Of
"It´s not only several light years ahead of anything they´ve ever done before but also the album that is going to catapult The Jam right into the front rank of international rock and roll; one of the handful of truly essential rock albums of the last few years ... Weller has transcended his original naivety without becoming cynical about anything other than the music business ... ALL MOD CONS is an album based firmly in 1978 and looking forward ... Weller has the almost unique ability to write love songs that convince the listener that the singer is really in love ... Weller is -- like Bruce Springsteen - tough enough to break down his own defences, secure enough to make himself vulnerable ... thsi is a sgood a place as any to point out that bassist Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler are more than equal to the new demands that Weller is making on them: the vitality, empathy and resourcefulness they display throughout the album makes ALL MOD CONS a collective triumph for The Jam as well as a personal triumpf for Weller ... if these songs mean that one less meaningless street fight gets started then we´ll all owe Paul Weller a favour ... it´ll be the album that makes The Jam real contenders for the crown. Look out all you rock and rollers; as now of The Jam are the ones to beat."
"Must have been the pressure and frustration that drove Weller into creating ALL MOD CONS ... they just blast away 12 years of blind-alley ´progression´ and take up the mantle of Townshend/Lennon-McCartney for the modern world ... Weller translates his thematic concerns into his finest lyrics to date ... to describe the album in more than 400 words is a nonsense."
"Forget the crash, bang, wallop revivalist style of their early days; The Jam have come of age ... they are not imitators but upholders of a great British tradition ... this is Sixties music handled in an original and modern way which has given The Jam their distinctive and now truly distinguished style ... no clever final comments, just that this on of the three albums of ´78."
"Starving the market of vinyl product is not a game which you can accuse The Jam of playing ... perhaps if Paul Weller were to be a little less enthusiastic, a little less concerned with churning out singles like a bottle factory, The Jam would not be in danger of becoming tiresome ... not that Weller can´t still pull a gem or two ... Weller has got himself into an essentially sterile trap ... if it wasn´t for the fact that Weller is so obviously sincere it would be an insult (´English Rose´) ... basically nothing has changed musically except Weller has moved on a year or two. By this rate, taking into account the hyperactive output, he should have caught up with the rest of us in the 1990. Can you wait?"
