''This Is the Modern World'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by British band

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 19 ...

, released in November 1977. The album was released less than six months after their debut album '' In the City'', and reached No. 22 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. Although generally met with negative reviews by

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

upon release, ''This Is the Modern World'' has been described as being an album "with far more light and shade" than ''In the City''. The only single from ''This Is the Modern World'' was the censored version of " The Modern World", which peaked at No. 36 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top ...

Cover photography

The photography for the album was taken by

Gered Mankowitz Gered Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from The Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry ...

and David Redfern. The front cover depicts the band standing beneath London's Westway.

Track listing

Original US release

#"The Modern World" #"All Around the World" #"I Need You (For Someone)" #"London Traffic" (Bruce Foxton) #"Standards" #"Life from a Window" #"In the Midnight Hour" (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett) #"In the Street, Today" (Paul Weller, Dave Waller) #"London Girl" #"Here Comes the Weekend" #"The Combine" #"Tonight at Noon" #"Don't Tell Them You're Sane" (Bruce Foxton) The US release had a different track order, included the "censored" single version of " The Modern World", and added the single " All Around the World" which was released in the UK between their first two albums. "All Around the World" had been their biggest UK hit to date, peaking at No. 13, a placement they would not match until 1979 when " The Eton Rifles" peaked at No. 3. Thereafter, no domestically released single by The Jam would ever reach a peak position lower than No. 4.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. The Jam *

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/ mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and sc ...

, vocals *

Rick Buckler Paul Richard Buckler (born 6 December 1955) is an English musician who is the former drummer of The Jam. Early years Buckler was born in the town of Woking in the county of Surrey, England. He received his education at Sheerwater Secondary Sc ...

– drums Technical * Vic Coppersmith-Heaven –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

* Chris Parry – production *Hedgehog Design – artwork *Conny Jude – illustration *Bill Smith –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

, design *

– front cover photography * David Redfern – back cover photography

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums The Jam albums Polydor Records albums