No voy a repetir todos los elogios hechos en las reseñas de este Box Set, solo recalcar que este es un conjunto de casi todo lo que The Jam ha producido, un legado de todos sus legados. Me gusta The Jam , y me animo a decir que esto es como una Biblia para cualquier The Jam/ Weller fan, y una buena forma de interirorizarte si solo sos un conocedor superficial de su obra. Espero que lo disfruten…

The legacy of the Jam is founded on just half-a-dozen studio albums–all crammed into an incident-packed five years. Yet their impact was much, much more significant than a mere six albums would suggest. The trio’s intensity was born of punk but, uniquely at the time, the Jam were willing, quite literally, to wear their musical influences on their sleeves–the Who, Tamla Motown, James Brown, the Kinks, soul, the Beatles, etc. This was heady stuff for the revisionist Year Zero that was punk.

The Jam hammered out of 1977 with punk singles like “In The City” and “The Modern World”; but soon Paul Weller was finding his own voice as a writer, with songs like “Down In The Tube Station At Midnight”, “Saturday’s Kids”, “The Eton Rifles” and “Town Called Malice”–songs which reflected the suburbia that bred him and put Weller in line with Pete Townshend and Ray Davies as an observer par-excellence of the English scene. And like them, Weller was also capable of knocking out striking pop singles like “Going Underground”, “Start!” and “Beat Surrender”.
Direction Reaction Creation is a welcome 5CD box which gathers together pretty much everything the Jam ever recorded: B-sides and hard-to-get singles as well as every track from those six albums. The package also includes a strikingly designed and well-written 88-page book commemorating every release and every gig the Jam played. But the fifth disc is the real bonus: 22 unreleased tracks, including demos (“In The City”, “Precious”, “The Bitterest Pill”); covers (“Rain”, “Dead End Street”, “Stand By Me”); and alternate takes (“A Solid Bond In Your Heart”, “Billy Hunt”, “That’s Entertainment”).
The music here is a fine reflection of those frantic times a quarter of a century ago, and you can only marvel at the quality, and the quantity, of material the Jam produced–they were gigging constantly, yet still managed to churn out a string of singles and albums that lived up to Weller’s high standards. Albums like Setting Sons and Sound Affects saw the Jam really coming to the boil, but sadly–with Weller’s interest taking him off into folk, jazz and R&B–the band’s days were already numbered. Direction Reaction Creation is, however, a fine souvenir–and one that offers positive proof that, after the Sex Pistols and Clash, the Jam were the most original band to be thrown up by the New Wave
Patrick Humphries

Artist: The Jam

Category: Audio CD

Format: Box set

Label: Polydor Group

Manufacturer: Polydor Group

Number of discs: 5

Publisher: Polydor Group

Running time: 350

Studio: Polydor Group

Title: Direction Reaction Creation

Tracks

Disc 1
1.	IN THE CITY	14.	CARNABY STREET
2.	TAKIN’ MY LOVE	15.	THE MODERN WORLD
3.	ART SCHOOL	16.	LONDON TRAFFIC
4.	I’VE CHANGED MY ADDRESS	17.	STANDARDS
5.	SLOW DOWN	18.	LIFE FROM A WINDOW
6.	I GOT BY IN TIME	19.	THE COMBINE
7.	AWAY FROM THE NUMBERS	20.	DON’T TELL THEM YOU’RE SANE
8.	BATMAN THEME	21.	IN THE STREET TODAY
9.	SOUNDS FROM THE STREET	22.	LONDON GIRL
10.	NON-STOP DANCING	23.	I NEED YOU (FOR SOMEONE)
11.	TIME FOR TRUTH	24.	HERE COMES THE WEEKEND
12.	BRICKS & MORTAR	25.	TONIGHT AT NOON
13.	ALL AROUND THE WORLD	26.	IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

Disc 2
1.	NEWS OF THE WORLD	13.	IN THE CROWD
2.	AUNTIES & UNCLES (IMPULSIVE YOUTHS)	14.	BILLY HUNT
3.	INNOCENT MAN	15.	IT’S TOO BAD
4.	DAVID WATTS	16.	FLY
5.	‘A’ BOMB IN WARDOUR STREET	17.	THE PLACE I LOVE
6.	DOWN IN THE TUBE STATION AT MIDNIGHT	18.	STRANGE TOWN
7.	SO SAD ABOUT US	19.	THE BUTTERFLY COLLECTOR
8.	THE NIGHT	20.	WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG
9.	ALL MOD CONS	21.	SMITHERS-JONES
10.	TO BE SOMEONE (DIDN’T WE HAVE A NICE TIME)	22.	THE ETON RIFLES
11.	MR. CLEAN	23.	SEE-SAW
12.	ENGLISH ROSE

Disc 3
1.	GIRL ON THE PHONE	13.	LIZA RADLEY
2.	THICK AS THIEVES	14.	PRETTY GREEN
3.	PRIVATE HELL	15.	MONDAY
4.	LITTLE BOY SOLDIERS	16.	BUT I’M DIFFERENT NOW
5.	WASTELAND	17.	SET THE HOUSE ABLAZE
6.	BURNING SKY	18.	THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
7.	SMITHERS-JONES	19.	DREAM TIME
8.	SATURDAY’S KIDS	20.	MAN IN THE CORNER SHOP
9.	HEAT WAVE	21.	MUSIC FOR THE LAST COUPLE
10.	GOING UNDERGROUND	22.	BOY ABOUT TOWN
11.	THE DREAMS OF CHILDREN	23.	SCRAPE AWAY
12.	START!

Disc 4
1.	FUNERAL PYRE	13.	THE PLANNER S DREAM GOES WRONG
2.	DISGUISES	14.	CARNATION
3.	ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS	15.	THE GIFT
4.	TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK	16.	THE GREAT DEPRESSION
5.	TOWN CALLED MALICE	17.	THE BITTEREST PILL (I EVER HAD TO SWALLOW)
6.	PRECIOUS (12 VERSION)	18.	PITY POOR ALFIE – FEVER
7.	HAPPY TOGETHER	19.	BEAT SURRENDER
8.	GHOSTS	20.	SHOPPING
9.	JUST WHO IS THE 5 O CLOCK HERO?	21.	MOVE ON UP
10.	TRANS-GLOBAL EXPRESS	22.	STONED OUT OF MY MIND
11.	RUNNING ON THE SPOT	23.	WAR
12.	CIRCUS

Disc 5
1.	IN THE CITY	12.	RAIN
2.	TIME FOR TRUTH	13.	DREAM TIME
3.	SOUNDS FROM THE STREET	14.	DEAD END STREET
4.	SO SAD ABOUT US	15.	STAND BY ME
5.	WORLDS APART	16.	EVERY LITTLE BIT HURTS
6.	BILLY HUNT	17.	TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK
7.	IT’S TOO BAD	18.	WALKING IN HEAVEN’S SUNSHINE
8.	TO BE SOMEONE (DIDN’T WE HAVE A NICE TIME)	19.	PRECIOUS
9.	DAVID WATTS	20.	PITY POOR ALFIE (SWING VERSION)
10.	BEST OF BOTH WORLDS	21.	THE BITTEREST PILL (I EVER HAD TO SWALLOW)
11.	THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT	22.	A SOLID BOND IN YOUR HEART