As the 1980s began, it seemed all of England was moving and shaking to the eclectic sound of The Jam. Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler started The Jam as an “angry young man” punk band, but stumbled upon something more: a revival of mod culture in the U.K. and an increasing stable of diversely-recorded chart hits.

While 1982 saw the release of their biggest album to date, The Gift, and a string of seven consecutive Top 10 hits (including two No. 1s) stretching back from the previous year, Weller did something few could’ve expected that same year: he ended the band on top. Now, three decades later, Universal is set to commemorate The Gift with an impressive four-disc box.

The deluxe Gift, packaged in a box replicating the “gift bag” that housed the original LP, features three CDs and one DVD. In turn, they feature:

• The remastered original 11-track LP, featuring chart-topper “Town Called Malice” and “Just Who is the 5 O’Clock Hero?,” and ten follow-up single and B-side tracks, including No. 2 hit “The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)” and the chart-topping “Beat Surrender”
• A disc of 15 demos – only two of which have been released on previous Jam archival projects
• An unreleased concert from the end of The Jam’s Gift Tour, recorded at Wembley Stadium in December 1982
  
• A DVD featuring music videos, a Top of the Pops performance and two live shows – one recorded at Bingley Hall in Birmingham and released on VHS in 1982, and one recorded for Danish TV and making its DVD debut

Deluxe packaging abounds within this set, including a 72-page book featuring vintage press clippings, memorabilia and new interviews with Paul Weller and album producer Peter Wilson, a foreword from Weller and essay by John Harris, postcards and a replica of the 1982 tour program. A cut-down double-disc edition will be released, as well as a 10″ vinyl version of the Danish concert (a potential Record Store Day exclusive?).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfpRm-p7qlY]

Pre-order links are live for an import version to be issued November 27, but the press release received at Second Disc HQ indicates a November 19 release, likely meaning – gasp! – a domestic release! We’ll keep an eye out for domestic links, but the full track list and the import link is dreaming of the quiet life after the jump.

The Gift: 30th Anniversary Box Set (Polydor/UMe, 2012)

Disc 1: Original LP and single tracks

1. Happy Together
2. Ghosts
3. Precious
4. Just Who is the 5 O’Clock Hero?
5. “Trans-Global Express”
6. Running on the Spot
7. Circus
8. The Planner’s Dream Gone Wrong
9. Carnation
10. Town Called Malice
11. The Gift
12. Precious (12″ Version)
13. The Great Depression
14. The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)
15. Pity Poor Alfie/Fever
16. Pity Poor Alfie (Swing Version)
17. Beat Surrender
18. Shopping
19. Move On Up
20. Stoned Out of My Mind
21. War

Disc 2: Demos

1. Skirt (Demo)
2. Get Yourself Together (Demo)
3. Ghosts (Instrumental Demo)
4. Just Who is the 5 O’Clock Hero? (Demo)
5. Running on the Spot (Demo)
6. The Planner’s Dream Gone Wrong (Demo)
7. Carnation (Instrumental Demo)
8. Precious (Demo)
9. The Bitterest Pill (Demo)
10. Alfie (Demo #2)
11. We’ve Only Started (Old Version)
12. Only Started (Instrumental Demo)
13. Shopping (Paul’s Demo)
14. Beat Surrender (Demo)
15. Solid Bond in Your Heart (Demo)

Disc 3: Live at Wembley – 12/3/1982

1. Start!
2. It’s Too Bad
3. Beat Surrender
4. Away from the Numbers
5. Ghosts
6. In the Crowd
7. Boy About Town
8. So Sad About Us
9. All Mod Cons
10. To Be Someone
11. Smithers-Jones
12. That’s Entertainment
13. The Great Depression
14. Precious
15. Move On Up
16. Circus
17. Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
18. David Watts
19. Mr. Clean
20. Town Called Malice
21. But I’m Different Now
22. “Trans-Global Express”
23. In the City

Disc 4: DVD

– Trans-Global Unity Express (live video from Bingley Hall, Birmingham, 3/21/1982 – originally released as Polygram VHS 041 146-2 (U.K.), 1982)

• Town Called Malice
• Carnation
• Precious
• Ghosts
• Move On Up
• Private Hell
• Pretty Green
• “Trans-Global Express”
• The Gift

– Town Called Malice (promo video)
– Precious (promo video)
– The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow) (promo video)
– Danish TV special (recorded live in Studio 3, TV-Byen, Copenhagen – 4/19/1982 – broadcast 4/23/1982)

• Running on the Spot
• Circus
• Happy Together
• Ghosts
• In the Crowd
• Town Called Malice
• Pity Poor Alfie/Fever
• Precious
• Just Who is the 5 O’ Clock Hero?
• The Gift
• Move On Up
• Trans-Global Express

– Precious/Town Called Malice (Live on Top of the Pops – 2/18/1982)

Disc 1, Tracks 1-11 released as Polydor LP POLD 5055 (U.K.), 1982
Disc 1, Track 12 was the 12″ B-side to “Town Called Malice” (Polydor POSPX 400, 1982)
Disc 1, Track 13 was the B-side to “Just Who is the 5 O’Clock Hero?” (Polydor 2229 254 (NL), 1982)
Disc 1, Tracks 14-15 released as Polydor single POSP 505, 1982
Disc 1, Track 16 and Disc 2, Track 8 released on Direction Reaction Creation (Polydor 537 143-2, 1997)
Disc 1, Tracks 17-21 released as Polydor 12″ single POSPX 540, 1982)
Disc 2, Track 2 released on Extras (Polydor 513 177-2, 1992)
All other tracks on Discs 2-3 previously unreleased