On November 18, 1977 The Jam released their second album, This is the Modern World, just six months following their debut. The main inspirations remain The Kinks and The Who. ('Standards' uses an updated riff from 'I Can't Explain'). The difficult second album? Not really. It's actually just more of the youth explosion that made the reality of In The City so hot!
Mick Farren wrote this review for NME :
So this is the modern world. I´m glad they told me. For an instant I´d thought I´d been transported back to 1965 ... He doesn´t need me to tell him (Weller) that The Jam are playing excellent, streamlined rock and roll. He also won´t want me to point out that the production by Vic Smith and Chris Parry is well on the thin side, that some of the riffs don´t stand up to the amount of repetition that they are subjected to and that after a couple of tracks the vocals do lean towards the monotonous ... What The Jam have in common with the rest of the British new wave is a kind of sullen gut level nihilism ... I doubt anything I could say would add to or detract from its obvious status as a hot item, buy wise. So roll the commercials.
From Chas de Wally writing for Sounds:
And people were trying to tell me that this was a lousy album and The Jam were all washed up ... It´s one of the best albums I´ve ever heard in a long time ... Admittedly Paul Weller´s voice still leaves a lot to be desired ... Not everything here owes a debt to The Who ... The Jam capture the essence of transistor radio rock. Bright and naive. Timeless. Brilliant ... Weller is a dry and impassive observer ... In some cases you might even call him genuinely and humanely perceptive ... The Jam are streets ahead of their rivals ... The Jam are young and brave ... Still as real and ingenious as it possible to be in the rock business ... As a live band they are quite one of the best ... It still isn´t their masterpiece.
And from Chris Bazier writing for Melody Maker :
The Who´s influence is marked on both the construction of the songs and the instrumental style ... much of the record suffers precisely because it´s typical Jam -- ´Standards´, ´Here Comes The Weekend´, ´In The Street Today´ and ´Modern World´ are all adequate but thoroughly ordinary and don´t represent any development ... Some of the songs are lyrically weak ... ´Standards´ seems to ridicule the kind of Tory attitude Weller once espoused , which is fine but the attack is too glib and exaggerated ... Existence does have its highs and it´s when Paul Weller is glorying in it that he seems to write his best ... The Jam spiriting us towards the second psychedelic age? ... Paul Weller should mature into one of our best songwriters, provided he keeps his mind open... This album only hints at what The Jam are capable of.
Finally there's Barry Cain from Record Mirror
Forget the sixties. Forget comparisons. Forget Jam, The Who, Beatles, The Kinks. Forget the naive neurosis of the plagiarists. The Jam are here. And now ... 'This Is The Modern World' reflects a definite PROGRESSION (remember that?) a definite identity mould ... here Weller is making an obvious attempt at creating a Jam SOUND. He succeeds. Brilliantly. It is in fact a ceremonial uncovering of the post-pubescent metropolitan veil -- moth eaten but nonetheless sacrosanct ... The name of the game is simplicity ... It´s not that Weller is softening, it´s just that he´s learning ... His cracked pavement voice has often been a cause for concern in certain circles which I could never understand. It´s perfect for his songs ... he sings like he looks. Freddie Garrity could never say that.
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