Extras (Collection Of Extras)

Pity the oft-neglected B-side. Often just a throwaway track designed to back up but not supersede a band's 'official' new release, by the time the single is filed away alphabetically, it's usually forgotten by even the most zealous collector. Unless of course the B-side is by seminal English mod revivalists The Jam, in which case a closer listen is not only warranted, but required. For The Jam packed their B-side songs with more fire and brimstone than most bands did the A-sides. Unfortunately the vinyl days of yore are but a memory. Fortunately, EXTRAS collects most of The Jam's odds and sods on disc for fans young and old. A bonus is Paul Weller's always-eclectic taste in covers, which runs from the Who ("So Sad About Us") to the Beatles ("And Your Bird Can Sing")to the godfather of soul himself, Mr. James Brown ("I Got You [I Feel Good]"). EXTRAS is valuable not only as a chronology of the gems that Weller was tossing off in his spare time, but as a look at how truly eclectic The Jam were as a band. Universal.