So there I was humming a song. Well, the melody of a song anyway. And a bit of the chorus too. After a couple of days, it seemed like a good idea - OK, by that time it was a bit of a necessity - to work out what the song was actually called. The general consensus here at Bluesbunny Towers was that the song was the last single from the Jam - "Beat Surrender" - from 1982.
The copy in the Vinyl Vault turned out to be a double pack in a gatefold sleeve. See, give a vinyl junkie an excuse and he'll buy anything. Actually, that's more than a bit harsh. "Beat Surrender" was a number one over here and justifiably so. Paul Weller took his mod, and by inference his exposure to northern soul music, and infused it with the spirit of an angry young man. It's a cracking song that sets the speakers on alight in a way that so little of today's music can.
"Shopping", on the flipside, is an altogether smoother and laidback song with a groovy, sixties feel and gives a clear and classy pointer to the direction that Weller's next band, The Style Council, would follow.
On the second single (with the catalogue number JAM1), you get three covers of soul classics - Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up", The Chi-Lites' "Stoned Out of My Mind" and Edwin Starr's "War". There is the whiff of filler about these three tracks and whilst they are respectful versions, they do little to change the original songs and the version of "War" is as weak as a cup of your granny's tea assuming your granny reused her teabags like a good granny should. If you were expecting the band to re-imagine their musical heritage like John Lennon did with his "Rock 'n' Roll" album then you would be a bit disappointed.
However, you can't deny that the boy Weller could write a hit song and "Beat Surrender" had hit stamped all over it. Class.