With the release of their third album. All Mod Cons, the Jam find themselves in a jam. Careful never to identify too closely with either punk or the more artsy new wave, they share with both camps so many points of reference—right down to the time they emerged—that I, for one, can't help continuing to lump them among bands I know they shouldn't share quarters with. Yeah, I know they aren't jumping onto bandwagons; yeah, I know they don't offer a wholesale repudiation of the past. But they sound enough like the bands that do that I mix Jam records in with the punks and would-bes and they sound just fine. Maybe not this time though. All Mod Cons is a much less self-assured album than the first two this brazen bunch put out, and contains some of the best and worst work they've yet done...