March 25, 2009

Mod-A-Day: The Jags

The Jags were a late 70s UK power pop band that somehow managed to dodge the mod revival and instead played a power pop more akin to their American cousins like The Knack, The Records, and The Plimsouls. But, because of their inherent Britishness it was hard for them to break out of the shadow of --and not be constantly compared to-- similar sounding artists like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Usually remembered as one-hit-wonders for the top ten single "Back of my Hand" The Jags actually produced two solid albums with a number of punchy power pop songs, any of which could have, and should have been, hits -- the mysogynistic "Woman's World," "The Sound Of G-O-O-D-B-Y-E," "Small Change." "Desert Island Disks," and their first albums' title track "Evening Standards."

The Jags -- Evening Standards