Mirroring the structure of another big 2015 box set --
the Grateful Dead's 30 Trips Around the Sun --
Fire and Skill presents a full concert from each of the six years
the Jam were an active concern. This begins in 1977, when a show at London's 100 Club was recorded so it could be broadcast as a teaser for their impending American tour, and then it speeds through a similar set recorded at London's Music Machine. Of these two, the 1977 set is slightly speedier and breathless, but they're both cut from the same cloth, both representing the band at a breakneck, jacked-up peak. The 1979 show at Reading University is where
the Jam start to branch out, threading in material from their landmark
All Mod Cons, and the additional material makes a considerable difference:
Paul Weller's guitar still slashes against the rhythm section of
Bruce Foxton and
Rick Buckler, but the energy is focused and there's an increasing heft to their sound. The next two shows -- one from October of 1980 in Newcastle and the other from December 1981 in Hammersmith Palais -- find
the Jam at their peak; supporting
Setting Sons and
Sound Affects, the trio's catalog is deep and their interplay is blinding, sounding expansive and electric. Comparatively, on the concluding show taken from their 1982 farewell tour,
the Jam seem -- or more precisely
Weller seems -- to be in an awkward adolescence, pushing at the boundaries of what they knew and not quite getting to where they want to be. Arriving after such a sustained rush of energy, the effect is a little disconcerting but it underscores how the band split at the right time, while the rest of
Fire and Skill highlights just how good
the Jam were while they were around. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine