The Jam: A Beat Concerto – Revised edition

Paolo Hewitt
Bobcat Books
Copyright Date: 1993
Review Date: 1998

I sit here loaded trying review this book The Jam: A Beat Concerto: The Authorized Biography by Paolo Hewitt. The same guy who wrote the liner notes for the “Jam Extras” CD. First things first. The Jam are “the only band that matters.” Or was that the Clash? I dunno. Like I said, loaded. I love the Jam. This “revised” edition features a foreward by Noel Gallagher. BFD! I would have preferred a foreward by Gallagher the comedian. This seems to be little more than an “I Love Paul Weller” fanclub more suited to the pages of Teen Beat than anything else. Paul himself ads that “…there is no more to be said on the Jam’s formation and the rise than is contained in this book.” Somehow I doubt it. I would check out Rick Buckler and Bruce Foxton’s “Our Story” but I saw a picture of them around the time that it came out and they looked older than the Rolling Stones. I got scared and put it down. However, I expected more from The Jam: A Beat Concerto, especially for a revised edition.

Rating: Two mirrors out of five on a vespa scooter.

$19.95