THIS MONTH’S REVELATIONS FROM THE WORLD OF UNCUT
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FEATURING... Will Sergeant | Ellen Foley | Roy Harper | Arooj Aftab
Previously unseen photos of The Jam show Weller and co’s impatient evolution
MARTYN GODDARD
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S punk swept the nation in 1977 and ’78, time was moving so fast, The Jam’s regular sleeve photographer Martyn Goddard forgot he’d amassed stacks of fascinating outtakes from those now-iconic shoots at his tiny studio on Kensington Church Street. “Every day I was photographing a different band,” says Goddard. “I did Sham 69, The Cure, I did a band called The Jolt… although the shoot before The Jam was Acker Bilk!” The sessions were “done very quickly, and once the art department had pulled the picture [for the sleeve], the rest of the negatives went into my files in the loft. I’d forgotten all about them.” Despite the rapid turnover of new wave hopefuls, The Jam – whom Goddard first snapped for the sleeve of In The City – stood out. “They were very switched on, image-wise. You knew they were going to go places because the look was there, the attitude was there – and they worked well with us.” What struck Goddard about the young Paul Weller was not so much a camera-hogging charisma, but a quiet determination and openness to collaboration. “All the time I worked with Paul, he seemed quite shy. If you take Jimmy Pursey, he controlled the shoot. But Paul was part of the team and he didn’t strut around imposing his will – it was a team effort.” By May 1978, and the shoot for double-A single “David Watts”/“‘A’ Bomb In Wardour Street” [opposite page], the band “were really enjoying themselves”, says Goddard. “The clothes had begun to get looser, more casual. They were very confident, whereas on the first shoots there was obviously a slight apprehension. There’s a much lighter air bout it. And aul is at last in he middle!” AM RICHARDS
Jam Sessions: Photographs By Martyn Goddard s published by Ormond Yard Press in June
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MARTYN GODDARD
