The Jam – The Gift (VG+/VG+) – LP, NZ 1982

The Gift is an LP by The Jam from 1982 released on the Polydor label.

About this album

The Gift is a sharp, socially charged farewell from The Jam, and one of the band’s most successful statements. Issued in 1982, it pushed beyond the group’s earlier mod revival sound towards leaner soul, funk and pop influences, with Paul Weller’s songwriting taking in class anxiety, urban disillusion and working-life pressures. Produced by The Jam and Peter Wilson, the album balances brisk hooks with a harder rhythmic edge, most famously on the No. 1 single Town Called Malice. Arriving just before the band split at their commercial peak, it remains a key document of their final evolution and Weller’s growing ambition as a songwriter.