¡ALL MOD CONS!

Back in the eighties there was a band called The Jam. I picked up the second album, This is the Modern World, and kind of like it, and then bought In The City. As they became more openly Mod, both in appearance and in the style of their music, I followed them almost instinctively, along with thousands of others. Malaga, at that time, was full of Mods and the local DJ´s played an important role of my awareness of the movement.

Paul Weller was the new messiah and they were his disciples, but the question remained; could the band produce a third album? There was a lot of speculation but nothing was certain. Then one frosty morning the new record was released, November 1978. I went straight out and bought it many years later, and then played it to death for weeks. The jam established themselves as one of the most successful English bands of that period.

The revival of their fortune was built, without any doubt, on that new Mod movement. Anyway, in that third album there were some outstanding songs and my favorite one was Down in the tube station at midnight, a song you can hear while reading this article. By the way, All Mod Cons is a British idiom for all modern conveniences.

Looking back in time I wonder if the third album is always the best work a band can produce.  The third time was certainly was the charm for the Who (The Who sell out), the Clash (London Calling) Blur (Parklife) A Hard Day´s Night (The Beatles). So, it was not different for The Jam. It seemed to me then that I could find more brilliant Mods bands and I searched for them:  The Merton Parkas were not my cup of tea, and The Purple Hearts and The Chords were not as good as I thought. Naturally I came to the conclusion that it was much better to stick to The Kinks or to The Clash with songs I can sing by heart.

I lived wild times when it was ok to dedicate myself to clubbing, live gigs and dancing Rock and Roll by the beach. There were not boundaries then, certain no limits for a teenager boy who, after trying for quite some time, was finally allowed to get in a Mod bar called Sophistica.  Again, I would say that the third time was definitely the charm for me. The lucky number for all of us.

Sergio Calle Llorens