Compact Snap!, a shortened version of The Jam’s greatest hits album, Snap, is an excellent introduction to Woking’s finest.
Condensed to 21 songs, rather than the original’s 29, it provides an overarching view of the band’s brief but electrifying career, boasting all of the band’s 16 singles, plus a host of B-sides, all digitally remastered.
Although The Jam have six superb studio albums to their name, they are first and foremost a cracking singles band, many of which never appeared on albums. Until now that is, because Compact Snap! unites them all in a celebration of the band’s unique sound.
From the early manic energy of tracks like ‘In The City’, through the pithy social stances of ‘Down In The Tube Station At Midnight’ and ‘The Eton Rifles’, to the swansong of ‘Beat Surrender’, all the band’s anthems are here; the angst-ridden, angry soundtrack to a generation’s youth.