REVIEW: Solid Bond In Your Heart - Malcolm Wyatt

The recent untimely passing of The Jam’s drumming Jack in the box Rick Buckler at the tender age of 69 has seen his former band mates Steve Brookes, Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller all sing their praises of Buckler’s longevity focusing on their pairing from the early 70’s going through to their initial successes with the likes of In The City, Eton Rifles, When You’re Young to chart topping success with Going Underground, A Town Called Malice, Start and Beat Surrender when the band split.

The direct appeal of Buckler along with Foxton and Weller has never diminished 40 odd years since their surprise split was announced to a shocked fanbase. A new book Solid Bond In Your Heart by Malcolm Wyatt published by Spenwood Books helps to propel the band yet again back into the spotlight they so richly deserved on the back of scintillating live gigs all around the world and a matchless set of albums and 45’s no band of their generation could touch. With the help of previously unseen photos a foreword by Paul Weller along with comments from the likes of Paolo Hewitt, Mick Talbot, Don Powell, Gary Crowley and a long line of 500 fans all who remember their heroes just as fondly as they no doubt would have recounted at the time of the events.

A few standout comments include Jon D Bromberg reminiscing ‘My first gig was The Greyhound in 1976. I went with my older brother, who knew Rick. The raw energy was amazing, Paul sweating buckets and with really amazing vocals.’ There are photos from University of Salford 8 May 1979 along with these comments from Ian Edmunson ‘The Jam were promoting ‘Strange Town’. Setting Sons was some way off and the set was not changed massively from the previous November. Not that we cared very much. Paul was still using Rickenbacker guitars, though I was intrigued to spot a custom-made Eccleshall Junior type guitar.’

Chris Avis remembers Hammersmith Palais 14 & 15 December 1981 ‘Then the moment came, the lights went down and on walked the group I’d idolised for the past year, a moment I’ll never forget. I screamed back every word of every song except the new ones played that night. We walked out soaked to the skin, ringing in our ears, no voice, overjoyed at seeing the best band I ever saw live. And I’ve seen over 300 since.’ Probably most poignant in the book are a clutch of quotes from Rick Buckler no doubt the most sensitive being his memories of 11 December 1982 Brighton Conference Centre, the bands final gig along with some what if’s ‘I know myself and Bruce think we probably could have done a couple more albums.’ Russell Hastings, lead singer of From The Jam, also adds ‘I asked Bruce what it was like, the night they came off at Brighton, and he said, ‘We all split up into camps. Literally the moment we walked off stage, the camps were created.’ Everybody was looking towards the future. And he said, ‘Next day I woke up and I didn’t have a job.’ Lots of people have a problem with letting go all of that. Some of these real Jam-heads. They had something they hooked on to in their lives and they don’t want to let it go.’ These comments only scratch the surface of the contributions to the book all of which add new information that no other book on The Jam has covered.

There are more photos including Toronto’s Colonial Tavern 1978, Apollo Theatre Manchester 1978, The Marquee London 1979, Loch Lomond Rock Festival 1980, Magnum Leisure Centre Irvine 1981, Alexandra Pavilion London 1982, plus plenty of snaps with the band alongside fans inside and outside venues. The affection for the band is palpable still all these years later, Wyatt has done a superb job bringing all these special recollections of events and gigs into one place that will no doubt stay with their fans, followers and friends for forever.

Solid Bond In Your Heart can be purchased here