“Beat Surrender” / “Shopping” (Polydor POSP 540) November 1982
The Jam | Beat Surrender | (Polydor) 1982 | The message is simple and confoundedly catchy: ‘C’mon boy, c’mon girl, succumb unto the beat surrender’. But it’s conveyed in such a clattered, po-faced style that it’s ultimate impact, on me at least, is minimal.
And it’s downhill from here on in, with ‘Shopping’ making the fairly innocuous act of buying goods into some kind of brain bustin’ intellectual exercise, Curtis Mayfield‘s ‘Move On Up’ sounding embarrassingly earnest and amateurish, ‘Stoned Out Of My Mind’ coming across breathy and meaningless and ‘War’ declaring itself to be a freebie interpretation of the Edwin Starr classic.
The Jam | Beat Surrender | (Polydor) 1982
The announcement of the Jam’s break up was hardly the most distressing news I’ve heard all year; all the same I listened to this bumper five track package with open mind and ears. But Weller’s rampant pessimism pervades every groove (Sounds, 20/11/82)
Paul Weller’s decision to split The Jam must be one of the bravest moves a major pop performer has made in ages. The temptation for him to carry on steering them towards the stagnation of middle age must have been strong, and his courage in calling a halt now can only be admired.
So here we have the final Jam single and a fitting epitaph it is from the Beatley opening chords right down to the neat Peter ‘Punk’ Barrett gatefold sleeve. With all the big guns beginning to flex their musical muscles for a seasonal assault on the charts, ‘Beat Surrender’ already sounds like one of the most powerful contenders for the coveted Christmas number one spot.
The five tracks that make up this double pack – two originals and three cover versions – are a fine tribute to the range of The Jam’s talent. The title song finds them returning to something approaching the fiery flair of their debut album, going out in a brash blaze of glory, while the other original ‘Shopping’ is a much dreamier, almost jazzy piece – a possible pointer to Weller’s future plans.
Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Move On Up’, Edwin Starr’s ‘War’ and The Chi-Lites’ ‘Stoned Out Of My Mind’ all date from the halcyon pre-disco days of early ’70s soul.
‘Move On Up’ and ‘War’ are moderately successful, the latter in particular lacking the anguished fervour of the Motown original, but the hazy shuffle of ‘Stoned Out Of My Mind’ is a revelation, Weller’s vocal delicate and pensive and the musical accompaniment suitably restrained and sensitive.
While I stand by all the criticisms I have made of The Jam in the past few years, a single as strong as ‘Beat Surrender’ makes such gripes seem only secondary importance; beneath Weller’s often pious, puritanical public image, there has always burned an upfill tide of positive, youthful energy in his songwriting.
And while the format of the three-piece rochk band has ultimately proven too restrictive for his future plans, this record emphasises the value of The Jam as a vehicle for those songs.
Succumb the the beat surrender. (NME, 20/11/82)
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