An astonishing relic from the distant past here, one of the few Jam acetates to reach the outside world. Ten inches of beauty, this double sided high quality metal based methyl cellulose lacquer acetate features theband at their peak.
By this point, the Jam had become one of the biggest bands in the UK.
Part of a run of classic single releases – Strange Town, When You’re Young, The Eton Rifles, Going Underground – that few bands have topped.
With hand annotated Master Room labels, this is simply titled ‘Eton Rifles’ ‘The Jam’ with no label on the second side. This acetate is unusual in having two different versions of The Eton Rifles, one on each side. It is also a 7″ cut into a 10″ blank.
The music itself is certainly the same takes as the released versions but the two cuts sound like they are different mixes or EQ. The first side is also annotated ‘Flat’, which suggests that this was a raw run from the master tapes before any final EQ was applied. There are no details as to the version on the second side.
Notoriously fragile, I have to say that this acetate is a peach. There are very few scuffs evident and both sides play through cleanly with full rich reproduction & background noise at a minimum.
Some background noise is the norm for acetates and this copy is in much better condition than they are usually found, let alone from a band with as much energy as The Jam and the huge fan base they were building at this point.
It doesn’t get much better than this. One of the first copies of The Eton Rifles ever pressed and it may even be earlier mixes or EQ too.
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