Live Jam

Released in 1993, 11 years after The Jam called it quits, Live Jam picks up where their previous live album, Dig the New Breed, left off. Both albums feature highlights from throughout the band's live career and no songs overlap, making the sets perfect complements to each other. Besides, anyone who ever doubted whether a power trio could pull off the songs that sounded so fully formed in their studio incarnations can rest assured; both albums prove that The Jam held a ferocious power on stage. Whether it’s “Thick as Thieves,” “The Eton Rifles,” “Away from the Numbers,” “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight,” “Strange Town,” or “The Butterfly Collector,” The Jam kick these songs harder and make it perfectly obvious that they were a live band par excellence. The album's relentless pace clearly mirrors what it was like to see them in concert, considering how consistently demanding the group are throughout. U.K. fans celebrate The Jam rightfully as the late-'70s/early-'80s equivalent to The Kinks and The Who: bands Paul Weller and Co. clearly modeled themselves after. Fans in the U.S. are fewer. A shame, considering the obvious greatness right here.